On Thursday, Seniors United Supporting the Second Amendment (SUSSA) announced its "Safe Schools Initiative" in response to the terrible school shootings that are afflicting our country. The group will offer scholarships courses in handgun safety and use in defensive situations at the prestigious Greg Block Self-Defense Firearms Training School in California, www.firearmstraining.com to five volunteers selected by the first public school in the United States that adopts the Israeli model for protecting the school from violence.

In 1974 Israel armed volunteer parents and grandparents and asked them to patrol their schools and grounds. They have not had a child killed in school since they put this program in place. Even though Israel is the target of terrorists and other violent radicals, they have not had one child killed in twenty seven years!

Here in the United States we turned our children into targets by announcing that our schools are unprotected vulnerable. This approach has failed. The Israel system is proven and works. It is time to abandon our failed experiment and turn to what works.

John Bender, Executive Director of SUSSA, said, "We want to make our schools safe and stop the killings. Israel has a program that is tested and proven to work. We are very pleased to offer training from a person of Mr. Gary Block’s reputation and skill."

Bender went on to say, "By adopting the Israeli model we can stop the tragic school shooting and protect our Constitutional right to own and carry firearms. We will also gain from having parents and grandparents involved and visible in our schools. This will cut down on the bullying and tormenting that we now see as a major problem in our schools."

Seniors United Supporting the Second Amendment (SUSSA) is the nation’s newest civil rights organization. It is a grassroots group comprised of people fifty years old and older who believe in protecting all the civil rights of all Americans. SUSSA’s Web site is located at http://www.sussa.org