Columbine Had an Armed Guard? Yep…and Lives Were Saved!

Posted by Tina

It’s the story that wasn’t told! At least if it was, I didn’t hear it. According to an
Investors Business Daily article featuring quotes from Wayne La Pierre Columbine could have been much worse:

On April 20, 1999, Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff’s deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years, was eating lunch when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at Columbine with their deadly arsenal and deadlier intentions.
Gardner said he got a call from a custodian that he was needed in the school’s back parking lot. A few minutes later, he encountered Harris, and the two exchanged gunfire. The exchange with Harris lasted for an extended period of time, during which Harris’ gun jammed.

The deputy and the backup he immediately called for exchanged fire with the shooters a second time and helped begin the evacuation of students, all before SWAT teams arrived, and before Harris and Klebold eventually killed themselves in the library.

I deeply resent the fact that this important part of the story goes unreported or is downplayed. Citizens that use their bodies to guard others are heroes and much is made of their sacrifice but those who take a proactive offensive approach to stop the shooters are also heroes and the American public should be aware of their service to the community.

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6 Responses to Columbine Had an Armed Guard? Yep…and Lives Were Saved!

  1. Dubguy says:

    11 of the 13 victims in question died after Gardner exchanged fire with Harris (whom he didn’t hit), and Gardner himself is for gun control: www(dot)nydailynews(dot)com/news/national/columbine-armed-guards-schools-students-safe-article-1.1225796

    Saying that he helped save lives because Harris’ gun jammed is idiotic, and based on nothing more than speculation.

  2. Tina says:

    It isn’t any different than speculation that stronger gun laws would save lives.

    The assumption that stronger gun laws will save lives is laughable and not born out by statistics…just look at Chicago:

    http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/

    On the other hand there is quite a bit of evidence that the presence of armed citizens deters criminals. There is less crime where more liberal gun laws exist.

    So the question about Columbine is, “How many rounds were wasted that might have hit/killed children had the armed guard not exchanged fire with the shooter before his weapon jammed?”

    The article didn’t say how many rounds were fired in the exchange but it is a safe assumption in hindsight that had the guard not delayed Harris, he would have moved into the school sooner and used those rounds against teachers and students.

    The shooters were not brought down but they were distracted from their mission at least twice, according to the article.

  3. starviego says:

    Both Gardner and the cops that responded stayed outside the school while the massacre in the library was going on. They were quite rightly criticized afterwards for their failure to go after the shooters. Heroes they were not.

  4. Post Scripts says:

    What Starviego said is pretty much correct. These well armed officers misinterpreted their training to mean they should contain the shooters as if it were a hostage event until the SWAT team was in place. The correct action would have been to pursue the shooters, drawing away their fire from others and see it through to a conclusion. They didn’t and they were dead wrong, as a result… lives were lost needlessly.

    Most of the police officers I know would have continued the engagement without any hesitation to save some lives, even if it meant losing theirs. A few I know would probably still stopped and waited for backup, but this is just the nature of people. We try to keep those types out of law enforcement, but a few still get in.

    The training police received back then and right now says the obvious reaction to a shooting in progress is, you respond with deadly force in order to save lives, every second counts. You do not abandon innocent people to killers who have declared their intent.

    It was clear to me back then and it is even more clear to me now. As far as I know it has always been that way. This is common sense.

    It may be of some consolation to know that one lone police officer responded that way in Stockton, CA. He went in without hesitation, without any backup and potentially saved a classroom full of children. The crazy person is now safely locked away and thanks to his immediate actions no lives were lost. The only injury was to the assailant and those were limited, but necessary in order to disarm and arrest. The officer was my son and this is the way I raised him.

  5. Tina says:

    Okay “hero” didn’t apply in that case.

    In my wrap up I meant to be speaking more generally, although I didn’t make that clear. But how often do the headlines reflect the heroism of police officers? We are more often informed that an inanimate object was a villain!

    In any case it is still true that trained armed guards would be a good deterrent and in many cases, if not most cases, fewer people would be killed in these situations if armed guards were present.

    Liberals cannot claim to be serious about the safety of children if they are unwilling to consider this as a possible solution. Bill Clinton proposed the COPS program without criticism harming him or democrats being labeled as dangerous or crazy. Los Angeles currently has such a program in place.

    The Sidwel Friends School where Obama’s girls attend and where Chelsea Clinton attended is a guarded school. If it’s a good solution for the kids of important people why not the kids of ordinary citizens?

  6. Fred says:

    Talking to you liberals about gun control is like talking to you about stem cell research. You have no clue what an assault weapon is and you can not deliniate between embryonic (zero cures) and adult (hundreds of cures) stem cell research.

    You also didn’t mention that Gardner is FOR armed guards in schools.

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