‘Air Marshals’ of Schools
Missouri program arms teachers.
Four school districts in Missouri are training their teachers to carry a concealed gun, to act as “air marshals” just in case a school shooter breaks through their school’s doors. The Kansas City Star reports, “In the year and a half since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, as America has struggled to find the answer to its epidemic of school shootings, some districts have decided that teachers are the ultimate first responders and need to learn to shoot back. … The instructors, all current law enforcement officers, refer to the teachers’ ‘unique situation’ – essentially close-quarters combat while youngsters scream and run about.” For cash-strapped school districts who do not want to make their buildings as secure as a maximum security prison, letting a few teachers go through training to bear a firearm is a viable safeguard against school shootings. More…