Within hours of massacre, Fox News calls for arming literally ‘anyone’

Inspired by Friday’s deadly mass shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, Fox News offered up a new solution for stopping school shootings: Just give guns to “anyone” who spends time in schools.

The absurd idea was proposed by a Fox guest on Friday afternoon, as the right-wing network engaged in its usual ritual of blaming everything other than guns for gun violence, and calling to reduce gun violence by throwing more guns into the mix.

When news of the shooting first broke, Fox predictably called for putting more armed guards in school.

A short time later, however, that talking point was deflated when it was reported that the school did have an armed guard — and despite having a gun and the training to use it, the officer was shot and suffered life-threatening injuries.

But Fox wasn’t about to let that get in the way of an opportunity to push for more guns.

Instead of taking this as a sign that more guns may not be the solution to gun violence, frequent Fox guest Buck Sexton saw the news and decided that if armed guards aren’t enough to stop school shootings, then clearly the answer is to arm everyone — or in his words, “anyone.”

“This is where I think the conversation about people on campus who are trained personnel, adults who have concealed carry permits, also comes into play,” Sexton told co-anchor Julie Banderas.

Asked if he was referring to arming teachers, Sexton said yes — but he didn’t stop there.

“Teachers, anyone — it could be teachers, could be maintenance personnel, could be athletic coaches,” Sexton said.

Yes, you read that correctly. Sexton is calling to arm teachers, janitors, coaches — and “anyone” who hangs around schools on a regular basis.

Besides being an absurd idea on its face, Sexton’s push to put guns in the hands of “anyone” ignores the reality of mass shootings. Active shooter situations are chaotic, and successfully using a weapon to stop such an incident is rare even among highly trained personnel.

According to research on active shooter incidents, “trained law enforcement officials have only an average 20 percent hit ratio in armed confrontations, meaning that only 20 percent of shots fired hit the intended target.”

Putting more guns in schools not only fails to protect students — it actually risks putting them in greater danger. That’s why teachers, parents, students, law enforcement, and most Americans roundly the reject the idea of arming teachers.

Given the widespread opposition to arming teachers, it’s safe to say that Fox News’ proposal to arm “anyone” won’t exactly be a popular one — except, of course, within the NRA, which supports any plan that puts more guns in the hands of anyone, regardless of the consequences.