I was surprised to see my home state of Kansas on this list, because there was an incident in 1985 in which a school principal was killed by a junior high student. Then I realized that this site chronicles incidents since 1990.
This Wikipedia page purportedly lists all school shootings in the U.S. since 1764. I would suspect that the above list would be shorter if all shootings in the last 250 years were included.
This clarification is not meant to detract from the original point of Ann’s post, which was that Ditka’s premise is flawed. I pointed out the same flaw in a previous post. Still waiting for a response.
If I make the same analysis using the Wiki Page the results are pretty much the same. Most states have never had a mass school shooting. Utah is nothing special. I came up with 31 states that never had a mass shooting but I may be off by one or two as I had to look up many incidents to find out what states they happened in.
I think this page is a better source than the one I used earlier as most of the incidents from my earlier source were not mass shootings, they included things like non-student suicides in school parking lots. Or a Utah incident where a student was shot in a park near the school. And my list included all incidents with multiple fatalities ( which was only 2 in many cases ).
But the Wiki Page counts college incidents. Including Kent State, which does not bolster any sort of good guy with a gun argument.
In any case, the end result is the same. Most states have not had a fatal mass shooting in their schools,
I suspect that tells us a lot more about the relatively narrow range of people you’ve met than any sort of universal truth about people with actual military training.
I’m not. Let’s try to stay on topic. Sheriff Richard K. Jones of Butler County, Ohio has actual military training as a combat engineer and wants to see armed teachers in school. x.com
Out of the ones I personally know, whose opinions on the matter I’ve heard, this would hold true:
Former USMC infantryman, post-Vietnam era; also a well regarded Martial Arts instructor and a CCW holder; political centrist; thinks it’s a stupid idea.
Former USMC infantryman, volunteered for Vietnam and was awarded a Purple Heart; politically far left, Sanders supporter; thinks it’s an incredibly stupid idea.
Former Army officer, served in Vietnam and earned a Bronze Star; currently a professor; politically center-left; thinks it’s a ridiculously stupid idea.
The one outlier: former Army helicopter pilot who served from Vietnam all the way through to the very beginning of the second Iraq war and retired as a Major; extremely eclectic politically (and in every other way), leans far left on some issues and far right on others. He thinks it’s a good idea, but I don’t think he believes ALL teachers should literally be armed, just that those who already carry should be allowed to.
I would put the opinion of those with decades of military training and experience, along with experience in a classroom, over someone with only 2 years in the military and no experience in the classroom.
Our good Sheriff Jones wants to be the next Arpaio, and is more interested in saying highly controversial things to get himself into the national spotlight than he is in actually solving the problems. It will be interesting to see if he continues getting support in 2020. He’s fairly popular with the very conservative population of Butler, but there are quite a number of parents in the school districts of the county that are very vocal in their disagreement with him on putting guns in the classrooms with their kids.
Naval NCO, Senior Chief rank, SEAL Teams 1 and 2, deployed in 80s. Also worked for Blackwater in Pakistan. Also former EMT. Currently retired from the Navy. Definition of a big-hearted, stand-up guy. He is politically eclectic but, when averaged out, a moderate IMO. Believes that teachers with proper training and experience should be allowed and encouraged to CCW at school. Does NOT think that “arming all the teachers” is a realistic solution.
^ oh, he also has very harsh words for the police officers who failed to engage the shooter. He said that a teacher who developed a bond with the students and had a “mother hen” mentality towards them - which I take it is fairly common - and who happened to be a trained CCW holder, would be far more likely to risk life and limb to protect them.
I’m not yet seeing the relevance between your question and arming teachers, but from what little research I’ve done so far, the answer is either no, or very little. I did find this:
