Author Charles Edward Chapel writes in Guns of the Old West, "Considerably cared for and used with skill, a gun would argue loud and persuasively for you against man and nature when both were hell-bent on your immediate personal destruction." Perhaps the chaw-spittin' school board in Harrold, Texas, has recently been reading Chapel--it just voted to allow the town's teachers to carry pistols in their classrooms. Harrold is thirty minutes by car from the sheriff's office, but it's only a tumbleweed's roll from a busy highway that could bring to the community's schools all sorts of transient bad news. Allowing educators to be armed, the school board reasoned, will discourage those who might harm students. Superintendent David Thweatt explained, "Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog." Not just any gun-lovin' pedagogue can now tote a Colt revolver in his lunch pail, however. Teachers who want to pack heat must be licensed to carry a gun in Texas, apply for authorization by the district, receive special training in crisis management, and use ricochet-proof ammunition. No word yet on those who wish to carry grenades.
"Texas School District OKs Pistols for Staff," Associated Press, August 15, 2008