More guns in schools would only complicate matters

When 10 people die in a shooting at a school, the logical consequence would be to evaluate gun control laws. Yet a National Rifle Association vice president suggested this weekend such an incident would be avoidable if teachers were allowed to carry guns in class.

NRA Vice President Sandra S. Froman said, speaking to the Associated Press, “I’m not saying that that means every teacher should have a gun or not, but what I am saying is we need to look at all the options at what will truly protect the students.” Froman said further that if teachers carried guns, they could keep gun-toting students at bay, like a teacher did in an incident at Pearl, Miss., in 1997, when he went to his car to get a gun.

Froman is right to say that the existing laws that ban weapons from most schools did not stop this incident. But this should not mean to throw such laws out altogether but rather to take a look at what went wrong.

To suggest what would amount to an arms race between education officials and students would only escalate the situation even more.

The Washington Post published an article earlier this month stating that many of the known terrorists who are residing in the United States and are on a terrorist watch list had legally purchased firearms.

There are many reasons why U.S. citizens would like to own guns, many of them legitimate. But the shooting, as well as the article by The Post, illustrates clearly that not everyone purchasing a gun has such legitimate uses in mind.

Schools are the last place where such guns should end up. As it is already hard enough to ensure firearms are not brought to school, to suggest that even more guns should be brought to such learning environments is downright dangerous and irresponsible.