The "How Do We Make It End?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  That is until I turned the page of my morning paper and read the headline on page A8 of the Nation & World page.  The story I began reading was titled Schools lack armed staffers!  Article tells the story of a young boy named Journey Jones who is 10 years old.  He was going back-to-school shopping with his mom recently when he asked his mom for a bullet-proof backpack to protect him in case of a shooting.  "It could happen anytime," he told her.  How sad it has become if students in elementary schools in the United States feel safer in school if they have a bullet-proof backpack.  The boy is only 10 years old!! The boy's mother was a former police officer and didn't like that the school where her son attends, Lovejoy ISD, utilizes a school marshal program that allows school staffers to be armed.  Anyone can carry a gun in hand, she said, but training and experience is necessary when it comes to using it.  What happens if school personnel who are carrying a weapon mishandles it or it gets into a student's hand?  Accidents can happen...you know!  Seems that more teachers, administrators and others outside the law will be carrying guns when school is in session because of a new state law requiring armed personnel on every public school campus starting this coming September 1.  Can you believe that!!  It is a state law!!  They said that the change represents legislators' most signifiant response to last year's Uvalde School massacre, where 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School.  A nationwide police shortage and lack of significant new funding has schools throughout Texas struggling to hire additional staff to protect campuses that don't already have school resource officers, namely elementary schools.  To meet the new law, more Texas school districts are considering teachers and other employees to be school marshals or guardians, which allow staff to be armed.  I taught high school in the state of Pennsylvania for almost 35 years.  Never did I fear for my life during that time.  I actually was the coach of the high school rifle team that had 17 high school members who came to rifle practice every day during the winter months and practiced firing a rifle at a target in the high school rifle range which happened to be under the high school stage.  I was the coach for five years and not once did I worry about someone trying to shoot the .22 rifle at another person on the rifle range.  Perhaps I should have been worried!!  A few years ago the schools that were part of the rifle league of teams in Lancaster County changed from using .22 bullets to using air rifles which were less harmful that live ammunition.  Perhaps they suspected what could happen with live ammunition and made the change before something did happen!  The Plano administrators acknowledged at a recent school board meeting that "fully trained, on-duty police officers" are the best option.  However, at a huge cost, it's just not feasible to hire what the district needs to cover 49 campuses.  So...is arming an entire platoon of school teachers and administrators the answer in Texas?  I have no idea what they can do for better protection.  I'm so glad I have retired from teaching and don't have to worry about it anymore.  I only feel bad for those involved in education in the United States who have to worry that someone may enter the school with a weapon and open fire on hundreds of students, teachers and adminsiraors.  Will it ever end?  And, how do we make it end?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.