Do not arm teachers

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a teacher as “one that teaches, one whose occupation is to instruct.” It also defines a security guard as “a person whose job is to guard a place and make sure the people and things in it are not harmed.”

I trust that one sees the difference between the two. A teacher teaches, a security guard protects. But now some people, including the president of the United States, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and assorted politicians think that teachers should carry firearms in schools to help protect our children from potential school shooters (“Schimel open to arming teachers,” Feb. 21).

So the solution to school violence is not expanded background checks, limits on purchasing weapons such as AR-15s or denying the sale of weapons to the mentally ill. No, the answer is arming teachers.

Between low pay and the demands of the job, teachers are leaving the profession in expanding numbers, and in 2018 there is expected to be a nationwide shortfall of 112,000 teachers. So let’s add firearms to the list of school supplies that teachers will be expected to provide for themselves.

We used to send our kids to school for the three R’s — reading, writing and ’rithmatic. I guess that old adage needs to be updated and teachers will now be responsible for the new three R’s — ready, return fire, reload.

Craig Barbian

Sussex