Retired police officer Jason Polinski is now the president of a company called 3D Response Systems, which (among other things) offers clients "Active Threat Mitigation" solutions.
One solution you won't see from the company, though, is anything having to do with armed school staff.
All the talks I have had with arming teachers - here is why I disagree. pic.twitter.com/uiP3xKHcAI
— Jason 3D Response Systems (@3DResponseS) August 20, 2026
The video shared by Polinski was first published by the Highlands County (FL) Sheriff's Office, and shows participants in the office's citizens academy taking part in a mass shooting threat scenario. As the New York Post reports, "the academy students are a motley crew of community members — some are retired teachers or public sector employees, but none are planning a career in law enforcement."
There's no evidence any of them are planning on becoming school Guardians either. That's the program in Florida that allows designated school employees (excluding classroom teachers) and security guards to carry firearms on campus and serve as a first line of defense against an active shooter.
The video shared by Polinski has nothing to do with armed teachers or other school staff. It features people who are largely unfamiliar with firearms and no training whatsoever, and as the sheriff's office says, it's designed to "show them [participants] exactly the kind of split-second, life-saving decisions that are required to protect a school."
Educators who do want to volunteer to serve as an armed response generally do have to undergo some training, and programs like FASTER Ohio and FASTER Colorado provide a multi-day course for those staff that includes live-fire training, classroom discussions, and exercises on everything from applying tourniquets to de-escalation techniques.
Polinski's attempt to conflate the sheriff's civilian academy with actual armed school staff did not go over well with many X users.
Of course you're from Minnesota. 🙄
— Safing Sector (@Gplavallee72) August 21, 2026
Armed teachers aren't asked to go room clearing, looking for the shooter.
They hunker down in their classroom with their students as an armed defense, rather than be helpless victims.
This is a ridiculous premise, intended to maintain the…
Then you fundamentally misunderstand what "arming teachers" means.
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) August 21, 2026
In fact, even that title is dumb. Nobody serious is arguing we should be "arming" teachers.
The actual argument is that teachers who legally carry should also be able to carry at work just like they can most… https://t.co/FOxvgOUNiY
Jason, I respect what you do, but this is incredibly disingenuous and rather self serving.
— SecondAmendment (@SecondAmendment) August 20, 2026
This is the definition of "anecdotal" evidence and is being used to push an agenda, one that benefits you financially.
Fact is there should be an avenue for teachers to be armed, but that… https://t.co/Y6thiOpq7Q
I didn't do all that great my first time in a tense, live-action practice scenario, either. No guns for civilians at all, I guess! https://t.co/5HkNPxee3O
— RudeOnion💀 (@RudeOnion) August 21, 2026
This video doesn't even show a training exercise. The purpose of the scenario was to give the participants in the citizens academy an idea of what responding to an active shooting situation is like.
If Polinski's opposed to armed school staff, so be it. He's entitled to his opinion. I happen to think he's wrong, and there's research showing that the fastest way to end an active shooter threat at a school is to have both school resource officers who can seek out and engage the threat and armed teachers who can guard kids in classrooms in case the shooter breaches the door.
But Polinski sharing this video and insinuating these individuals are educators who are taking part in actual training so that he can bash the idea of armed teachers is like showing a video of teens behind the wheel of one of those drunk driving simulators to argue that no one under the age of 18 should be able to get a driver's license.
It's dishonest and disingenuous, and Polinski's bad faith argument deserves the ratio he's received on X.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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