Letter: Teachers should be allowed to have guns in class

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

This is in response to Mike O'Callaghan's Aug 2 "Where I Stand" column about when to carry, or not to carry, firearms. The column brought back many memories of my youth in Texas. My war was World War II and by the time I was 16 I thought they couldn't fight that war without me. I talked my parents into letting me volunteer.

I was an expert at every weapon the Army had. I went to the Pacific Theater and fought there for more than two years with the 32nd Infantry Division. I gave a good accounting of myself -- more than 500 days of combat included getting wounded and getting malaria. To this day, at age 78, I feel proud of O'Callaghan and all war vets.

But I must disagree with O'Callaghan's premise that teachers should not possess guns while in school. O'Callaghan wrote: "The schools and churches are not places for firefights in a civilized society." Does he know who brings the guns to schools? Not the innocent kids! Teachers should be armed to protect themselves and the innocent children.

O'Callaghan must know that several killers have been stopped by armed teachers and others who were armed. Yet the teachers had to retrieve their weapons from locked cars, long before police were on the scene. Had they had them in hand they could have saved more.

I would err in favor of the innocent.

DON PINSON