Arming Teachers Is Just Plain Nuts.....

Well, we've had another school shooting recently. 17 murdered in a Florida high school. The details are pretty standard. A depressed and mentally unstable kid goes to his old school with an assault rifle, and takes lives and changes families forever.

Behave children. Or else!

The only thing different this time is that the debate over this problem has continued for over 2 days. This shooting occurred in a high school. The survivors are a little older, and a little more verbal and active with their protests. These sort of things usually end with a candlelight vigil. But no. This time they did interviews, gave speeches, staged school walkouts, and met with politicians. This has led to a number of ideas floated for solving the school shooting crisis.

Our President has come up with the idea of arming the classroom teachers. He thinks they would've "shot the hell" out of the school shooter. My opinion is that that would be a bad idea. Colossally bad. Here are some reasons I think so:

• The President thinks this would be a deterrent to school shooters. I agree this would be a deterrent to most clear thinking individuals. But nobody thinks school shooters are clear thinking individuals. On the other hand, maybe they would go to the local shopping mall to do their shooting.

• The idea that most high schools would then have more firepower than your local police department is just unsettling to me.

• When I think back to my educational career, the number of my teachers that: A. Would have the desire and ability to handle a firearm, and B. Have the clear thinking to react correctly in a crisis situation would be slim to say the least. I can hear it now. " Mrs. Smith, here comes Jimmy and he's packin' heat. Get out your gun!"

• Even if the teachers were licensed with concealed carry permits, they would be handguns. The shooters usually use assault rifles.

• Now consider the amount of stress and  harassment teachers normally get from students. I think there could be a real possibility of a teacher reacting poorly to a situation with a student. Just sayin'.

AR-15

Now here are some ideas I think we should consider. At least they should be debated.

• Raising the age for gun ownership to 21.

• Increase funding for mental health programs.

• Increase funding and training for law enforcement so some valid tips don't fall through the cracks.

• Ban assault riffles except for law enforcement.

• Consider more metal detectors and (well trained) armed security officers for schools.

At least I'm glad a debate has started. Nobody really knows what a good deterrent would be. I just don't think we need gun-toting English teachers.

Teaching is a good and honorable profession. But I would rather have my teachers awarded for their educational ability, not marksmanship.