So why not have a gun available in that dire strait where it might be the only way of stopping a slaughter?
Best I can tell from your post, Ed, you've conflated two proposals. The first is to arm the teachers/administrators or select ones; the second is to have an armed guard or two in the schools.
The first strikes me as not only unhelpful but dangerous. While most teachers are good at what they do and care for their students, there are not so stable ones. Something that's characteristic of any large population. And it will be the case despite the best intentioned screening processes.
On that same point, having one gun available for a selected administrator is not likely to work since it takes time to get to the safe, where presumably it's stored, etc.
Moreover, the sight of armed teachers and administrators conveys precisely the wrong image.
As for the second, an armed guard in the schools, I understand that the general population of parents are more comfortable with that idea than in past years. Lots of water under lots of bridges. But, if it were to come to pass, it would have to be rethought very carefully. There are lots of moving parts to such a proposal. You can't just say we should have such and think it would be well implemented.
My own preference, and you are aware of it, is not to increase the availability of guns but to reduce it. And I would do so dramatically if I were in a position to do so. We need, however, to think very carefully about how to handle the present and how to put the country on a glide path to many fewer guns in public circulation. |
