On the other hand...

In my prior post, I expressed doubt over the possibility of arming teachers.

Dave Kopel has other ideas.

A sample:

Some people who do not like the idea of teachers being armed to protect students simply get indignant, or declare that armed teachers are inconsistent with a learning environment. I suggest that dead students — and the traumatic aftermath of a school attack — are far more inconsistent with a learning environment than is a math teacher having a concealed handgun.

Bingo! We have a winner!

I'm still not sold on the idea that most teachers would choose to be armed. However, I've also recalled several recent events on airliners in which an unruly passenger, after attacking or threatening the flight crew, was "detained" by other passengers. 9/11 made people who fly very, very aware of the fact that they must take a role in protecting themselves if they want to arrive alive. Teachers may be, generally and on the whole, a bunch of pacifist nancies, but every pacificst nancy has buried deep inside that inate sense of self-preservation. I'd like to think that this recent rash of school shootings could awaken that sense, just as 9/11 did in airline passengers. Maybe - just maybe - teachers aren't too far gone.

H/T to the Geek for the link. I liked his take on the issue:

We can no longer afford to be a nation of the craven, allowing our public policies to be driven by the cowardly and the pusillanimous who seek the illusion of zero risk and absolute safety. We are called to be a nation of heroes, each and every one of us, to practice in our everyday lives the traits we find noble and admirable, until we awaken one day to find that we accept and embrace our own magnificence.

In so doing, we serve ourselves and our nation well.