Q&A of the Day –Why Florida’s schools are safer today
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry...
No issues so far with Guardian? I love that MSM were expecting trained, licensed and law-abiding citizens to start shooting up schools.
Bottom Line: Right, I don’t know if news media were generally expecting teachers to shoot up classrooms, I only know that they were willing to fan the flames of fear driven by the ignorance of those with political agendas. What’s most frustrating to me isn’t opposition to the expansion of Florida’s Guardian program, it’s the premise of that opposition. None of it was/is based on facts. I’ve found numerous examples of “journalists” this week, members of Congress, who haven’t read the seven-page transcript of the Trump-Ukraine phone call. Given that’s the case, I can’t exactly be surprised by Florida’s news media not reading the 407-page report created by the Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission. The most absurd aspect of the ridged opposition to the expanded Florida Guardian program is that it was submitted as a key recommendation to improve school security. It’s as absurd as it is insulting to suggest that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s Safety Commission – led by many top Florida law enforcement officials – would make reckless recommendations to put our children in harm’s way. But rather than reading the recommendations and researching them,seemingly no investigative work was meaningfully done by major news agencies to bring you the truth I’ve routinely brought you. The truth includes these facts:
- Over 20 states allow teachers to carry in schools in some capacity
- 19 states explicitly allow teachers to carry in the classroom
- Florida’s Guardian program is the most rigorous of any in the country
- Not all educators who enter Florida’s Guardian program pass it
- Those who’ve completed Florida’s Guardian program have successfully completed more firearms training than members of the Police Academy
In context it paints a vastly different perspective than anything I’ve seen portrayed anywhere else in news media. Here we are in a state that mandates at least one-armed security official at every school in the state. The preference for school districts statewide is active members of law enforcement agencies. That was supported unanimously statewide. I guess I need to be the one to point out that teachers who’ve become Guardians, have successfully completed more firearms training than those in law enforcement. Again, the most pervasive form of bias in news media is omitting information. Here are some questions informed journalists might ask of South Florida’s School Districts... Why is it you’ve chosen to ignore the safety recommendations of the Stoneman Douglas Committee? Is your motivation to ignore the expanded Guardian program purely based on a political agenda? If not, why is it you’ve decided to opt out of a proven safety program for our schools?
20% of Florida’s teachers would like to be able to participate in program. There are 1,086 Guardians now in Florida’s schools. There would be many more Guardians and enhanced school security in South Florida’s schools; if we had school districts that’d base decisions on facts rather than political agendas.