The horrendous tragedy that occurred at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Aug. 27 is unacceptable. Let’s start there, Minnesota and America. Our kids cannot get shot while attending school. We all agree. We have all agreed for years, yet we, we Minnesotans and all Americans, have failed our communities’ children again.
Keeping our kids safe at school, that is a we issue, not an us-or-them issue, right? Not necessarily at the Minnesota Star Tribune. Minnesota’s “town square” appears open to discussions only on some potential actions, not others. Of course, keeping our children safe at school is an absolute for all Americans, so let’s consider what we can do in Minnesota and across America today.
We must provide safe and secure schools for our children to attend. Like planting a tree, the best time to do this was years ago; the second best time is today. Today means today. Not after another study, or another tragedy, or another election, or a special session; we must take action today to protect the approximately 950,000 Minnesotans attending our roughly 2,700 schools across Minnesota. The actions that will immediately make our kids safer at school are improved security procedures and infrastructure, as well as armed security personnel.
Following 9/11, Americans made a decision that turning airplanes into missiles to attack Americans was unacceptable. We took unprecedented actions to minimize this threat from ever occurring again. These security measures have cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of hours waiting in lines. Were the actions taken a perfect solution? No. Were they worth it? Yes.
Will improving the safety of 950,000 Minnesotan kids each day while they attend school be worth the cost? Yes, and it is affordable. One immediate action that can, and should, start today is to have at least one armed security guard or police officer at every K-12 school in Minnesota, including private and religious schools.
Every school has its own unique security environment. As such, the specifics of manning the minimum one armed security officer per school will differ — from an on-duty police officer, to an off-duty police officer, to a sheriff’s deputy, to an armed security professional, to a volunteer with appropriate training and experience.
One armed security officer at every school is not a perfect solution, and it is not the total solution, but it is a required element of every solution that we can put in place today to make our kids safer.
Based on some quick math, I’ve estimated that it would cost somewhere in the ballpark of $155 million per year. To contextualize that, the $18 billion surplus provided by Minnesota taxpayers to our elected leaders in 2023 could have covered this annual cost of one armed security guard at every school in Minnesota for 116 years. The 2024 legislative proposal to simply stop Minnesota taxpayers from providing “free” school lunch for kids whose parents make over $156,000 per year would save $170 million per year. Dollar for dollar, do Minnesotans prefer buying school lunches for those kids who can clearly afford their own lunch or funding one armed security officer at every school? Making our schools safer is not cheap, but it is affordable.
Armed security and enhanced school infrastructure clearly do not come close to addressing the myriad issues and pure evil associated with a 23-year-old man bringing three guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition to a Catholic church and deliberately targeting kids, but they are the most effective and immediate ways to improve the safety of our children at school today.
The pervasive mental health crisis occurring in our high school students and young adults must also be examined and actionable steps identified to improve this situation. Moreover, preventing deranged individuals who are a danger to society from accessing guns and ammunition must be addressed.
Today’s American high schoolers and young adults are the most medicated, most counseled, the most diagnosed with mental illness, and the most unhappy group of 15–25-year-olds in American history. The hate and anger present, often seemingly justified or rationalized through a victimhood mentality, must be addressed directly, by parents, families, mental health professionals and doctors.
Sadly, there is no quick answer or fix for these issues. However, security must come first.
Aug. 26 would have been a much better day to have taken action to better protect our kids at school, but the next best time is today.
Tom Weiler is a 20-year Veteran of the Submarine Force. He completed multiple submarine and aircraft carrier deployments across the INDO-PACIFIC and Middle East, as well as tours at the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, Pacific Fleet, and US European Command. He is a graduate of Notre Dame, Harvard, Old Dominion, and National Defense University. Tom is a candidate for the United States Senate in Minnesota.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not represent an official position of Alpha News.
Tom Weiler
Tom Weiler is a retired nuclear-trained submarine officer who is running for Congress as a Republican in Minnesota's Third Congressional District.
