Front Sight Firearms
Training Institute: Free Gun School
for Teachers Sierra Times
Pahrump, NV -- In the wake of the
Santana High School shootings, Front
Sight Firearms Training Institute,
which claims to be the world leader
in providing intensified courses in
the defensive use of firearms for
private citizens, feels they have
the answer to stopping further attacks
on school children. Front
Sight is offering free firearms
training to any school administrator,
teacher, or full time staff member
designated as school Safety Monitors. Front
Sight will accept for training
up to three staff members from each
school. Applicants must submit a letter
requesting training on school district
letterhead signed by the top school
district official and designating
the applicant as the school's Safety
Monitor.
Front
Sight's Founder and Director, Dr.
Ignatius Piazza understands that
his offer may offend some school administrators
and parents who do not see arming
and training selected school staff
members as a positive solution to
violent attacks. However, he is quick
to point out that historically, his
approach has worked while gun control
has actually increased violent crime
by shifting the balance of power to
favor the criminals and lunatics.
"My offer is not a new idea," says Piazza.
"In the early 70's, Israel was faced
with much greater problems of armed
terrorist attacks on schools. The
cry for more gun control was heard
then too, but Israel very carefully
analyzed all possible options before
adopting the proactive position of
arming and training their teachers.
School shootings stopped and terrorists
looked for easier targets." He maintains
that gun control never has and never
will stop criminals and madmen from
carrying out acts of gun violence.
"In our country, every time a misguided
individual on psychiatric drugs goes
on a killing spree, anti-self defense
legislators, watch the polls and exploit
the dead victims in order to fool
the public into accepting more gun
control.
It is time our country finds some
resolve and the will to tackle the
real problem -- which is rooting out
the actual influences in the lives
of our youth that predispose them
to commit atrocities such as we saw
in Littleton. The problem is not guns.
Guns don't cause these incidents to
occur anymore than cameras cause child
pornography or automobiles cause traffic
fatalities. Israel had the right answer.
Society is safer when we train and
arm our law-abiding citizens. As the
defensive training leader in the USA, Front
Sight is willing and
able to set the example for the rest
of the country to follow."
Dave Clark, who has taught for the
last 25 years at Junction Junior High
School in Livermore, Calif., agrees
with Front
Sight's philosophy. In fact, Clark
has previously attended a Four Day
Defensive Handgun course at Front
Sight at his own expense and found
the course to be exactly what is needed
to train fellow teachers to stop an
attack similar to Santana High School.
"Front
Sight provides safe and responsible
training to a level that exceeds law
enforcement standards," says Clark.
"Among the many lessons taught, I
learned universally accepted rules
in justifiable use of deadly force.
More importantly, I learned when not
to shoot and how to be more mentally
prepared to see a lethal confrontation
coming before it happens in order
to avoid it. The firearms training
is second to none and clearly gives
the graduates the skill needed to
save the lives of those in their charge
if ever attacked. If my school district
chose to adopt a policy of sending
selected teachers to Front
Sight for concealed handgun training,
I would wholeheartedly support it
and volunteer as a Safety Monitor.
There is no reason for our children
to continue to be victimized when
free, professional training is available
to stop school attacks."
There is recent evidence that a gun
in the hand of a teacher will stop
an armed attacker. The vice-principal
of a school in Pearl, Miss., recently
used his handgun to stop and detain
an armed killer until the police arrived. Dr. Ignatius
Piazza adds, "It seems obvious
that armed and trained staff members
inside the school are in a better
position to identify the attackers
and do something immediately to resolve
the situation. It is much harder for
police, who arrive on
the scene too late to stop the killing."
Not so convinced is Sharon Piazza, Dr.
Ignatius Piazza 's aunt who is an elementary
teacher and summer school administrator
for Oak Grove School District in San
Jose, Calif. "The thought of teachers
carrying guns saddens me greatly.
I would feel that we had failed as
a society and missed the core reason
why violence is occurring in our youth.
It is not guns, but something much
deeper that is the common thread in
all these tragedies. If we must arm
individuals in the school setting
to protect our children, I definitely
believe they need to be trained in
when and how to use the weapon. However,
I am definitely not one who would
want to be armed and would not want
to teach in that setting."
Another obstacle to Front
Sight's offer to train and arm
teachers is the current law in many
states prohibiting the possession
of firearms on school grounds even
when the possessor is qualified and
has a concealed weapons license. Dr.
Piazza quickly points out that
those laws did not prevent or stop
the gun violence at Santana High.
He states, "The recent attacks in
schools indicate criminals have concluded
that 'Gun Free School Zone' actually
means 'Government Certified, Helpless
and Unarmed Victim Zone.' School administrators,
law enforcement agencies, and legislators
can change those laws and policies
if they truly want to stop the attacks.
Most districts cannot afford to have
even one full time police officer
in every school, but they can easily
afford to train three or more of their
selected staff members to a higher
level of firearms training than offered
in police academies because Front
Sight will provide the training
free."
Retired law enforcement firearms instructor,
Mike Waidelich from Bakersfield, Calif.,
strongly supports the Front
Sight concept of arming and training
teachers. "Nearly every tragedy on
or off school grounds in the entire
30 years of my law enforcement career
could have been prevented or the damage
done considerably limited, by the
presence of an armed and trained individual.
Had the teachers at Santana been properly
trained and gone for their guns, the
death and injury toll could have been
considerably reduced. The training
provided in Front
Sight's basic training classes
easily exceeds the training provided
in most police basic training academies."
Piazza adds, "Teachers will be trained to
carry a concealed weapon, so potential
attackers will not know which teachers
are armed and which are not. In states
that have adopted concealed weapon
laws for private citizens, violent
crime has dropped. School attacks
will drop as well once it is known
that any of the teachers and staff
members on school grounds have the
ability and training to stop a violent
attack immediately."
Piazza explains that scientific research
also supports Front
Sight's stance on concealed weapon
training. He references researcher,
John Lott, Jr. from the University
of Chicago School of Law who published
Crime, Deterrence and Right-to-Carry
Concealed Handguns in July 1996. "Mr.
Lott's research of cross-sectional
time-series data from all 3054 U.S.
counties from 1977 to 1992 found that
allowing citizens to carry concealed
weapons deters violent crime and appears
to produce no increase in accidental
deaths. If those states which did
not have right-to-carry concealed
handgun provisions had adopted them
in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders,
4,177 rapes, and over 60,000 aggravated
assaults would have been avoided yearly."
Piazza asks, "How many times must we experience
another Littleton, Colorado or Santana
High School before we wake up, study
the research and adopt policies which
actually reduce crime and begin saving
our children instead of leaving them
helpless victims for the next drug
user to snap?"
Gun control typically increases violent
crime yet some politicians continue
to tout disarming law abiding citizens
as a solution. Front
Sight has a better solution. School
districts interested in taking advantage
of Front
Sight's commitment to help protect
our children should call 1-800-987-7719
or e-mail Front
Sight at info(at)frontsight.com.
More information about training is
available at http://www.frontsight.com/."
Front Sight