Oregon Legislator: To Prevent School Shootings, Arm All the Teachers

Portland Mercury:

Somehow I missed last week when Central Point Republican Representative Dennis Richardson had an extremely poor response to the shooting at Sandy Hook school: Emailing the superintendents of his local school district to let them know that if he'd personally been on the scene in Connecticut, things would have gone differently. From the Mail Tribune:"The Sandy Hook shootings are another heartbreaking failure of school personnel to ensure the protection of innocent children and adults. Sadly, most of the deaths could have been prevented," Richardson wrote. "If I had been a teacher or the principal at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and if the school district did not preclude me from having access to a firearm, either by concealed carry or locked in my desk, most of the murdered children would still be alive, and the gunman would still be dead, and not by suicide." When contacted by phone, Richardson added that he believes at least three officials in every school should be trained in the use of firearms. "We need to ensure that our children are safe, and we can't do that by disarming those who are on the scene," Richardson said. The idea that the solution to school shootings is to put more guns in schools is exactly the kind of logic that has led to the US having the highest number of guns per capita and an appalling mental health system. Sadly, this is not a nutjob idea just from an emotionally distraught legislator—arming teachers is an idea seriously backed by the NRA that's gaining traction in some states. [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Read the full article here. Discuss below.

connect with blueoregon