Appearing on Monday's CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello to discuss the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Harry Houck asserted that he had a "big problem" with the Oregon college being a "gun-free zone," as he complained that such locations "lead lambs to the slaughter."
He went on to declare that, "If my kid went to that school, I'd be talking to that administration" about why they do not allow any guns at the school. After praising the local police for an unusually fast response time, he began his commentary:
One big problem I have here is that this is a gun-free zone, all right, and the fact that, that maybe if security officers were there that were armed, they could have been able to engage this guy with their weapons, and maybe we could have prevented some of this carnage. But what we've learned and a lot of people have known throughout the years, is that gun-free zones, all they do is lead lambs to the slaughter. And that's what happened here.
Houck went after the school's administration as he added:
And if I was a parent, and my kid went to that school, I'd be talking to that administration and say, "What is the problem here? Is this just your hatred for guns, why there's no guns here at this school? Or is it something else? And I want to know why, and I want the school's responsibility."
After correspondent Sara Sidner recalled that one unidentified person on scene had a concealed weapon but was afraid to use it out of fear that the police would arrive and think he was involved in the crime, Houck further explained how an armed security guard could have coordinated with police:
But if I can make one statement about that gentleman who did have a weapon -- concealed weapon -- if he was a security guard with a concealed weapon at that location, all right, he should have confronted that shooter, all right.
And at the same time, he should have had -- that school should have had some kind of connections and process with the police department in the event something like this happened so they would know, yes, there was one guy armed on that scene and he's wearing a uniform or whatever, all right, so that's no excuse not to engage that shooter at all if he was security.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Monday, October 5, CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello:
10:32 a.m.
HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think it's a great response time for a rural area. Usually, in large areas like that, police take 15, 20 minutes to get to a location, depending on how many police vehicles are out there countywide.
So I think the police response is excellent and the police engaging the shooter within 10 minutes they were there, having to find the shooter and go through that building so that they were safe, I think that's fantastic. They did a great job.
One big problem I have here is that this is a gun-free zone-
ANA CABRERA, CNN SUBSTITUTE HOST: Yup.
HOUCK: -all right, and the fact that, that maybe if security officers were there that were armed, they could have been able to engage this guy with their weapons, and maybe we could have prevented some of this carnage. But what we've learned and a lot of people have known throughout the years, is that gun-free zones, all they do is lead lambs to the slaughter. And that's what happened here.
And if I was a parent, and my kid went to that school, I'd be talking to that administration and say, "What is the problem here? Is this just your hatred for guns, why there's no guns here at this school? Or is it something else? And I want to know why, and I want the school's responsibility."
ANA CABRERA, CNN SUBSTITUTE HOST: That is one side of the debate, but I will say, I spoke with the president -- interim president -- of the community college and asked her a question about that, and she said, "When you have a person who has four or five guns," now we've learned, they confiscated six guns from campus-
HOUCK: Right.
CABRERA: -she said that, "Would one person with one gun have really made a difference?" And when you look at the response time, she thought, that, you know, maybe they couldn't have gotten there any faster. But let me follow up with Sara because I'm curious if this is prompting any changes.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, all it's prompting is a lot of sorrow in this community, and there are counseling services that are being offered right now at the college, although it will be closed for the week. I do want to mention something because there was someone who was armed with a concealed weapons permit who was on campus during all this.So there was someone with a gun that we heard from, and that person said the reason why he didn't engage is because he was worried that if the SWAT team showed up or the police showed up, that they would think that he might have been involved in some way. So there are a lot of debates to have about this, but right now, people don't want to get into the gun debate. They don't want to hear it anymore. What they want to do is try and heal each other. Ana?
(...)
HOUCK: But if I can make one statement about that gentleman who did have a weapon -- concealed weapon -- if he was a security guard with a concealed weapon at that location, all right, he should have confronted that shooter, all right, and at the same time, he should have had -- that school should have had some kind of connections and process with the police department in the event something like this happened so they would know, yes, there was one guy armed on that scene and he's wearing a uniform or whatever, all right, so that's no excuse not to engage that shooter at all if he was security.
