Just a couple days ago, I read an article not in an American news site but on the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40353408
about Colorado’s policy to train and allow teachers to carry guns at school for protection – protection for the students. Naturally, I was horrified to hear of such a scheme; my immediate thought was about what might happen if a teacher happened to be angry and took out his/her anger on a student. I forwarded the article to a friend who is a teacher in America’s heartland, in Dexter, MI. Dexter is a small community outside of Ann Arbor, MI, a famed college town and home of the University of Michigan. Dexter is quite homogenous, lies in the countryside outside and Michigan has, according to a 2013 survey discussed in detail on a major Michigan news site, mlive.com
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/04/michigan_gun_ownership_by_the.html
an estimated 29% gun ownership by adults.

Here is what my friend, who is an elementary schoolteacher in Dexter, wrote in response after reading the article:

This is exactly what should NOT be done.

First, on the average day at school, you don’t have a school shooter (I made it through my whole school career without someone shooting up my buildings). I’ll bet you didn’t have one either.

Second, arming teachers means there is a weapon in the classroom on ALL those days when there isn’t a school shooting (read: EVERY day of most every student’s school life). A pistol in a classroom? What could possibly go wrong?

Third, if there ever WAS a shooter, would the teacher have their weapon handy (will they carry it every day on their hip)? Or, will it be in their desk, where a student could possibly get to it? AND, if they do decide to shoot the intruder, will they hit the intruder? Teachers are in the business of motivating children to read, practice their math facts, properly punctuate and capitalize in the their writing, and not bully other students. They aren’t trained in marksmanship! Do we need more bullets flying around a school?

Fourth, our school is trained in ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) to counteract any intruder. This is a safe and effective way to deal with the unlikely event of a school shooter. Life happens and we can’t be 100% safe from EVERYTHING that will happen to us as we navigate this life, but having teachers packing heat can only lead to more problems.

This was a very detailed response that I found fascinating, and wanted to share with my readers. Gun violence has indeed been hitting our schools and educational institutions in the recent past, in ways that are extremely disturbing and tragic. In addition to information on posters for how to take safety in case of fire, tornado, and natural disasters, campuses now feature strategies for what to do in case of an active shooter. But countering these shootings by arming teachers is not a viable option. We need gun control at a very high, strict level in situations with our most vulnerable members of society – children. But we also need to educate people on anger management and provide services for mental health. In these mass shootings at schools and other public places, the shooters had a host of mental problems and disorders that were not always adequately addressed. Therefore, gun control begins with mental health. And schools should be teaching and providing resources for mental health to nip these horrors in the bud when minds are still young.