Guns in Schools

from yesterday's inbox:

Two years after the Tucson mass shooting in which six were killed and former Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot, Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released a new television ad featuring Roxanna Green, mother of Christina-Taylor Green, the nine year-old girl murdered that day.  The 30-second spot opens with a scene from the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 20 children were killed.  In the ad, Green demands that elected officials in Washington D.C. take immediate action to reduce gun violence in America.  The ad can be viewed at www.demandaplan.org/christina-taylor.

A few years ago a child at the elementary school near where I live brought a gun to school.  It made the very local papers but not much of a larger splash.  Some kids were scared but no one was injured.  There were a lot of rumors but not many details were officially confirmed.  However, there is a good chance that on that day one of my little snowflakes sat in a classroom that contained a semi-automatic handgun stuffed in a backpack.  As you might imagine I, and many other parents, remain extremely unhappy about this.  

None of the rumors revolved around whether or not the gun was purchased legally or through what venue it was obtained.  Some of the rumors were various stories on how the gun was stored in the home; the consensus was that the gun was not appropriately secured but I do not know if the rumors are true.  

When I read about the tragic events at Sandy Hook and the suggestion that if teachers were armed it wouldn't have happened, I think about the incident closer to home.  If there had been shooting incident in my snowflake's classroom it probably could not have been prevented unless that particular teacher had a gun in hand aimed at that particularly student at that moment in time.  Even those who want firearms in schools should ask themselves if they want those weapons out and accessible during classroom instruction.  I would not -- a fireman firearm in a school should be secured.  But that means if it is needed someone would have to get to it and unlock whatever safeguards are in place.  How many minutes would that take and what could happen in that time?    

I would prefer to see measures to reduce the number of guns in circulation overall.