Much of what I see in the world these days is not worth a response, I could not pass up the Your View article from Ashley Jones, Should Teachers Carry Guns (3-8-18).

When a person is untrained in any particular area, they sometimes think there are easy solutions to problems. Giving teachers firearms to defend themselves and students, or campus carry, seems like a good self-defense measure, however as a Viet Nam era, combat trained veteran, I can tell you that unless a person is fully, and constantly trained to be a killer, which is what a person would need to be in a shooter situation, there is a high likelihood that not only would they be ineffective, but a danger to themselves and those around them. Close quarters combat training for 1, 2, 6, 8, week(s) or any length of training will soon erode. 

What will the total cost of training, weapons, additional insurance (covering innocent deaths or woundings) be? Would teachers be required to wear the weapon, if not it weapons would be of little use? 

During the lead up to last year’s campus carry law change, I heard some students proclaiming how they would take out a shooter, barring the training I mentioned – to the degree where one does not have to think about what to do, but is able to act on pure trained instinct – they would most likely run or soil themselves. 

Mass killings are a much bigger societal problem than our students, and teachers having firearms will resolve.

Lastly, if I was the editor of this newspaper, out of embarrassment, I would have edited the student responses, or chosen different students, the spoken grammar used is unbecoming of a university.

Raven Waters

Senior BFA student

{{tncms-inline content=”<p><span>The letter was edited to fit AP Style and The George-Anne style, but nothing further. </span><em>Do you wish to submit a Letter to the Editor? Email <a href="mailto:gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu">gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu</a>.</em></p>” id=”4e028039-fd3c-493a-9840-d3cab878436e” style-type=”highlights” title=”Editor’s Note” type=”relcontent”}}