On Friday, Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the Parkland shooting in February, appeared on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” to discuss safe schools in the wake of the Texas shooting.
After speaking about how his life will never be the same following the death of his daughter, and how he feels for the families of the dead in the Texas Shooting because their lives will likewise never be the same, Pollack had the following exchange with Cooper:
COOPER: You talk about anger, and I know you have been turning that anger into action ever since your daughter was killed. You’re focusing on school safety. Do you think anything has changed? I mean, are we in the same place as we were before the Parkland shooting?
POLLACK: Well, I think not much has changed because it happened again. You know, after 9/11, there hasn’t been one hijacking that I know of … but today, we sit here, me and you, talking and it’s the 22nd school shooting of this year. Now when is enough going to be enough where people say listen, we need to have single-point entries and metal detectors at the school just like in a courthouse or at a stadium. We’re safe in a stadium, but we let our kids go to school and they’re not safe.
[It’s important to note here that Pollack cited a false statistic. There have not been 22 “school shootings” this year. There have been 22 incidents of gun violence on or near school property. Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro breaks down that false statistic here. Additionally, you can watch Texas reporter Tiffany Craig debunk the statistic here.]
COOPER: You have an organization, [Americans for Class] … and that’s the focus, to try to change and focus on school safety issues?
POLLACK: Well, what I got involved with is, I don’t want it to be politicized. It shouldn’t be in this country where people make it political. [The] Left, the Right. You know, we all have kids. So after a lot of these shootings, I saw that a lot of the focus was just on guns, and for me, it really bothered me because it’s something that every American wants … our kids being safe. And that’s something we can do right away. So that’s why I started Americansforclass.org, to work with parents throughout the country on keeping our kids and our teachers safe because look at our society, Anderson. We grew up in times where we were safe at school. I met with over a hundred teachers in the Parkland area, and [they] still to this day do not feel safe going to school, and the students don’t feel safe.
Pollack also appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto, where he again advocated for school safety measures, saying: “When’s the country just gonna say listen, it’s enough? We need single point entries with metal detectors.”
He added: “After 9/11, we formed the TSA, we fixed it; there hasn’t been another hijacking since that event.”
Cavuto and Pollack then had the following exchange:
CAVUTO: When you were at the White House, and you were very clear and very understandable, the president indicated there were no sacred cows — that included the NRA; that included those who were loath to bring more security onto school campuses, or for that matter, hire more guards, period, or arming teachers or counselors. All of these ideas are being bounced around again. What do you think is the most important thing to do?
POLLACK: It’s a process. It can’t just be one step, you know? There’s layers of security. So you have to start with the security of … entry points. You’ve gotta have limited entry points. You need metal detectors, and you need armed guards. It’s really three layers of security to protect our kids.
Pollack went on to talk about legislation he’s advocating that would have trained and armed personnel (perhaps veterans and retired law enforcement) stationed in schools.