AARON LEWIS's Solution To Ending Mass Shootings In Schools: Arm The Teachers

Aaron Lewis says that doubled down on the notion that "a good guy with a gun" is the only thing that can stop "a bad guy with a gun."

The 50-year-old STAIND frontman repeated the message frequently amplified by right-leaning media outlets during his June 12 solo concert at General Duffy's Waterhole in Redmond, Oregon.

He told the crowd: "[The only thing that] is ever going to stop an evil person with evil intentions with a gun is a good person with the intestinal fortitude with a gun to stop the situation. You wanna stop our schools from getting shot up? Put guns in the schools. Our kids are around guns at home all the time. What the fuck difference does it make? I'd feel safer to know that my kids' teacher was qualified and certified and had the all-lawful-purposes license to carry a concealed weapon and chose to do so for the safety of my kids."

Aaron made his comments in the wake of last month's mass shooting in a Uvalde, Texas elementary school which resulted in the deaths of at least 19 children and two adults.

The Uvalde massacre came only 10 days after an 18-year-old gunman in body armor killed 10 shoppers and workers at a supermarket in a predominantly black area of Buffalo, New York.

This past Monday, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns in class after 24 hours of training. Previously more than 700 hours of training was required before a teacher would be allowed to carry a gun in a school safety zone.

Florida requires a 144-hour training program at a minimum, including 12 hours of a certified nationally recognized diversity training program and 132 hours of comprehensive firearm safety, according to the Florida Department of Education.

A longtime researcher of school shootings recently told NPR that he has found that arming teachers isn't a good strategy "because it invites numerous disasters and problems, and the chances of it actually helping are so minuscule."

According to CNN, the number of U.S. deaths from gun violence in 2019 was about 4 per 100,000 people. That's 18 times the average rate in other developed countries. Multiple studies show access to guns contributes to higher firearm-related homicide rates.

In a 2011 interview with Outdoor Life, Lewis said that he's been hunting deer since he "was old enough to keep up in the woods, probably age 4 or 5."

As for what his preferred method of hunting is, Aaron said: "I generally leave the guns at home when I'm hunting deer. It's a lot more challenging to get a deer close enough to dispatch it with a compound or recurve bow. Sometimes I'll use a muzzleloader at the end of the season. And to make the hunt last as long as it can, I'm pretty picky about what I kill."

Asked if the other members of STAIND shared his passion for hunting, Lewis said: "No, no one else in my band is a hunter. The drummer is borderline PETA, so he and I don't talk about it very much. Actually, I make it a point to talk to him about it as much as I can."

Photo courtesy of Aaron Lewis's Instagram