Teachers Are Packing

Regarding "Governor signs bill allowing teachers to carry guns in class" (Saturday Nation), South Dakota has gone ahead and done what much of the Education Establishment and most gun control advocates say must not be done, and allowed teachers to carry guns in class.  The excuses for denying guns to Teachers vary, but those that oppose such a measure never acknowledge the one inarguable benefit: the element of uncertainty. 

 

The entire state is now one vast area of concern for people inclined to mass murder.  A killer can never know which school might have an armed employee and which does not, and as has been demonstrated time and again, mass killers like this are entirely discouraged by confrontation, or even the prospect of confrontation. 

 

The irony of all of this is that showing measurable success with this policy is very hard to do.  How do you document success or failure when nothing happens?  And yet, the school districts across the country that have adopted carry policies for Teachers and staff will have to content themselves with the knowledge that they have done the right thing.  Meanwhile, perhaps the Naysayers will focus on why mass killings happen most frequently in states with strict gun control policies, and leave those who wish to defend themselves alone.

 

Pete Smith

Cypress