Arming Our Teachers

ALL ACROSS AMERICA it seems more gun use and safety classes are popping up out of nowhere, and they are fillig rapidly, particularly by public school teachers. In classes open to all, teachaers are showing up in large numbers, and in classes set up specifically for teachers, they are filling up fast.

This was inspired, quite obviously, by the recent tragedy which left twenty seven children dead of gunshots. Must've been the straw that broke the camel's back, because lord knows the united states of america has seen plenty of random  mass gunshot murders over the past few decades.

Older folks might recall the man in the tower at the university of texas in nineteen sixty six who killed several people before being killed by cops; turned out he had a huge brain tumor that could've turned anybody into an unwitting killer.

Newtown was nothing new, is the point. May the american people never forget the "wild wild west" which is a term dear to the hearts of most americans. We think of wild bill hickok, buffalo bill , billy the kid, with a semi smile, then move on to al capone and other gangster cultural favorites.

So maybe the recent tendency of americans to arms themselves is nothing other than history, continuing, evolution, manifesting. I will confess to gratitude that i completed my public school education in an ear in which teachers were not armed.

Should well armed teachers ever become the norm in america, all i can say is, beware of unintended consequences, and if assault weapons continue to be legal, be careful what you wish for, and all that.

My grandfather, who was born in eighteen eighty six, and died in nineteen fifty six when i was almost one year old, once said, sccording to my father " put a gun in a man's hand, the first thin he wants to do is use it."

So it may be that my grandfather, who was born in the wild wild west, and owned a large collection of hunting rifles which he used often, knew a little something about guns and people. His comment about how they work together has, by any definition, at least a trace of truth.