Teachers Pack Guns In An Ozark School

Image and related story: salon.com

In what was certainly an unsettling story to read the day after the Boston Marathon bombing, The New York Times reported on the efforts of one Missouri school to permit teachers to carry firearms inside its school building.

The town, located in the Ozarks, is certainly familiar and comfortable with citizens carrying guns. There's plenty of hunting and belief in weapons possession to go around. While some local parents praised the decision to permit armed instructors, others were uncomfortable with the "press release" style in which the school's announcement was made to the public.

It's curious to me why a roomful of children would feel safer knowing their teacher was carrying a loaded gun. I suppose it adds a bit of drama to a student's taking high stakes, life-changing examinations, mixing with one's age peers, and managing whatever passes for home life. Those areas strike me as where money and understanding should go, not to arming elementary school teachers to create a bogus sense of security.