We just got back from picking up the last book of the series, and watched the recent movie last weekend.
This movie, if not the whole series, can be taken as having a firm stance against the banning of effective self-defense
on school grounds. If you're familiar with the stories and/or movies, you'll recognize that they carry wands everywhere.
Magic wands which can be used as weapons, from the less-than-lethal variety all the way up to Instant Death.
[spoiler] This last movie brings us a Nanny-state bureaucrat who moves in, takes over the school, buries the students in
rules, and bans the use of defensive spells. Instead, they're given politically-correct texts to memorize by rote. Some of
the students end up forming a class in order to learn the defensive skills they know they'll soon need. [/spoiler]
I guess there are a huge number of people who will never make the connection between Harry Potter and VT, but
I think nearly everyone here could easily see it. Grind a human being into a helpless follower... don't be surprised when
the occasional evildoer takes advantage of that.