Officials are still combing through all of the details of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas yesterday and the body count is nothing short of obscene. We now know that the shooter was taken down by a Border Patrol officer who rushed in to put an end to the violence without waiting for backup. That hero took a bullet in the process himself but is expected to recover. Several other law enforcement officials were injured.

We already know that the President and many congressional Democrats are using this tragedy as an opportunity to demand new gun control laws. Joe Biden went on television to ask the question “when will we stand up to the gun lobby?” This won’t come as a surprise to anyone since it’s the same response we always hear after a mass shooting. And this is done despite the fact that from what we know thus far, no gun control laws currently on the table would have stopped the shooter from purchasing two firearms shortly after he turned 18. Even if “assault rifles” were banned, he could have simply purchased a different model.

The question that’s not being asked thus far is how the school was totally unprepared to stop the shooter before he made it into the building. When cowards like that kid decide to embark on that sort of atrocity, they choose the easiest target possible. Tragically, that all too often means a building full of helpless children and unarmed teachers and staff. By continuing to make schools “gun-free zones,” society creates invitations for scumbags like this kid to take advantage of the school’s vulnerability.

With all of that in mind, we should be revisiting the question of why the school had no armed security near the building’s entrances. Removing police from schools has been a growing fetish among liberals for the past several years and they’ve achieved a frightening amount of success. Last year alone, 33 more school systems in states including Virginia and California eliminated their “school resource officer” or “school safety officer” programs. They are being replaced by unarmed “restorative justice coordinators” in civilian clothing.

As Texas recovers from this tragedy, perhaps we need to be considering a different question. The killer at Robb Elementary School walked straight into the building carrying not one, but two long rifles. He could not possibly have concealed them in his clothing. Does anyone honestly believe that he would have made it inside if there had been an obviously armed, uniformed law enforcement officer, likely wearing some sort of body armor, standing outside the door? Do you think that little coward would have even tried?

I could understand how something like this might happen in Baltimore or San Francisco, where liberal officials have been fighting to defund the police and keep them off of school campuses. But this is Texas we’re talking about. People are supposed to be more sensible there. It seems like this should be a fairly easy and obvious choice. You can spend a huge amount of time debating new gun control laws in Washington that probably won’t pass and wouldn’t stop this type of shooting if they did. Or you can step up to the plate and put armed security officers at the doors of all the schools. I’m not a psychic, but I will predict that the number of mass shootings in schools will plummet if you do that.