19 | December | 2012 | Impressions

. By T.V. Antony Raj

The massacre of school children known as the Columbine High School massacre or the Columbine Incident took place on April 20, 1999. Two senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine High School in Columbine, in Jefferson County, Colorado, murdered 12 students and one teacher. They also injured more than 21 other students. After the shooting spree, the pair committed suicide.

The Columbine incident sparked heated debates across the nation over gun control laws, gun violence involving youths, and emphasis on increasing security in schools.

Last October, Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change to allow teachers to carry guns to prevent any incident in the future, similar to the Columbine incident. Their employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings. However, the teachers have to follow certain requirements.

The mass murder committed on December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, by a heavily armed young man who gunned down 20 children and six adults, has surpassed the atrocity that took place at the Columbine High School.

Scott Wilson, president of the Groton-based Connecticut Citizens Defense League suggested that lawfully arming school faculty and staff might help.

On Monday, December 17, Attorney General Greg Abbott said that 78 Texas school districts do not meet the state-mandated safety standards to protect their students.

Rep. Villalba — State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas

Jason Villalba, the newly elected state representative from North Dallas said: “Unfortunately, law enforcement personnel cannot be everywhere at all times, … We need to talk very frankly, about how we can protect our children if the unthinkable should occur.” He further added that he would file legislation to allow public school teachers to carry concealed weapons while on campus.

The bill, which Villalba calls the “Protection of Texas Children Act,” would allow schools in Texas to appoint a member of their faculty as a “school marshal.” The marshal, with training and certification, would be able to “use lethal force upon the occurrence of an attack in the classroom or elsewhere on campus,” said a press release from Villalba’s office.

We can hear questions such as these floating around:

Should teachers be armed?
Should parents with permits be allowed to bring guns to school?
Would it give a school a fighting chance when under siege by armed lunatics?
Would the guns lead to more violence?

Now, debates have heated up between the advocates of “gun control” and those favoring “gun rights”. Both factions agree on what happened in Newtown on Friday as unthinkable, but when the discussion turns to preventing future school shootings, they disagree.