GUNS: Convenience be damned

I just finished reading “Hard Questions For Our Schools” from the Sunday edition.

To say I was left floored by not once, but twice, the statement of being “inconvenienced” by students and staff regarding safety, is an understatement.

This is as clear an underpinning of maturity if there ever were one, students…and adults, being more concerned about “convenience” than safety.

Projecting the idea that a teacher carrying concealed would cause more problems bears no truth nor facts. It is YOUR safety that we’re concerned for. Metal detectors will not stop a school shooting, they are only a warning device.

Schools today are not built for safety. One only has to look at the “open concept” feature to realize that as soon as you walk through the front doors, the common areas where large groups of students congregate, are only steps away. And that’s not very far for someone intent on doing harm.

Research the safest school in America, which is in Indiana, for a great video on a proactive, defensive school. It seems the smallest, simplest device to implement is the key fob for every teacher to wear in which one press of a button alerts everyone, including LEOs.

It’s a different world from 40 or 50 years ago when we went to school with guns in the racks of our pickups. It’s time to be proactive, just like we are when it comes to cellphones and driving.

Unfortunately, as in what happens next with most of the schools in America, this wave will soon pass and settle down and we’ll continue to believe that something like this won’t happen in our community. Until it happens again…and again…and again…

DUANE MARTIN

Rathdrum