It’s Texas: The Teachers Have Guns
The New York Times reported on Thursday that in Harrold, Texas the schoolboard has approved a motion to allow teachers to carry concealed handguns at school. The idea, apparently, is that this will help prevent a massacre by discontented students.
This is a really dumb idea, for several reasons.
1. This makes teachers an easy source for a weapon. These people are not trained to fend off attackers. If someone wants to shoot students and teachers in the school, now they don’t have to prepare by planning and purchasing a gun–they can, in the heat of the moment, overpower a teacher, take his/her weapon, and have at it. Criminals who cannot purchase guns but want to go out in a bang can do the same thing.
2. Teachers can go crazy too, and as mentioned above, this allows the heat of the moment to become a factor.
3. Misplaced weapons. One mistake, and a kid has a gun in his/her hands. No matter how careful you are, over a period of years, carelessness will happen.
There are more reasons, but it seems to me that these three simple points should be persuasive to people on both sides of the gun control fence.
If you really want a gun in your school,if you really think the students are such a threat, hire a cop who is trained to handle himself in tough situations.