As the tide of gun control continues to roll back, the issue of “gun free ” zones looks set to explode. Three days ago, New York Time columnist Gail Collins laced into people who support the idea of allowing guns at bars and, especially, airports. “Sooner or later almost everybody has to fly through the Atlanta airport. Can I see a show of hands on how many would prefer that there not be folks prowling around with loaded guns on their person?” Prowling? Anyway, that’s one side of the debate, where the idea of a civilian carrying a weapon in a crowded pubic place is a complete anathema. On the other side, plenty of gun owners see gun-free zones as killing fields. (A view repeatedly repeated by NRA Board Member Ted Nugent, amongst others.) To prove their theory that gun bans merely offer a target-rich environment for gun-wielding criminals and psychopaths, they point to the same campus-based spree killings that gun control advocates use to support their case. And now, both sides have a flesh-and-blood champion/antagonist: Monte Gant. whnt.com reports . . .
The Board of Education terminated the contract this morning [17 May] of Monte Gant, the director of the Earnest Pruett Center of Technology, the county’s technical school.
“It was reported to my office last Thursday, the 13th of May, that a school employee had a firearm on campus,” Superintendent Kenneth Harding said.
It’s an unfortunate situation and it’s one we wish we weren’t involved in but is us and the Board has met at a special called meeting today and they have taken action and we are trying to abide by Alabama law.”
Gant admits that he kept a handgun in his desk–and had since early in the Fall semester.
He says that’s when he received serious threats towards the school from a parent.
“I have 500 students, lives in my hands here each and every day, about 30 faculty staff members, and those lives are very important to me,” Gant said. “I’m not going to risk somebody coming off the street and taking any of those lives.” . . .
“We just can’t have it,” Harding said. “There are too many instances of guns and we’re just not going to have it. Don’t want it. Students, employees, whomever.”
Gant said there were a couple of other people at the school who knew of his gun, which he kept locked in his office.
“There were a couple of people that were close to the office that knew if something happened to me, how to get to the gun and protect a few lives or every life or whatever the case may be,” Gant said.
“I’m sorry that I broke a board policy in choosing what I did, but I am not sorry for choosing to protect my students and faculty and staff.”
Don’t be surprised when this one turns into a media feeding frenzy. [National media: ping [email protected]] The comments underneath the article are anything to go by—and remember, this is the heart of “gun country”—confirm it: two equal, opposite, opposing camps are girding for battle. Watch this space.
Monte is my dad, and he doesn’t deserve all the crap that he has gotten over this. I agree, he shouldn’t have had it at the school because of the rules and dangers against guns, BUT his intentions were good. Which is why I want to make clear to EVERYONE that receives second-hand info about the whole situation, that I know everything that happened. Not the media-twisted version. They were so desperate to get a story and run with it for views, that they didn’t go into detail about his reasoning for it all. He was trying to protect the kids of that school, and he DID contact the police. They said there wasn’t really anything they could do about the threats against the children and staff of the school… Hmm.. I guess he should have just waited until those crazies just came in there and blew the whole place up? Another Columbine? Yeah, sure, why not. If you allowed something to happen like that, KNOWING that you could’ve prevented it had you taken the right measures, would you ever be able to live with yourself after? I think not.. Thanks.
This man uses ignorance to make his bad choices seem reasonable. This may work for you when you pawn your idiotic beliefs on those fragile minds you attempt to teach. Who brings a gun into a school full of children? A complete and total moron for starters. It is known in his community that he is a woman abuser. I personally am a victim of his violence.
He states that he carried a gun because of threats…..? How about the threat on my life that he made just years ago. Are these the kind of minds we want influencing our children?
Ask Tim Johnson how he had to defend himself from a crazed and violent Monte Gant. Is this why he carries a gun? Because Mr. Johnson put him down like the dog he is? The community fears Monte Gant but we have all sat back for fear of what this family might to do to us or our children if we retaliate.
How about getting your facts straight before running your ignorant mouth? I’m Monte’s other son, and though late to this party, felt the need to set this record straight. I meant to years ago when I saw this around the time Patrick commented, and by a twist of fate in telling friends about how publicized (and SLANDEROUS) this event was for my dad, I ran across this again. Tim Johnson got his lil butt whooped in a pasture for trying to rip my dad off on a farming deal they made together and tryna get physical with him. And my dad taught us our entire lives never to throw the first punch, so you’re not going to make me believe that’s what he did as the “bully” you’re trying to portray him as being. My dad was twice his size, and I can personally attest, didn’t have a scratch on him immediately following that fight. Who are you anyway?!? At least Patrick and myself have the balls not to talk some shit under a blanket of anonymity. It’s awfully convenient that you “didn’t.” That’s a pretty clear sign you are a dishonest coward, “whoever” you are!! You were doing some serious mental gymnastics here, to play victim. In fact, I think it’s no coincidence at all you chose that very name for yourself, that says a lot within itself! (wish I could do a clown emoji here because you deserve one). No amount of condescension is going to make you right in this case (ie. “fragile” mind). I would bet money you voted for the human potato we have in office right now, didn’t you? I know how your brains work, because they’re so generic! My dad had a LONG career in teaching, and I run into his former students allllllllllll the time attesting to what POSITIVE impacts he had on their lives. When he was at Section High School and I was there myself, I constantly had fellow students telling me he was their favorite teacher. In fact, I talked to someone who’s still an instructor at this very school (EPCOT) not long ago, who talked about how he always tells everyone it was a shame what happened to our dad, because he had done more for that school than any other Director since its early days of existence. Woman abuser? I lived with him through 3 different marriages, so did Patrick, and we never saw a single sign of that. I saw the most heated of fights with ALL THREE and never a single hand laid on the women, including my own mother. You sound like exactly like a woman scorned. I take it you must be one he had a fling with, dropped you like a hot potato, and you had a personal vendetta against him. My dad was a good man, flawed the same as me, or (believe it or not even) YOU are, and this event was the beginning of the end for him. He left behind 3 kids who loved him very much, and in big part, people like yourself helped us lose him and caused a big hole in all 3 of our lives (along with his surviving 80 year old mother, and brother). My granddaddy lived a few months longer than him and died of heart failure. He and my dad were my two best friends in the world. I’ll always feel like it was losing dad that killed him. So congratulations! Thank you sooooo much for helping contribute to a mountain of grief for our whole entire family! Hope your FAKE victim-hood was totally worth helping to make others into actual victims. I remember when dad took that gun to school, before anybody – including you – even knew about it. I heard his conversations with my Grandad about it, and how genuinely scared he was that this psychotic parent was going to turn the place into a bloodbath of human bodies! This parent was FURIOUS AND UNHINGED! They didn’t have an armed guard at the school. I distinctly remember his saying that if they “had” one, he wouldn’t have been having to do that. He had already reported the threat to the police, and still nothing was done to protect the school from such an event. What none of you anti-gun nuts seem to be able to get through your heads, is that once guns are made illegal, guess who’s still going to have them? CRIMINALS!!! If you think criminals give one single crap about laws, you must not have much sense. If they did, they wouldn’t be criminals. Duh!!! Is marijuana unattainable for instance? Have some common sense! You can call everyone else the moron all day long under anonymity, but the moron is the one who isn’t confident enough in their own words and claims to have to hide behind that anonymity in the first place. Like I said, you are a coward.
One more note on this I meant to add but left out: “The community fears Monte Gant but we have all sat back for fear of what this family might to do to us or our children if we retaliate.” Drama queen much? :-/ Sorry, but YOU do NOT = “the community.” But that was ALSO spoken like a true self-centered, left wing nutjob. And for you to have been full enough of yourself to have thought that you – and maybe a small handful of your gossiping friends – speak for the entire community as a whole, is rich. That’s yet another cop-out that you’re completely full of crap. Just saying!
I take that back, i thought of a couple of more notes i needed to add to this for the complete story. The furious and unhinged parent who made the threat to dad (and on the school), was freshly out of prison and told my dad he didn’t care to go back, at the time he made the threat. He took his gun to school after lack of police response and a request to get an armed guard was ignored, put it in a locked drawer, and told two women who worked at the school where it was in case something happened to him. Then one of those women stabbed him right in the back! Kills me that people like yourself knew NONE of these details behind any of this, didn’t really even care to, and yet, were so trigger happy to make our dad into the villain of the situation. I remember Patrick showing dad your comment and it really bothered him. Not out of any kind of guilt, but out of disgust in the same way that it does me. You should be ashamed of yourself for talking about our family in the way you did, AS IF we were a bunch of mobsters. That is freaking ridiculous! My Grandaddy didn’t campaign and WIN a spot on the Jackson County BOE because he was unpopular. That wouldn’t really even make sense, now would it?
Not surprising, this story comes out of Alabama. Hehehe Anyway, Patrick, does the end justify the means? Maybe “victim” is telling the truth and she was beaten by him. Does it make it ok since he “loved her”?? How about the story posted about your dad being shot. I hate to say this because you are his son, but did you notice all the laughing being done by the police & reporters alike? Sounds to me like he needs mental attention.
Please read my response to “Victim” above. Stop believing everything you read that fits a certain narrative, and stereotyping people because of geography. That’s no better than (actual) racism.
Backstory to dad being shot. Out of all 3 of his wives, the 3rd was the one he loved the very most, I’ll even admit out of full honesty, even more than my own mother. A LOT more. After he had lost pretty much everything asset-wise stemming from this EPCOT event, to top it all off, he found out that 3rd wife (who he had been married to for a long time) was cheating on him. He went to this guy’s house to confront him about it, his wife forewarned her lover that he was headed there. He should’ve never gone, of course, but he was completely UNARMED and (I’m sure) an emotional wreck. He walked up to the door, and this man immediately put a shotgun to the door and shot him through the door. Glass from the blast had to be removed from his wounds. I remember dad talking about seeing the barrel of the gun come to the door, and how his wife’s lover just started shooting, without even so much as a warning. These events were very tragic all taken together, for our entire family, and it makes me sick to see people who know nothing about the stories as intimately as we do, try and act like they are experts on them. I had a front-row seat to it all, and most likely, plenty of years ahead of me to live with the tragedy and grief of losing him in the end. I was 29 years old when he died.
One more note on dad getting shot too. After her lover started shooting him, my dad ran out to the truck where his wife was in the passenger’s seat, and she had the freaking doors of the truck locked, locking him out of it! He ran around the truck (already shot with a shotgun keep in mind), with her lover chasing him – still shooting – with my dad screaming over and over again to his wife, “LET ME IN, HE’S TRYING TO KILL ME!!!” And she finally did unlock the doors. Thankfully, her lover had unloaded the shotgun on him by that time and couldn’t keep shooting. My whole family was extremely suspicious of that whole series of events, it was almost like they had a plan to get rid of him but didn’t intend for him to live through the initial shots. Thought that context needed to be added too, since none of it’s in the “media version” of the story that many people blindly accepted as the full story and gospel truth. The moral of my sharing these details (and it applies to our media in general, even on the national scale): the media is typically always full of crap because the goal is to attract eyeballs, more often than not, at the expense of honesty/integrity.
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