A growing number of Colorado’s 178 public school districts are enhancing security by allowing screened, trained faculty and staff – principals, coaches, janitors, teachers, school nurses and secretaries – to volunteer as security officers who carry concealed guns.

At first glance, understandably, the practice might seem frightening and dangerous. Upon further inspection, not as much.

Colorado Springs District 20 last week discussed the option at a school board study session that drew an online and in-person audience of hundreds. Given the makeup of the board, odds favor the district proceeding with a program to arm adult employees who volunteer and go through a rigorous qualification process.

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We have a crisis in this country of school massacres that must be resolved. Arming faculty and staff is not the right course for all districts, but for others it might provide the best, most tactically effective and efficient way to assure a mass murderer won’t be a lone gunman while cops race to the scene.

It’s a sad fact, but the best defense against a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun.

Typically, students, faculty and staff have no option but to hide under desks and in closets as a shooter kills at will without resistance. Few districts can afford an adequate number of uniformed security guards, who are easily detected by criminals.

In rural districts, law enforcement can take 20 minutes or more to arrive at the scene. In Colorado Springs, which struggles with a shortage of officers, response times average 14 minutes and 21 seconds. That’s enough time for a psychopath to cause unfathomable suffering and death.

District 20 board members and their employees should consider this idea carefully, from every angle – in conjunction with law enforcement – to determine if it would likely save lives in the event of a violent crime.

Any district considering this must contemplate the concerns of informed detractors. Before green-lighting it, board members should adopt impeccably high standards that allow only those who take rigorous gun-safety and defense courses.

Schools should certify only those who volunteer. Among that group, they must set a high fitness and character bar. They should be trained by law enforcement professionals to react like cops in the event of an attack on the school.

Statistically, concealed carry permit holders rarely commit crimes, let alone gun crimes. Here’s what facts tell us:

? Less than 0.003% of the country’s concealment permittees – 66 of more than 22 million – have killed with a gun, including those who killed in self-defense or the defense of others.

? Good adults with guns have prevented or curtailed mass shootings at Pearl Junior High in Mississippi, Parker Middle School in Pennsylvania, Players Bar and Grill in Nevada, New Life Church in Colorado Springs and others lesser known.

? A Gallup poll found nearly 60% of Americans believe concealed carry enhances public safety.

? A survey of 15,000 law-enforcement officers found 91% believe concealed carry should be allowed “without question and without further restrictions.”

We trust D-20 board members to give this proposal exhaustive due diligence. If they conclude the measure could enhance safety, they should move forward to ensure criminals with guns are stopped by one or more above-average adults whom we entrust with our kids.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board