Arming teachers increases potential for tragedies

Another day, another mass shooting. The NRA and gun nuts’ reaction: ho hum, we need more guns and “the only way to stop a bad man with a gun is with a good man with a gun.” But there was “a good man with a gun,” an armed school resource officer, on the scene. What did he do? Nothing. Why not? Well, maybe he is a coward. In any case, he’ll have to live with it the rest of his life.

As for the AR-15, it is a military weapon, designed to kill people. Not wildlife. The last I checked, many years ago, you couldn’t use it to hunt game because it is technically a small-caliber weapon. So, if you own an AR-15, it really has only one good use — killing people, as was demonstrated in Las Vegas. If you want to shoot at targets, there are plenty of rifles with less costly ammunition. I’m sure the NRA will step up their campaign contributions to bribe more politicians so that AR-15s remain almost as accessible as candy bars.

“Let’s arm the teachers?” Of course, this comes from draft-dodger Trump. I own a gun. I served a tour in Korea with the 1st Cavalry Division and two tours in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry and 101st Airborne divisions. I have been under fire, responded appropriately, running toward the fight, not away. Even well-trained police officers do not know how they will react until they have come under fire the first time, although training, society’s expectations and fellow officers as witnesses promote the appropriate reaction. The potential for tragedy is incredible if a lot of half-trained, civilian teachers run around with guns.

The more guns there are, the more successful suicides and the more accidents there will be. Recently a third-grader at the Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, Minn., reached into an officer’s holster and fired the officer’s weapon. No one was hurt, but the potential for tragedy was there.

All you gun nuts, rejoice! We’re starting them young. MALCOLM K. CLEAVELAND Lieutenant colonel (retired) U.S. Army Reserve Fayetteville