Stop school shootings: Arm teachers

In the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., many citizens flocked to gun buyback programs across America. Is this the result of some mainstream media-induced guilt for owning the same type of weapon used to kill children, or an ill-conceived notion that sacrificing their own security means that children in school rooms will somehow be safer?

Criminals, even mass murderers, pick targets which offer the least resistance. They pick victims who are most vulnerable. Anyone who would declare a gun-free zone is advertising to the criminals, "Hit me, I can't hit back."

It is estimated that there are as many as 360 million legally owned guns in America. Add to this the guns in the hands of criminals. The gun is what conquered this land and maintained law and order. Guns are part of the American heritage. We are born with the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from all who threaten us.

Guns aren't the problem. Those children in Connecticut died because the adults around them lacked the ability to protect them from a deranged mental patient.

You want to stop school shootings? Put the deterrent in the hands of the teachers.

MICHAEL JENKINS

Riverbank