School Arms Staff With Guns, Performs Drills With Students

INSIDE EDITION reports from one school that is preparing their staff and students against a potential school shooting, and they're doing it with guns.

A crazed gunman with a semi-automatic rifle runs into a schoolyard and the children are in his crosshairs.

"I'm gonna kill somebody in here," he shouts.

Then, he bursts into the auditorium and is surprised by students who swarm him as the younger children hide underneath the seats.

But, it isn't what you think. It's actually a drill. A drill at a parochial school, and the guy with the gun is the pastor.

Larry Allen is the pistol packing pastor of the New Life Baptist Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Allen is a Brooklyn-bred former cop who actually trains his students to fight back against a psychopathic shooter.

"You don't go to a gunfight with a knife," said Allen.

When one sees this video, they might think this guy is crazy, putting the children in danger. But Pastor Larry doesn't see it that way.
    
INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret asked, "Did you hear from time to time, 'This sounds crazy. You must be crazy?'"

"Yes. So, what I'm telling people now when they criticize me, we're doing our very best to take care of their kids where we have less casualties and all survivors," said Allen.

Carrying guns in New Mexico is legal and they're also legal on campus because it's a private school. Many of the teachers and the security director all pack heat.

Moret asked faculty including the assistant pastor and the director of security, "Show me your weapons and tell me what they are."

Three men confirmed they carry .45 handguns.

The pastor himself carries his .45 in a case that looks like a Bible. Even the pastor's wife, Lillie, the principal is armed and dangerous carrying a .38 semi-automatic pistol. Lillie says as long as she's the principal there won't be a massacre like Sandy Hook.

Moret asked, "Do you believe that, given the situation you have here, if a gunman were to walk on campus, you would prevent deaths?"

"Yes, I do because I would take the guy down," replied Lillie.

Their version of P.E. class consists of the students practicing taking down a bad guy like they would practice shooting hoops. And instead of fire drills, once a week Pastor Larry surprises the kids to test their readiness. A teacher blows her whistle to get the kids to hunker down.

Inside the school, 10th grade history teacher R.C. Brown is locked, loaded and ready. The class had no clue the pastor is outside their door stalking them until their teacher gives them the signal. The kids sneak quietly to the back of the room and then they attack the attacker. The teacher, who is a former cop himself, jams his .45 right into the pastor's neck.

Moret asked the class, "By a show of hands, how many of you feel safer knowing that your teacher has a gun?" All the students raised their hands.

"All of you. Anybody feel less safe?" asked Moret. All the students dropped their hands.

As long as the danger of a school shooting is a reality, Pastor Larry says he'll continue to fight fire with firepower.