{"id":102330,"date":"2024-06-07T00:02:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T05:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102330"},"modified":"2024-06-06T16:37:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T21:37:52","slug":"102330","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102330","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Private school founder destroys every argument against arming teachers<\/a>
\nFlorida’s Inspiration Academy has had armed staff for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

When Eddie and Claire Speir founded\u00a0Inspiration Academy<\/a>\u00a011 years ago, not arming teachers wasn\u2019t even a consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was because of Columbine. We were in a spiritual war \u2014 we still are \u2014 and some people were crazy. We knew it was our duty to protect our students. Columbine changed a lot of things for educators,\u201d Speir told the Second Amendment Foundation Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Speir and his wife retired and moved to Florida in 2013 after selling their Colorado-based software firm. \u201cBut God had other plans,\u201d Speir said. The couple \u2014 with no formal background in education \u2014 launched Inspiration Academy, which began with just one paid employee.<\/p>\n

Today, Speir has more than 200 students and dozens of teachers, coaches and other professionals. His staff is armed and dedicated to protecting their students.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe, by God\u2019s grace, look for and develop teachers with high character who would be honored and are prepared to give their lives for our students,\u201d Speir said. \u201cIt\u2019s shameful that every superintendent doesn\u2019t feel the same way and develop a culture that reflects this attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The gun-ban industry has strong opinions about armed teachers, but they have no facts or data to support their arguments and certainly no actual experience. Speir has worked with an armed teaching staff for more than a decade, which makes him one of the country\u2019s leading subject matter experts.<\/p>\n

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Inspiration Academy\u2019s sprawling 30-acre campus, which is located in Manatee County, Florida, includes state-of-the-art classrooms and elite sports facilities. (Photo courtesy Inspiration Academy).<\/p>\n

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Inspirational<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Inspiration Academy<\/a>\u00a0is a private Christian school (grades 6-12 and post-graduate), which is \u201cdedicated to fostering the joy of academic discovery, discipline in sports and mentorship, wrapped around a community of family, care and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

It accepts no federal dollars and Speir, 55, serves as the Academy\u2019s superintendent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reflect the community we are in. We have an eclectic blend of world-class athletes, scholars and at-risk students,\u201d Speir said. \u201cBy God\u2019s grace we\u2019ve got some ridiculously talented baseball, softball and tennis players. We have five state records in powerlifting, and one American powerlifting record. We also have a large percentage of socioeconomically challenged and second-chance kids that we take risks on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiration Academy student-athletes have been recruited by major D1 schools, including Florida State, Florida, Kentucky, Yale University, Seton Hall, Oklahoma State, West Point and more. Other graduates have enlisted in the military.<\/p>\n

Inspiration Academy is incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, which made it easier for Speir to arm his staff.<\/p>\n

Florida law recognizes the right of heads of schools to authorize armed personnel in support of school safety, said Jacksonville attorney, Eric Friday, one of the most experienced Second Amendment litigators in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a private school, any government regulation of who can or cannot be armed on their property is a violation of their property rights,\u201d Friday said.<\/p>\n

Debunking propaganda<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Speir grew up hunting in Montana with his father. His first handgun purchase was a Star 9mm, which he said, \u201cjammed a bit.\u201d Today he carries a Dan Wesson revolver.<\/p>\n

Speir made quick work of Everytown for Gun Safety\u2019s\u00a0key findings<\/a>, which the Bloomberg-funded group touts as proof teachers should not be armed. He also disproved similar arguments from other anti-rights groups.<\/p>\n

1. Students will access teachers\u2019 guns.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Absolutely not. This has never happened \u2013 not once \u2013 not even an attempt. This is just plain dumb,\u201d Speir said.<\/p>\n

2. The risk of shootings increases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis argument is intellectually lazy, ignores all empirical evidence and just plays off people\u2019s emotions and fears. It doesn\u2019t make any sense. Evidence has shown that cities that have strict gun laws have the most crime. You have to look at the empirical evidence. What causes shootings is weakness. Reagan said we need to project strength. Our school is not a soft target, and we want everyone to know that. It\u2019s criminals who cause shootings, not law-abiding citizens. People should be armed and equipped to fight against criminals,\u201d Speir said.<\/p>\n

3. Arming teachers introduces new liability risks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c(Laughter<\/em>) In 11 years, the only problem I have ever had is people creating ridiculous scenarios based on some notion that guns are bad and therefore only the government should have guns,\u201d Speir said. \u201cIt\u2019s a ridiculous notion.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. An armed teacher cannot, in a moment of extreme duress and confusion, be expected to transform into a specially trained law enforcement officer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI completely disagree,\u201d Speir said. \u201cOur teachers will protect our students. I reject this statement at face value.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. An armed teacher is much more likely to shoot a student bystander or be shot by responding law enforcement than to be an effective solution to an active shooter in a school.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely reject that. Anyone with any kind of awareness would want weapons in the hands of good people during a difficult situation,\u201d Speir said. \u201cWhen weak-minded people create in the public\u2019s mind this notion \u2013 this Hollywood notion of an incompetent person with a gun \u2013 they endanger everyone. Even if it is an extremely scary and dangerous situation, good people will react appropriately, not firing indiscriminately as in some kind of Hollywood movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a06. Armed staff wouldn\u2019t have mattered at Uvalde.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that if teachers at Uvalde were armed, the death count would have been reduced,\u201d Speir said. \u201cIt would have been a praiseworthy story about the hero. However, these kinds of praiseworthy stories are usually quashed because of the mindset that only the government can protect us. Logically and logistically, it\u2019s stupid to rely on the government to protect us. Any honest sheriff would say the same thing. Any honest combat veteran would say the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Private school founder destroys every argument against arming teachers Florida’s Inspiration Academy has had armed staff for more than a decade. When Eddie and Claire Speir founded\u00a0Inspiration Academy\u00a011 years ago, not arming teachers wasn\u2019t even a consideration. \u201cIt was because of Columbine. We were in a spiritual war \u2014 we still are \u2014 and some … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-schools","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102331,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102330\/revisions\/102331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}