Defensive training that teachers who carry guns inside schools need to learn

5-8% of teachers are physically attacked by a student each year. This means every armed teacher must know how to defend their gun against a combative child when shooting their student isn't justified.

Just like police officers (but without the same level of training and equipment), thirty-two states currently allow school staff and teachers to be armed inside classrooms. While a state law may allow a staff member to carry a gun, every school district also needs formal, written procedures that explain when a teacher is justified in using deadly force against a student. I’ve written about three big issues with armed staff in schools:

• What's the 'Use of Force Continuum' for armed teachers?

• Ep 11. Do armed teachers make schools safer? Dr. Jason Koele carries a gun at school and wrote his dissertation about it.

• Ohio is buying mobile shoot houses to train armed teachers

But there is another big problem that’s not getting very much attention and is putting students and teachers at risk. Without physical training to defend your weapon, it’s really easy to take a gun away from an armed person. If a student wants to commit a school shooting, it might be easier to grab a gun from an armed teacher instead of sneaking a weapon into the school.

If a student tries to grab a teacher’s gun inside a classroom, how long can that teacher control their weapon until help arrives? Without specific training for these situations, it’s hard to fight off a physical assailant for more than 30 seconds. That’s faster than the SRO on a large campus can make it to a classroom when an armed teacher hits a panic button.

Training drill to fight for control of a loose gun

In most physical brawl scenarios inside a classroom, a teacher would not be justified to shoot an unarmed student and there is a huge risk of errant shots striking bystander students. If a student is trying to take a gun from an armed teacher, that teacher needs to be able to hold on to their weapon until help arrives. This might be 1-2 minutes of a literal “fight for your life” if an angry student (or parent) gets control of the teacher’s gun.

When national survey data shows that 5-8% of teachers have been physically attacked by a student each year, weapon retention is a critically important skill for any armed teacher to know. While a physical attack is unlikely to be lethal, once a fight involves a gun, it’s very likely that someone inside a classroom will get killed or seriously injured.

Every person who carries a gun is responsible for protecting their weapon. If a teacher is unarmed, there is zero (0) risk of their gun being grabbed away and used to harm other students. Once a teacher decides to carry a firearm, there is a possibility of a student taking it. This is why every armed teacher needs training to reduce this risk.

To help demonstrate my points and some training techniques, I have help from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Matt Drinnan, the co-owner of the Orlando Grappling Club. For anyone who is unfamiliar, BJJ is a wrestling-based martial art focused on body control and using leverage—primarily on the ground—to achieve submissions and chokes. It usually takes 10+ years to earn a black belt in BJJ (I’m a slow learner 16 years in).

Important Note: We are wearing clothing that doesn’t have buckles, snaps, zippers, pockets, or any metal. We also aren’t wearing shoes, jewelry, rings, watches, or earrings. Unlike a police officer, we don’t have on a hard plastic holster, equipment belts, or any metal items. The training gun is rubber without exposed metal. This is because any rigid edged, sharp, or metal objects can hurt your training partner or damage a very expensive wrestling mat.

Drill 1: Controlling a loose gun

There are lots of situations in a physical struggle where a gun can end up on the ground. Imagine a student pulls a gun during a fight in a crowded hallway (most common situation for a shooting on campus), and the gun gets knocked from his hands onto the ground. A skill that every armed teacher or school security guard needs to master is controlling a loose gun until help arrives.

In our first training scenario, we start with the gun on the floor between us and then fight for control until someone has two hands on the gun with the barrel pointed at the other person. Throughout the struggle, we both try to keep the barrel pointed away from ourselves. Inside a classroom, a teacher would also want to control the gun in the opposite direction of other students.

This might look simple but as soon as you have two hands on the gun, your opponent has a free hand to use against you. For example, when I get control of the gun with two hands (grey uniform), Matt (black uniform) grabs my arm with his free hand, breaks my posture, and I come out on the losing end once we roll through a scramble.

Basic martial arts training isn’t enough for these specific scenarios that involve controlling a gun. When we roll through positions right before I’m shot, I end up in a very strong wrestling position (side control). The instinct to transition into this position was a fatal mistake for me because controlling the gun is more important than controlling my partner’s body position. The only way to learn the skills needed to control a gun is continuous training and practice that is focused on dealing with weapons.

Drill 2: Defending your gun against an aggressor

While it might seem like an armed teacher will deter a violent aggressor, there are actually very few situations when a teacher can justify shooting an unarmed student. Likely scenarios where a student might try to grab a teacher’s gun could be when a teacher is:

1. Breaking up a fight between students.

2. Holding down an aggressive student until help arrives.

3. Defending against a student who is trying to take the teacher’s gun to commit a school shooting.

In each of these situations, protecting the gun is a self-defense disadvantage. Maintaining control of a gun is a challenge because a person carrying a gun—who isn’t in a situation that justifies shooting their attacker—needs to constantly keep one hand free to protect their weapon. This means the attacker has two hands versus a defender with one hand.

In the video, when Matt (black uniform) maintains distance, I can’t get to his gun. Once I’m able to close the distance and control Matt’s arm, it’s easy for me to grab the gun from his belt to defeat him in the scenario.

In our training demonstration we also don’t strike or punch each other. During a fight in a classroom, an armed teacher would need to keep control of their gun while also defending against both wrestling and getting punched. It is very difficult to block punches with one hand while also trying to control the angry student and protect your gun…all at the same time.

Drill 3: Physical control while armed

Wrestling a combative person is completely different when you are armed and need to also protect your own gun from being grabbed or taken away. During a fight in a classroom, an armed teacher or security officer can’t just start shooting at an unarmed student. Instead, breaking up a fight or controlling a combative student requires physical control while also protecting your weapon.

Trying to control someone while also protecting my gun is not a natural or intuitive skill. During a normal wrestling, boxing, or BJJ match, I would stand square (straight on) to my opponent. It’s usually ideal to be square to your opponent because you have good balance and can move in either direction. Once one leg is forward, you have more limited options in movement and poor balance.

In this video when I need to protect the gun, I need to focus on standing at an angle with my right hip (where a concealed gun would be carried) positioned away from the attacker. Constantly keeping my right hip away dramatically reduces how freely I can move and control the positions. There are lots of positions where I would lead with or drop my right hip but doing that would expose my gun.

As I try to control the position, Matt starts reaching for my gun and I need to back away which gives up the positional advantage that I had gained. When a gun is involved, there is a constant balance between closing distance and keeping him more than arm’s length from my weapon. In a simple wrestling match, I wouldn’t need to worry about his arms reaching my right hip but training with a gun changes everything!

Drills for Armed School Staff and Teachers

Weapon Retention Drill

Equipment:

• Training Weapon: Rubber pistol (commonly called a ‘blue gun’).

• Protective Gear: Mouthguards, padded gloves, boxing headgear, and gymnastics or wrestling mats (almost every school has these).

• Clothing: Athletic clothing without zippers, buckles, or pockets and no shoes (these can hurt your partner or damage a wrestling mat).

• Training Partner: Someone to act as the aggressor.

• Showers: If you haven’t wrestled before, you will get extremely sweaty within seconds. Make sure you have a towel to wipe your sweat off during the training sessions and a change of clothes so that you can shower immediately after to avoid skin infections.

• First Aid Kit and AED: Ice packs, gauze, Band-Aids, Neosporin, and liquid skin for minor cuts and scrapes.

Warning: Wrestling and physical contact has the risk of bumps, bruises, cuts, blackeyes, chipped teeth, sprains, strains, concussions, broken bones, and very hurt egos. These training risks are something you need to accept if you carry a gun and need to defend it from an aggressor.