Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for arming teachers is based on flawed logic
SIR – The logic behind President Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers in an effort to prevent school shootings (“President backs NRA offer of free gun lessons for teachers”, report, February 24) is flawed.
“Concealed carry” works as a deterrent on the basis that a gunman doesn’t know who is armed and therefore cannot assess the risk of being killed in the course of the crime.
In the case of most school shootings, the shooters kill themselves, or else set out to be killed. They are essentially on suicide missions. The prospect of being shot will not deter them any more than it does fighters in Afghanistan. Professor Antony Elliott-kelly
University of Southampton
SIR – I served as an infantryman for 35 years and had occasion to use a rifle and a pistol.
Thanks to the superb training and preparation given by the British Army, I felt confident around firearms and used them appropriately when the time came. However, I hope never to touch a gun again. Making the correct decision in a split second and using a gun effectively and within rules of engagement requires considerable training, focus and nerve. There are many terrorists still active because good soldiers could not be entirely confident that all procedures and criteria were in place to merit pulling the trigger; it is by no means straightforward.
The thought of arming teachers and, worse still, expecting them to use their weapons properly, fills me with horror. Colonel Mark Rayner (retd) Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – I cannot imagine the devastation of the American parents who lost their children in the latest school shooting. It is quite bewildering that the US should be in this idiotic situation, held to ransom by their Second Amendment.
In South Africa, with break-ins at epidemic levels, no one responded to burglar alarms; so an enterprising individual invented a system which released dry ice from canisters in every room when the alarm was triggered, making it impossible for intruders to see past the end of their noses. They invariably fled empty-handed. Dry ice is harmless and dissipates after a while. The canisters are simply recharged afterwards.
Until something like this is deployed in classrooms, I suggest all schoolchildren simply stay at home, where it is presumably a bit safer. If every school-age child went on strike, maybe the gun lobby would cave in. Stephen Saunders
Liss, Hampshire
SIR – In blaming George III for the Second Amendment, Alan Richardson (Letters, February 24) may have hit on a solution.
Any American who is afraid that King George will rise from the dead should have the right to bear a muzzleloading musket that can fire three shots a minute. William Barter
Towcester, Northamptonshire