No, I am not prejudiced. That is the wrong word here, so frequently misused. It means thinking or acting without pertinent knowledge, in other words, pre=before, judiced=judicial thought or inquiry. I know much about what I am about to say, and as a result I am biased, but not prejudiced. Biased toward the good I would argue. But let me go on.

I own no handguns, no semi-automatic rifles, nor have I fired one this side of Vietnam, where I was a tech rep with the TOW program—a  very small guided missile, which killed enemy tanks, like the one pictured at right. [VDARE.com note: That's McInnish himself pictured at right with a CAR-15.] I just have in my closet two .22 rifles, left over, so to speak, from my youth. (I am now a sophomoric octogenarian. If you don’t want to spend any of your cognitive energy trying to figure that one out, just settle for this. I am old as hell! And, like the Pope, although a Protestant, enjoying this era of my life.)

One more thing I need to humbly confess in this tell-it-all confession: I am a longtime and devoted member of the NRA. Not because I collect guns, nor that I am a hunter anymore, but that I want to support the NRA’s splendid dedication to our Second Amendment.

Now, a couple of years ago I sparked a move here in Alabama to arm the faculties in our schools. Being a former candidate for Congress (Lost in the GOP primary by 23 votes out of 50,000 cast.), and a member of the GOP State Committee, I began with an appeal to the state chairman and other leaders, who agreed at least to examine the proposal. With the help of others, I made inquiries of a number of people, including the sheriffs in several of our counties. To abbreviate this story, for my plan, its time had not come, not least because law enforcement officials seemed to feel that such an idea would be an incursion into their territory. So, my initiative died on the vine.

With the unspeakably horrible tragedy in Florida, the ferment to “do something” is active again, has the time come now to look again at such proposals. I will tell you about mine in the hope that it might lend some merit to this sorely needed discussion of how we can protect our students.

First off, we should rid ourselves of any notion that anybody wants to convert a school to an OK Corral. Far from it. Here are the salient points of my proposal:

• There would be a state committee composed of volunteers who would oversee the program. Candidates to be armed would, first of all, have to freely volunteer. No pressure, however slight, should be applied to gather recruits.
• Many candidates would likely come from former male military or police 0fficers, although there is no obvious reason that women should be excluded. After all, surprising a shooter would be advantageous, and who would expect a schoolmarm to be packing a rod?
• Those selected would attend a training regimen approved by, say, the FBI. In addition, recruits would be thoroughly vetted with respect to their psychological fitness. I have been told that no-nonsense Israel arms some of their teachers. If true, why not draw on their experience and expertise?

This is a drastic proposal. But is it unlikely that any milquetoast “program” will give our students the security they need?