Over and over again, we’re told that teachers shouldn’t be armed because guns don’t belong in schools. All over the nation, schools are considered gun-free zones, and even many Republican lawmakers are hesitant to go against that. They claim to be pro-gun, but they’re uncomfortable with armed teachers because, well, guns in schools? That just can’t happen.

However, the problem with this thinking is that there are already guns in schools.

Sure, many do what they can to keep firearms out, but metal detectors can only go so far. And that’s if a school even has them.

That’s the lesson one Florida school just learned.

Winter Haven police arrested DeShawn Lee Williams, 18, on Friday after they say he brought a loaded handgun to school in his backpack.

According to police, a teacher at Winter Have High School smelled marijuana on Williams and sent an email to the administration. The school’s assistant principal went to the classroom and asked to search William’s backpack. Williams refused and actively resisted, which caused the assistant principal and himself to fall to the floor, police said.

After a radio call went out, a school resource officer responded to the classroom, got control of Williams and school officials searched his backpack where they found a loaded gun. Further investigation revealed that the gun was stolen from Polk County. No drugs were found in the backpack.

So much for keeping guns out of schools, huh?

Now, it doesn’t appear that Williams has a particular plan for using the weapon. We don’t know why he took a firearm to school.

What we do know, though, is that if he’d decided to shoot up his classroom, there would have been jack all the teacher could have done to stop it. School resource officers might have done something, or they might have hidden outside while students were slaughtered within. It’s not like we haven’t seen that happen before.

Regardless, for at least some period of time, every person in that classroom would have been at the mercy of Williams if he’d decided to do something. So would a lot of other students and faculty. There would have been nothing anyone could have done since no one was armed.

Think about that.

This was a student who managed to get a firearm into the school without any real effort, apparently. What could have happened?

And anti-gunners can try and play the whole “we need more gun control” card, but the firearm was stolen. The student was too young to purchase it legally. It was prohibited on school grounds. There’s literally nothing more gun control could have done.

But if the teachers had been armed, they might have been able to respond if Williams had decided to end the lives of everyone around him.

It’s well past time to stop pretending that laws magically keep guns off campuses. They don’t. Those inclined will still bring guns to school. If you want to keep guns out of schools, you have to be proactive about it and not just trust words on a paper to do it for you. Even better, though, is to arm your teachers so they can meet threats to their own lives without having to wait for help that may never arrive.