Farmingdale, New York – Roughly two dozen school districts in New York City’s reddish suburbs, preferring a show of force to further restricting Second Amendment rights in the Empire State, have deployed armed guards to protect children. Approved the dispatch.
One such school district is the Farmingdale School District in eastern Nassau County, which serves more than 5,100 students.
A coalition of parents, students and school district staff pushed for the measure, which the school board approved in February, but many local residents told Fox News Digital this week they didn’t know about it. . However, many people supported this idea.
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A side entrance to Farmingdale High School in Long Island, New York, on Friday, May 17, 2024. The Farmingdale School District has approved a plan to increase the number of armed guards outside the building to combat the threat of an active shooter. (Richard Harvath for Fox News Digital)
The district’s plan was announced by Superintendent Paul Defendini in a letter obtained by police. Local Patches, station armed guards outside schools. Security personnel are authorized to enter the building only to respond to an active shooter and must otherwise remain outside. Smithtown, another large area in neighboring Suffolk County, implemented similar measures in 2023.
About 17% of the estimated 420,000 students in both counties are currently protected by armed guards, according to the report. On Newsday, It costs about $1 million per year per district. Other school boards are also continuing to consider the idea.
WATCH: Farmingdale residents discuss their thoughts on school district hiring armed security guards
“I have grandchildren, I don’t want them to be hurt,” Deborah, a woman from the area, told Fox News Digital. “I mean, with the violence we’re seeing right now, a few dollars won’t kill us. It will save our lives.”
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Amid growing safety concerns across the country, residents of Farmingdale, New York, protested after their local school board approved a plan to station armed guards outside their schools. (Richard Harvath, Fox News Digital)
“It’s about time,” said Bob Clemente, another resident.
“I think it was money well spent,” he said. “Especially when so many children are dying.”
At a school board meeting that preceded the decision to hire the security guards, opponents argued that the district had no active shooter incidents and that armed security may be excessive. But in Newtown, Conn., just across the Long Island Sound, a gunman killed 26 people in 2012, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7.
Connecticut State Police are at the scene of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 90 miles northeast of New York City. (Jessica Hill)
“When you’re talking about children’s lives and there’s a threat of violence in school, it’s worth every penny to protect them,” Deborah added.
Experts say the best response to an active shooter is forceful. Police are trained to respond immediately to active threats. But supporters of armed security say having someone on campus to confront attackers would allow for a faster response.
Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent who investigated the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, said: “It’s humbling, but it’s the reality for parents sending their children to school.” Told. “When a shooter enters school grounds, every second counts.”
Parker added that unprotected schools are attractive targets for violent psychopaths who want to prey on defenseless children.
Violent criminals prey on soft targets. School shootings are usually thoroughly planned well in advance. Archers often scout the areas of least resistance and inflict the most damage when carrying out their nefarious plans.
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Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Resource Officer Scott Peterson leaves the courtroom after hearing his case at the Broward County Courthouse on Monday, May 23, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. leave. Broward County prosecutors filed criminal charges against Peterson, a former Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy, for failing to enter Building 1200 of the school and confronting the shooter. The jury found him not guilty at trial. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated Press)
“Obviously, schools are one of the most vulnerable places because a large number of minors are supervised by a small number of administrators and teachers. They usually have no idea how to protect themselves and their students from enemies. “I don’t have one,” she told FOX News Digital. . “Having armed security and law enforcement officers at school entrances is critical to protecting innocent people.”
But a security guard’s value is directly related to their training and motivation to act, she explained.
As for how it impacts taxpayers, I believe that protecting local children in schools is something everyone should want to do.
“As we’ve seen in places like Uvalde and Parkland, armed security guards and police officers are useless if they’re not willing to do their job,” she said.
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Law enforcement officers stand in the hallway after a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. (Texas House Investigation Committee/Handout via Reuters)
In Parkland, armed teenagers stormed the school on Valentine’s Day in 2018 while then-school security officer Scott Peterson hid outside, killing 17 people, 14 of them students. Last year, prosecutors charged Peterson with failing to stop the shooting, but a jury acquitted him of child abuse charges.
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Then, on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, children trapped in a classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911 for help.
Police stood in the hallway for 77 minutes before a U.S. Border Patrol tactical team broke through the door and shot the gunman dead. By that time, the gunman had massacred 19 children and two adults.
“Many politicians are using school shootings and mass shootings as an opportunity to focus on gun control,” Parker said. “I believe in responsible and legal gun ownership. I have yet to meet a violent shooter who has no regard for gun control. Someone who is willing to shoot and kill innocent people. has no respect for human life, let alone gun control.”
