CHL on campus

[Kalrog]

The local paper had a letter to the editor discussing allowing teachers to arm themselves. Anyone care to opine?

http://www.hillcountrynews.com/articles ... tter31.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bdickens]

Done.

[Kalrog]

Thanks!

Please remember to be courteous and make well reasoned arguments. Ranting doesn't help our side.

[Lonestar 48]

There is a lot that can go into a reply. I looked at "George's" reply, the first one, and I thought that the real reason for a teacher to have a handgun is not to stop an insane person from coming onto the campus and shooting. I really feel that the value of a teacher having a weapon is to give the students in the classroom a chance of not being killed. As spectators to the news of campus killings, I am sure that many of us have thought how tragedy might have been averted if only someone had in their possession a weapon, and could have used it on the murderer. In a way, it is like playing the lottery; if you buy a ticket, you have a chance to win. But, if you don't have a ticket, you have no chance of winning.

My second thought goes to having guns around children. I am 51, with a son in college and a daughter ready to graduate from high school. Both are aware of the various firearms in the house, and both have the utmost respect for them. My son is an avid shooter and hunter, and has been since he was 5 or 6, just like me, and just like my father was. My point is, I was taught both the value, and the danger, of a firearm, and I passed that on to my children. Most parents that I know have not done that, and in fact have a paranoia about guns. My dad was a career military man, and we always had weapons around the house. He used weapons in his job, and he instilled in me the value of our right to bear arms, and the respect and responsibility that goes along with that right.

I am much more worried about people and cars than I am about people and guns, even though most people have a lot more training about using their cars than they do about using a weapon. Only once in my life have I feared dying when a gun was pointed at me, but many times I thought I would die at the hands of a driver in a car.