After the Connecticut school shooting this winter, suggestions were made to arm teachers. This idea brought forth gallons of wails and tooth gnashings. Some said that teachers could not properly handle firearms. Other's wailed that teachers would never soil their hands by picking up a gun. Training would be impossible. and on and on.
I wonder about this. I think back on teachers I had years ago. Miss Shirley, Miss Gaudette, Miss Percy, Mr Convery, Mrs Falby, Mrs Mclauglan. It's been a lot of years since grade school but these teachers are still clear in my memory. They were all competent, forceful, and dedicated grownups, in whom we kids stood in awe. Should a homicidal maniac turn up one one of their classrooms, they would cope, a firearm in their hands would do the job nicely. Since graduating grade school, and serving in USAF in Southeast Asia, and some other dodgy places, I cannot say I ever met anyone who would be a better person to have in a menaced classroom with a gun in hand. Teachers in my day were calm, courageous and careful. Much better material than your standard rent-a-cop.
Any school committee ought to encourage teachers to carry. For that matter they ought to provide good student proof gun safes in the classroom.
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