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"The handguns we carry aren’t much use against someone with a semiautomatic rifle who can be accurate from 100 yards," he said.
Stone said he’s working on getting high-powered weaponry to be carried in all patrol cars, as well as stepping up "tactical" training for street officers during armed standoffs.

Sheriff Stone was quoted as saying his officers were "way outgunned" by the two teen-aged killers.

Now let's think about this a minute. Is Sheriff Stone implying that had his men been able to lay their hands on high powered rifles, they would have used them against the Columbine attackers? Does he really want us to think that rules of engagement in his jurisdiction would allow law enforcement officers to fire rifles inside a school with children running through the halls and hiding in classrooms? Surely not! But his words (as reported) suggest just that, incredible as it may seem.

Sheriff Stone says his officers were "outgunned". Is this a true statement? Can two men armed with ordinary semi-auto pistols and rifles really "outgun" a dozen or more trained, professional police officers armed with revolvers and shotguns?  Well, that would depend on the terrain, correct? In open country a man with a good rifle might have a considerable tactical advantage over several men armed with short-range weapons, like shotguns and pistols. In combat in open country, the range of weapons may be decisive. I submit that the inside of a high school with scores, maybe hundreds, of children in it is not a setting in which long range weapons are advantageous, or even usable -- at least no responsible professional would use a high-powered rifle in a building full of children. The criminals had a rifle, and they had bombs. But that could not justify the use of rifles and bombs by police officers. Columbine was not open country or anything like it. I would be amazed if Sheriff Stone, confronted with the implication of his words, would seriously argue that his men should have been able to blast their way into the school with high powered rifles.

Sheriff Stone's odd comment about being outgunned may indicate that he's uncomfortable about something. And he should be: That day at Columbine High School, his deputies made a serious tactical mistake. This mistake was due to a leadership failure, a failure to understand the situation, and a lack of professional resolve.

Officers arrived at the high school. There was shooting inside and children running out of the doors, with many children obviously still inside. It wasn't a take-up-positions-call-in-SWAT-team situation. A decisive order should have been issued: "Move toward the sound of gunfire through any door;  immediate rush essential; return fire only at close range; casualties likely. Go."

Several ambulances should have been called for as police moved in rapidly.

Columbine was not a standoff or a hostage situation. A murderous criminal attack was underway, and in military terms, the enemy had to be located and subdued or destroyed, without hesitation, knowing there would be a cost. At Columbine no police officers died or were seriously wounded -- telling evidence of the tactical error and leadership failure.

Now, to put this in perspective a bit, there probably isn't one police force in ten in this country that would have behaved differently under similar circumstances, and most of us, in all honesty, would have to wonder if we would do the courageous, self-sacrificing thing in an  analogous situation. This is something for sober-minded contemplation: In a moment of fear and confusion, would I...?

Yet while we admit that most of us would have failed in the same way Sheriff Stone failed (it was indeed his failure), we should not avert our eyes from the truth, and the sheriff should not be encouraged to make silly excuses for the conduct of his deputies. Great leaders are humble and truthful. They have a way of learning from their errors, and applying the lessons. Hopefully, police and sheriff's departments throughout the nation -- some of them with great leaders -- will carefully study and absorb an important lesson from the tactical failure at Columbine High School.

Peter Barry 11/22/1999

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