A 17-year-old student opened fire this morning at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. (Caveat — details on these things are always sketchy this early.) He wounded a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, who was his target, and she remains in critical condition. The school resource officer, a local deputy sheriff, confronted, fired on and killed the assailant. Having an armed officer on campus saved lives today — but only because he was willing to respond, unlike the Parkland, Florida, deputy and other officers who failed to do so.

Following the adolescent Second Amendment puppet protests last week, and ahead of this weekend’s March for Our Lives — another puppet protest, it’s worth noting that the demands of these leftist political props includes this policy objection: “Any legislation that would aim to fortify our schools with more guns.” Again, as in many other assaults in so-called “gun-free zones,” students in this case survived because the Maryland school was fortified with an armed officer. Food for thought for any teens honest about saving lives instead of serving as political pawns.

Update 3/23: The female victim was taken off of life support and has died.

Update 3/28: Authorities have confirmed that the killer student died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, though the school resource officer did hit him with a round. That detail is really immaterial to the core argument, however — that an armed officer responded quickly and saved lives.