Written by Montgomery J Granger @mjgranger1
Social values are beliefs, feelings, and actions that are important to us, and of these, the most important are actions. For if we do not act on what we say we believe in and feel is most important, then we cannot claim to truly value those beliefs and feelings.
What is it that we value most as a society? Our freedom, liberty, family, pursuit of happiness?
“Put your money where your mouth is,” illustrates the idea of a true value. But with regard to mass shootings, especially those in public schools and other public venues, we don’t really fully value what we say we do. If we did, we would protect children and the public like we do money in banks, jewels in jewelry stores, or elite politicians and social media stars.
“Gun free zone,” is perhaps the most absurd invention of modern man. Such zones are literal advertisements to would-be terrorists and mentally ill potential shooters to “PLEASE SHOOT HERE.”
In the Real World, Everything Is a Weapon
As a former educator and dean of students in New York City public high schools in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s, I was confronted with violence nearly every day at work. Sometimes a fight, sometimes weapon play. None of it ever reached the news. It wasn’t news. It was an accepted occupational hazard.
One thing was for sure: everybody in the building was packing some kind of weapon. From the smallest, most innocent-looking child (box cutter) to students of diplomats (loaded handguns), everybody had something on them “for protection.” Everyone, that is, except the adults, including School Security Officers, mostly certified Peace Officers dressed like police who carried only handcuffs, which were rarely, if ever, used.
Those of us foolish or courageous enough to show up to work every day were on our own. As a US Army National Guard and later Reservist soldier, I had experience with many different kinds of weapons, including handguns. However, we were not allowed to bring them into the schools, either for personal protection or to protect the children from each other.
There were many “close calls” in my time. We followed blood trails from accidental discharges in the hallway, chased gang bangers after catching them trying to seat a 30-round clip in a Tec-9 pistol in a restroom next to a cafeteria, and found a .22 zip gun in a book bag. I was assaulted at least eight times in eight-plus years in the trenches, but I kept my job because I never struck back or harmed a child in defending myself.
I felt safer on a weapons qualifying range on a National Guard weekend than I did at work each day. If someone had told me, “Monty, you can Constitutional carry at work!” I would have jumped at the opportunity. I value my life, the lives of the children, and the lives of those with whom I worked.
We’ve heard the response to recent mass shootings and the Hamas terror attack on innocent Israelis at a music festival on October 7 that if just one person had been armed, lives could have been saved.
I’ll go one further: if the terrorists and shooter had known someone was armed, they would not have attacked.
How do I know this?
In addition to my training and experience in the NYC public schools, I have been a trained school safety consultant and received significant anti-terrorism training through the US Army. The last nine years of my 22 years in the military were with Military Police Enemy Prisoner of War units. I served at the US military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (2002) and in various locations in Iraq (2004-2005). In addition, part of my 36-year career in public education was spent as director of school security, which included trainings with the FBI, Secret Service, and local police and sheriffs.
I know from all of this training and experience that shooters and terrorists rehearse, reconnoiter, and practice their deed ahead of time. They tend not to go through with their plans if they determine that there is a fair chance that they will not be successful. They only bet on what they believe is a sure thing.
Post a sign that says those inside are armed and will do what’s necessary to protect others and themselves, and there will be no trouble there, ever.
Open carry at a music festival? No problems there.
Therein lies the cognitive dissonance between what we say we value and what we’re willing to do.
Social Values and the Onslaught of Terrorism
Calls for a “cease fire” in Gaza are really calls for open season on innocent men, women, children, the elderly and infirm, pregnant women, and babies. How do we know this? Because those were the targets of recent terrorist attacks and mass shootings.
Terrorists don’t change; they only teach and train children in their evil habits. Mass shooters are different in that nearly every single one has been on psychotropic or illicit drugs, or other medication that altered their perception of reality to the point where they felt shooting and killing innocent people was okay. It’s not. No rational person would perpetrate such deeds. But if one is sane enough to plan, prepare, and then execute such deeds, they are not criminally insane. They are simply criminals.
In a war setting, terrorists—rational actors who plan and execute barbaric attacks on innocent civilians—are considered unlawful combatants, entitled to none of the protections of the Geneva Conventions or Law of War. They are persona non grata. In a civilian setting, those who commit such crimes are, by law, considered targets of opportunity while they pose a threat, that is, while they are armed.
Our job, as rational adult citizens, is to stop the madness by insisting the places in which we say we value safety (schools, bowling alleys, shopping malls, gas stations, etc.) receive the same protection as money, jewels, and the elite. Otherwise, our social values are not valued at all.
Most of us have seen videos on social media of the lone female being accosted in an alley who then pulls out a handgun and shoots her assailant. Or the older veteran, being accosted by two teenagers, who pulls a gun on them, causing them to melt away without him ever having to pull the trigger. Or the gun-carrying female who witnesses an armed robbery, pulls her weapon, and shoots the assailant.
These are extreme cases, perhaps, but real nonetheless.
Anyone who legally carries a weapon for personal protection hopes never to have to engage someone who wants to do them or others harm. Like most martial arts philosophies, the first course of action is to try to get away. If that’s not possible, the next step is for the victim or protector to attempt to diffuse or resolve the situation peacefully. If that’s not possible, and it becomes a “you or me” situation, the victim or protector must use their weapon effectively, as they have been trained to.
But if you don’t have a means of self-protection, and the bad guys know it, you’re screwed.
Instead of listening to or condoning the nonsense from anti-gun and anti-human activists, the rest of us need to say in loud, clear voices: we want what others have so that we can protect ourselves!
We must tell our elected officials that trained, experienced safety and security personnel, including qualified pedestrians, need to be allowed Constitutional carry. The 2nd Amendment says we have that right and that it “shall not be infringed,” so the supreme law of the land is already on our side. We need local and state legislators to acknowledge this and make the necessary changes. Get to know who your representatives are, and then let them know what you expect, what your values are, and what you will do if they don’t make it happen.
Remind them elections have consequences.