Arming teachers

What a great idea of Mr Trump to arm teachers in answer to a long history of school shootings. It would obviously make schools safer if you have armed, and combat-trained, teachers.

There would be a bonus as well. Little Johnny would not need to be constantly told to pay attention in class if he knew that not only did Ms Tomkins have a Magnum 45 in her top drawer but also that she was fully trained in removing his head with it from 10m.

Using this logic, any occupation that could be faced with attack should expect to be armed and trained to defend themselves. Shop owners, petrol station workers, just about everyone in fact. If a robber walked into a bank and was faced with a wall of cashiers pointing everything from a Walther PPK to a Howitzer at him, he may decide that discretion is the better part of valour.

On the downside: Perhaps a car might backfire one day and a road worker, reacting to what he thinks is an attack, opens up with his council-issued AK47, spraying the area with hollow point bullets. Witnesses seeing this apparent lone gunman would open up with their assault rifles. The resultant slaughter would spread across America.

Eventually 8-year-old Abigail in Albuquerque would be the only one left standing. (She didn’t get the email about her right to use her ArmaLite rifle, a gift from grand-mammy Mildred). She would then become president and have more dignity and diplomatic skills than the present incumbent.

Only in America could anyone think that the answer to the gun problem was more guns.

Alan Jeffery Hamilton