It should be at least as difficult to get into a school in Colorado as it is to get into the State Capitol.

That this is a topic of debate in Colorado and across the country is not only an irresponsible dereliction of society’s responsibility to protect our most vulnerable, but a triumph of ideological rigidity over basic common sense.

There are at least three problems that can be solved if we all occasionally embrace reality.

It’s a tragic fact that the potential for mass casualty is constant which makes strong and prudent security a must. That’s true at airports, professional sporting events, concerts and the State Capitol. 

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And yet, though many schools in Colorado have taken strong steps forward in improving the physical security in their schools – including enhancing the security of entry ways and beefing up the presence of school resource officers (SROs) – this is far from comprehensive from district to district. 

The resistance to creating the security environment that would provide a higher level of protection is usually represented by the inane talking point, “we don’t want to turn schools into prisons.”

You like them as morgues better? 

The consequences of this saucer-deep thinking were seen at Denver East High School last month. The current holder of the title of Worst School Board Member in America – Denver Public Schools’ Tay Anderson – led the fight in 2020 to remove armed, professional police officers from the schools. 

Anderson, in the throes of boundless naivete, believed the $750,000 invested in protecting students and educators was better spent on counselors, mental health professionals and others. This then put unarmed school staff members in the position of patting down students who have been identified as a threat to themselves or others. 

Following the tragic wounding of two staff members following a pat down – and the subsequent suicide of the suspect – Anderson and the school board demonstrated their grasp of the obvious and decided it was a good idea to bring back the police. 

You think? 

A second needless impediment to top-flight school security is the time continually devoted to meaningless or misfocused gun control legislation that too often targets the law-abiding citizen. My interest here is not a debate about gun control, although as a Second Amendment supporter, I find most proposals either utterly unconstitutional or largely ineffective in preventing murderous rampages.  

Wouldn’t a comprehensive bipartisan serious package on truly hardening all schools, including private and religious schools, be the best first step? Then at least lawmakers can engage in the endless gun control debates knowing they have taken strong, lasting steps to deter violence. 

I won’t stay up late waiting for the legislature to make on-site prevention a priority over talking points and punditry.

It is ironic the continuing resistance to ramping up school protections, including providing trained, armed professionals, is done from within a building guarded by trained, armed professionals. 

Few would today suggest, after an armed intruder was shot at the Capitol in 2007, that the presence of the State Patrol, X-ray machines and magnetometers turns the Capitol into a prison.   

But this is tolerated and endorsed for our schools every day by the anti-gun, anti-security, anti-law-enforcement left. 

Why would people at the Capitol consider themselves more worthy of high-quality, professional armed protection than our kids? 

Here’s the third reality. There are very bold solutions available, and they should be studied dispassionately. 

One that gets little substantive attention from the chattering classes is to have willing school staff members engage in intensive and detailed training to carry firearms and defend against a homicidal intruder.   

Programs such as FASTER or Able Shepherd are not for anyone but the most motivated, nor are they for the faint of heart. I completed the first phase of Able Shepherd training run by former Navy SEAL Jimmy Graham and it is intense, physically and mentally demanding and exacting. This is just the first level, a long way, in my opinion, from being ready to combat an invading murderer. 

Open-minded, security-focused school board members should at least investigate how these programs, operated by serious, experienced people I respect and admire, can enhance the security of their buildings, and help increase protection for students and staff. 

A thought experiment: would you rather have a large sign in front of your kids’ school announcing the staff are armed and use force necessary to protect the building? Or would you prefer eager social workers be the first line of defense at the school door backed by unarmed educators ready to pat down the potentially violent? 

More importantly, what would your kids say?

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.