Ignatius Piazza Offers Solution in Wake of Virginia Tech Shootings

Dr. Ignatius Piazza runs a large firearms training resort in the Nevada desert. The Front Sight Firearms Training Institute is a roughly 45 minute drive from the Las Vegas strip. Dr. Ignatius Piazza, a former chiropractor who opened the institute in 1996, asserts that he has trained tens of thousands of people to correctly operate firearms. The institute offers training courses in handguns, rifles, shotguns, rifles and submachine guns. The institute also offers training in martial arts and other forms of self-defense. Dr. Ignatius Piazza is himself a certified combat master in four different firearms, making him more than qualified to offer training courses. Dr. Ignatius Piazza is also the creator of a reality show airing on Versus (VS) network entitled “Front Sight Challenge”. Piazza hired a producer and director himself and sold the completed product to Versus network after three months of filming. The show places 40 law enforcement officers in competition against 40 citizens aged 15 to 65. The competitions on the show are designed to test the contestant’s skills with a variety of firearms, including handguns, rifles, shotguns and submachine guns.

The solution offered by Dr. Ignatius Piazza and the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute is free firearms training to any school administrator, teacher, or full time staff member designated as school Safety Monitors. Front Sight will accept for training up to three staff members from each school, college or university. Applicants must submit a letter requesting training on school letterhead signed by the top school district official and designating the applicant as the school's Safety Monitor.

Dr. Ignatius Piazza and the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute may not be the first person that springs to mind of school administrators when considering how to shape school policy after the disastrous Virginia Tech shootings, during which the infamous Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and then himself using two handguns. While it might seem counterintuitive to combat gun violence with guns, Dr. Ignatius Piazza contends that his idea is not without precedent. “My offer is not a new idea," says Ignatius Piazza. "In the early 70's, Israel was faced with much greater problems of armed terrorist attacks on schools. The cry for more gun control was heard then too, but Israel very carefully analyzed all possible options before adopting the proactive position of arming and training their teachers. School shootings stopped and terrorists looked for easier targets."

There is evidence that a gun in the hand of a teacher will stop an armed attacker. The vice-principal of a school in Pearl, Mississippi used his handgun to stop and detain an armed killer until the police arrived. Dr. Piazza adds, "It seems obvious that armed and trained staff members inside the school are in a better position to identify the attackers and do something immediately to resolve the situation. It is much harder for police, who arrive on the scene too late to stop the killing."

In light of all this information, Dr. Ignatius Piazza has stepped up and offered help to schools and school administrators. Those that would take him up are free to do so.

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