What Mr. LaPierre and others of the pro-armed-civilian crowd don't seem to understand is that for an armed person to be an effective security asset, that person must be mentally prepared to take appropriate action at all times. He must be not only trained in the mechanics of how to use his weapon, but trained in the observational techniques required to make competent split-second decisions in high stress situations. And then he has to be periodically drilled to maintain the skills imparted by that training. We're talking about requiring teachers to spend several hours each month on shooting ranges and in mock gun battles to keep their skills sharp enough to insure that, if they ever do have to pull their guns in class, they'll have a better chance of shooting the bad guy than one of their own students.

Providing armed security on an effective level is a full-time job in and of itself. It's not just an extra chore like bus duty that one asks a teacher to take on in addition to grading papers.

If more security in schools is part of the answer, raise the money to hire professionals.