Letter to The Editor

To the Editor:

Again, another slaughter of defenseless kids and teachers. Again, the same dialog, “outlaw assault rifles”——-“do better background checks”—-“stricter gun laws—-.“ It’s always the same outcry without a word about doing something practical and workable to defend kids and teachers who are like sheep in a pen, weaponless and helpless. How many more times are we going to let murderers roam through schools, freely killing anyone in sight, for minutes or hours without the slightest concern someone might shoot back?? What if they had to worry that someone ahead or behind them might step out and blast them with a load of double-aught buckshot or maybe be met with the same coming through the door they are rattling? That would put a crimp in their day of carnage.

How about arming a few gun-wise teachers, administrators, or other staff members? Schools, churches, and other places people gather are full of people that know how to handle a firearm. When some maniac is trying to enter a classroom, it doesn’t take Wyatt Earp to shoot a load of buckshot through the door, or peek around a corner or doorway and ruin a murderer’s day. With a shotgun, at say a hundred feet, even a poor shot would have little problem hitting the back of a distracted killer.

Let’s put gun safes in a few rooms or offices in different areas of the building. A trained person, who occupies the room most, should be the only one able to unlock the gun safe. The locking mechanism would have to be a secure one that is kid-proof. There are risks with this idea. Kids might somehow get the gun and accidentally or purposely shoot someone. But how many kids could be killed that way compared to a maniac methodically shooting any person they see?

All defensive measures have flaws and risks. None are perfect and work in all situations, but compared to no defense, doing something is far better than doing nothing.

Ron Merritt