Guns, guns, and more guns...in school even

I cannot resist to not just laugh at but I have to comment about the craziest ideas that are implemented to keep us safe.

So, I didn't realize the extend that people want to carry guns until I read this an article.  Most notably, the article states:

Missouri school boards already have the power to allow employees with concealed gun permits to carry weapons on their campuses. The new law requires the state Department of Public Safety to establish training guidelines for schools wanting to designate a teacher or administrator as a "school protection officer" authorized to carry a concealed gun or self-defense spray.

At first, I just chuckled at the thought that teachers carrying guns would make people safer, but then I just saw another tweet leading to this article which explains how a "Utah elementary school teacher who was carrying a concealed firearm at school accidentally shot herself in the leg."

Boy, doesn't this idea of teachers carrying guns sound appealing now!?  

I do have to say that the law (which I did not actually find) seems to want people to be trained instead of anyone with a simple permit to be allowed to carry their guns.  However, I really wonder if more people (who may be trained) with guns is a better solution.

Here are a couple cases that don't make me feel safer in which "trained" people (off-duty officers in Honolulu) have accidents with their firearms:

• The less serious one happened less than a week ago in which the officer's gun was accidentally discharged in a Target store restroom (link dead).  Of course, Honolulu Police Department (HPD) tried to keep the incident quiet as no one was injured.


• The second incident happened this summer in which another officer killed himself.  The  officer was at home with guests and having a barbecue.  He decided it was a good idea to pull out his gun and "was just showing the gun to someone, and it accidentally went off."

Now, feel free to comment below if you disagree, but I am pretty sure these officers went through much more extensive training than someone will get even by the new law in Missouri. So, I have a hard time thinking that having more guns will make our schools and communities safer.

Interestingly, I found two seemingly conflicting articles doing simple searches on Google.  One article notes the "findings so clearly demonstrate that more gun laws may in fact increase death rates," which is based on a Harvard study.  Of course, the study (which admittedly I did not read entirely) really only focused on murder and suicide (intentional acts).  Also, the data was from over 10 years ago.  The second article claims, "United States has more guns and gun deaths than any other developed country in the world" according to Dr. Sripal Bangalore (NYU Langone Medical Center) and Dr. Franz Messerli (St. Luke’s Medical Center).  Their data is more focused on deaths from the World Health Organization and appears to use data that is a few years old (2012).

So, what to believe?  

I am not going to get into too much of an argument, but I am going to state my opinion (and since it my opinion, it can be any way I want): We need less guns to be safer!  

I understand some people's rational about protecting our own, which would mean we need to have a way to combat the "bad guys" that do have guns...but I just don't see that it can really help more than it hurts.  The three stories I mentioned were all accidental gunfire.  I didn't even mention one of the most tragic recent stories in which a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot the firearm instructor.  Of course the loss of life is difficult, but can you imagine what that girl must face for the rest of her life?  I know I cannot even fathom the challenge ahead of her.

I hope that enough of these stories of non-violent gun accidents will really make our society realize that although guns do not kill people...they are not making us any safer.