I have four children, and I am scared silly about a school shooting occurring in Idaho.
Why does it frighten me? Well, for one, just about everybody has a gun in their house in Idaho. I don’t have exact statistics to back me up on this, but I don’t know many people who don’t own a gun and I suspect you don’t either. With that many guns available, I think it’s probably just a matter of time before a mentally disturbed person decides to do something tragic.
Now I’m going to go out on a limb: Not everyone is going to agree with me on this.
I support allowing certain teachers to carry firearms in schools. Please note: Not all teachers, just teachers who know how to use guns, and want to have the massive responsibility of being allowed to protect children by using deadly force when needed. That teacher will also need to pass a background check, and a mental stability evaluation too. I would also be in favor of paying that teacher more that a standard salary.
Let me get to the heart of this. There are some teachers I would absolutely trust to carry a gun at my son’s school right now. There are other I would not want anywhere near a firearm. I think those same teachers would not want anything to do with carrying a gun.
I have an idea…
Let’s begin a program within the military to train future teachers who can assist in keeping our kids safe. These new teachers would already understand how to use a firearms from the training they get in the military, and after serving, they would be allowed to go to a University to earn a teaching degree. This could tie right into the current GI Bill that helps people get a degree after they’re service is complete. Maybe this idea is less than perfect, but the benefit is — safer kids, and a new program to help the members of our military serve the community by teaching. Maybe this is something we offer to Veterans?
Look, I just want my kids to safe at school and am trying to come up with ideas to do that. Sometimes you just have to keep throwing ideas up against the wall to see if something sticks. If you have an idea, I’d love to hear it!
Bring it on at: rick.worthington@cumulus.com
