We have been bombarded in the media with calls for even more stringent controls on handguns. The basis for these ban requests is the rash of schoolhouse shootings over the last few months.

Guns and other weapons are banned on school property already and have been for some time. One might think that with guns banned and severe penalties in place for violating those bans, a school would be an oasis of safety for children.

The exact opposite is true, much to the consternation of the gun banners. It is naive to think that outlawing guns in schools will keep madmen from carrying out atrocities. The next illogical step down the road of naivete is to ban all guns everywhere, thinking this will eradicate the tools of madmen. This reasoning is based on the assumption that those with criminal intent will choose to obey one law while ignoring others.

The truth of the matter is that when one of these individuals decides to strike out, we have provided perfect hunting grounds. We expect the school staff to protect children while denying them the tools to do so.

Just as the "Carry Law" has allowed citizens to defend themselves and lowered the violent crime rate substantially in all but the gun ban areas, so too would the attacks on our children become a thing of the past if every willing teacher would receive training and the right to carry a gun at school.

Not all teachers would want to take part, but that is OK. Madmen are not going to know who is or is not armed and that uncertainty will convince them to find some other way to express their madness. Maybe they'd shoot themselves first and save us the trouble?

Kurt Sellers

West End