Armed Teachers

I just read a very interesting March 25, 2005, Associated Press article "NRA Leader Advocates Guns for Teachers", By Arthur H. Rotstein. Mr. Rotstein's article starts off with, "Phoenix -- All options should be considered to prevent rampages like the Minnesota school shooting that took 10 lives -- including making guns available to teachers, a top National Rifle Association leader said Friday." I'm going to have to check out the Phoenix area news papers for the next few days. The Letters To The Editor section should be very interesting. Can you imagine how upset the anti-Second Amendment crowd will be about the idea of having an armed teacher in a room full of sweet innocent little children? Sandra Froman, the NRA's 1st vice president told the Associated Press that she's not saying all teachers should be armed. She thinks we should look into any possible way we can save the lives of school children. I think anti and pro-gun people alike will have to agree with that. With out going into much detail the article says that gun control restrictions wouldn't have stopped Jeff Weise from killing nine people plus himself this past Monday. The weapons Weise used were stolen from his first victim. He didn't buy them from a private individual at a gun show so this can't be blamed on lax gun show sales laws. Froman says that if it is the responsibility of the teacher to protect the students it should be the community's responsibility to make that possible. She went on to cite the 1997 school shooting in Pearl Miss. A teacher ran to his car, off school property, to retrieve his gun after a student had opened fire. He returned, subdued the boy and held him until police arrived. Froman feels that prohibiting guns in schools will not stop someone that has evil in their heart and the capacity to carry out this type of crime.

I'm sure there will be a lot of opposition to the idea of arming teachers but think about this. Over the past few years state after state has passed laws making it possible for citizens to carry concealed weapons. In the states that have passed concealed carry laws the crime rate has dropped. Citizens that live in the states that allow concealed carry don't have to carry a weapon to benefit from the law. The idea of not knowing who is and who is not armed in its self prevents crime. If a bill was passed making it possible for teachers to carry concealed weapons in the schools it would have the same effect. Not knowing if the teacher was armed or not could stop a troubled student from becoming a school shooter.

God Bless America, God Bless The Republic.