NRA Proven Wrong as Armed Deputy on Campus Couldn’t Prevent CA School Shooting

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 01:30 am

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So much for the NRA’s talking points on armed patrols putting an end to gun violence in schools. Vice President Joe Biden’s presentation on how the Obama administration plans to address gun violence in the United States was interrupted today by news of yet another school shooting. This one happened in a school that has “a uniform deputy sheriff monitoring campus ‘before, during and after school.'”

At least one person (possibly two) was shot at Taft Union High School in Taft, California (120 miles northwest of Los Angeles, 30 miles west-southwest of Bakersfield) this morning. The student who was shot is reported to have been airlifted to a Bakersfield hospital. Some reports say a second victim (possibly a teacher) denied medical care. The shooter, who is believed to be a student, was taken into custody at about 9:20 AM.

23ABC News of Bakersfield, California reported receiving phone calls from people inside the school who were hiding in closets.

As noted by Think Progress, White House Correspondent for the Huffington Post Sam Stein tweeted: Taft High School does have a uniform deputy sheriff monitoring campus “before, during and after school.”

Stein has since confirmed that:

This means that an armed deputy sheriff did not prevent a school shooting. Ray Pruitt, spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, said he believes the student/suspect used a shotgun in the attack.

Parents are being told to pick their children up at the football field. ABC7 of Los Angeles just tweeted that the shooter is in custody, “Officials say at least 2 shot; shooter now in police custody.”

Update: The AP reports that a teacher and a staffer “talked” the shooter down, “‘THEY TALKED HIM INTO PUTTING THE SHOTGUN DOWN’:A teacher and another staffer at a California high school are credited with neutralizing a 16-year-old after he shot one student and fired at another.”

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