{"id":18032,"date":"2022-06-01T00:15:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18032"},"modified":"2022-05-31T20:17:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T20:17:10","slug":"a-teacher-without-a-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/01\/a-teacher-without-a-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"A Teacher without A Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KEITH WILSON<\/em><\/p>\n

The door burst open into the dark room. I was under my desk in the corner, behind my rolling chair. I couldn\u2019t see their faces, but I could see five uniforms behind five guns aimed at my racing heart. I could hear their rapid-fire shouting just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHailey police! Get off the floor! Get off the floor! Hands up! Freeze! Hands up! I said hands up! Freeze!\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how fast or slow it happened, but I was off the floor, my hands were up, and I couldn\u2019t move even if I wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you? Why are you in this room? Who are you? Why are you in here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, one of them asked me, \u201cAre you a teacher?\u201d<\/p>\n

He stepped close enough that I could see his face. I\u2019d seen this officer around\u2014a young guy who thought he might have just captured a school shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was my prep period when the intercom system announced the lockdown, and I was working at my desk. I locked my door, turned off the lights, and pulled the blinds just like we had done in our drills. Then I continued working.<\/p>\n

When a half-hour passed, and I heard police checking the bathrooms on the other side of the wall, I knew it wasn\u2019t a drill, and I got under my desk.<\/p>\n

I sent a text message to my wife.<\/p>\n

Lockdown at the middle school<\/p>\n

No details yet but it\u2019s not a drill<\/p>\n

She responded right away.<\/p>\n

Yikes. Keep me posted. Be careful. Love you.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, she wrote, Don\u2019t be a hero. Get out.<\/p>\n

She had heard sirens. There were helicopters and ambulances and police in the street.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m by myself in my room. I can hear the resource officers checking the bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Well, if you hear anything, break the window and get out of there.<\/p>\n

It was a warm, sunny day. I thought I\u2019d be taking a quick walk outside, but as the bell transitioned from my prep period to lunch, I remained huddled under my desk. Now I was thinking I might run. I didn\u2019t need to break the window. I could open it, pull out the screen, slip out easily into the daylight, and run home.<\/p>\n

We often hear the same arguments about school shootings, about arming teachers, or at least allowing us the option.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers need to step up and protect our most sacred treasure\u2014the children!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers need to take responsibility instead of waiting while the police do their job for them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers need to understand that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun!\u201d<\/p>\n

A principal I worked with, at a different school in a different state, kept a gun strapped behind his lower lumbar. He encouraged us to follow suit.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI want them to know that if they\u2019re firing at us, we\u2019re firing back!\u201d<\/p>\n

Back then, I didn\u2019t fire back with opinions, but after those police busted into my classroom ready to shoot, I\u2019m glad I wasn\u2019t standing there with a gun. I\u2019m glad they hadn\u2019t come in to see me fleeing the scene. I\u2019m glad to be alive. Those good guys with guns had no idea that I wasn\u2019t the bad guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you know about the lockdown?\u201d an officer asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intercom system,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you hear any gunshots?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d he said. They promptly left the room, closing the door behind them.<\/p>\n

Some kid had popped a balloon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By KEITH WILSON The door burst open into the dark room. I was under my desk in the corner, behind my rolling chair. I couldn\u2019t see their faces, but I could see five uniforms behind five guns aimed at my racing heart. I could hear their rapid-fire shouting just fine. \u201cHailey police! Get off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-commentary","7":"category-schools"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18035,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18032\/revisions\/18035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}