ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida — a former student who was expelled for disciplinary reasons — was arrested for the shooting deaths of 17 students.

The left likes to use these tragedies to sing a song of gun control. But they’re making the wrong case.

What’s needed are more guns in the hands of the right people.

What’s needed is a concerted and widespread push for teachers, staffers, administrators to be given the rubber-stamp approval to conceal-carry firearms on school grounds.

Look at the alleged scenario of this latest tragedy.

“Cruz, equipped with a gas mask, smoke grenades and multiple magazines of ammunition, opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, killing 17 people and sending hundreds of students fleeing into the streets,” NBC wrote, citing police.

Other media reports said he first pulled the fire alarm to pour students into the hallway and then, after shooting, that he tried to blend in with those fleeing into the streets. This fits with the police telling that they apprehended him at home, after viewing surveillance video.

Now imagine the scenario where teachers at this school are armed — where administrators actually have guns at the ready — where it’s publicly known that staffers are maybe, maybe not carrying. It’s the last that’s key.

Never mind how many staffers are actually armed. Fact is, a gunman suspecting resistance — fearing resistance — may not even carry out gunning plans. Just the knowledge that some may be carrying could defray killings.

If Cruz thought a teacher or two were well-armed, would he have gone on his rampage in the first place?

Mull this: “Guns Saving Lives: 12 Stories Cited by Second Amendment Advocates,” a headline from Newsmax in late 2017.

Or this, from the Daily News in 2012: “Concealed weapons save lives.”

Or this, from National Review in 2015: “Gun-Free Zones Don’t Save Lives — Right to Carry Laws Do.”

Or this, from Gun Owners of America, way back in 2008: “Fact Sheet: Guns Save Lives: Section 8: Arm Yourself With The Facts.”

That’s right — the facts.

And the fact is: Metal doesn’t kill. Flesh does. And going after guns does nothing but give the criminals the upper hand. If we want to stop the senseless violence gripping America, the tragic incidents of death and mayhem at our schools, we have to address the root of this violence — the fact that our society is largely godless, morally drifting, wallowing in secularism, broken and damaged. Until then, let’s at least level the playing field and give administrators, teachers, staffers — those who’ve already been cleared to conceal carry — the ability to conceal carry in the classroom.

It’s for the children.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected].com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.