I've read the news accounts of Stacey Campfield's latest proposal regarding school discussions on homosexuality and transgender. Ol' Stacy sounds once again like a guy trying to grab a headline. I also listened to Campfield spew his venomous ideas on WIVK's "Sound Off." Before long, the talk on the radio show turned toward weapons on school campuses, and again, this legislator stirred the waters with his bill that would allow school employees to carry weapons.

This gun-carrying bill is moronic. Sure, let's arm teachers and principals with weapons. I know plenty of teachers who aren't capable of carrying a weapon. I'm one of them. We are scared of guns. I don't need a gun. Other teachers aren't on an even enough keel to carry a weapon. Some would lose their tempers when they are confronted by hostile students. They'd start shooting out of fear. Before any of us could blink our eyes, wounded and dying children would lie in a heap on classroom floors. That would be okay to Campfield because the schools would be protected. Right! A roomful of teens who watch as a teacher guns down a whacked out kid aren't going to produce any kind of physical injury, but what about psychological harm? Or does this legislator assume that kids would straighten up after a couple of classmates are stone-cold dead?

Another reason Campfield's proposal is nothing more than the raving of a buffoon is that society isn't about to allow teachers to escape legal battles after they pull the trigger on students. In the present climate, many parents are just waiting to sue a teacher over the smallest things. Teachers no longer can administer corporal punishment; lawyers are attacking when they bruise students' egos. Millions of dollars have been awarded in "Iffy" cases of negligence against professionals in education. Without a doubt, teachers are going to be in legal swamp water up to their eyeballs if they shoot, injure, or kill a student.

Okay, let's play out the armed teacher scenario. A couple of questions come to mind. First, will teachers be able to use Better Education Plan (BEP) money to purchase handguns? Will limits be imposed on the caliber of the gun? Next, can a teacher carry a shotgun or rifle instead of a handgun? If a teacher guns down more than one student, will he/she be penalized or required to have a mentor to better handle situations? You get the idea.

We need to take this idea of arming faculties a bit farther. Why don't we do what folks do when they shoot

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