The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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December 27, 2012

Your View: Armed school guards the answer

By Gary Lindsay, North Mankato

— I am writing in response to the letter from Eric Zimmerman.

I understand Eric's desire to ban the sale of assault weapons. We need to set aside emotions and look at this problem realistically. If the sale of assault weapons had gone into affect a month or two ago it would have had absolutely no effect on the Newtown massacre. However, it might have some effect about 100 years from now.

What needs to be done is something which will take affect immediately. Let's not wait until some copycat lunatic does the same thing here in a school in North Mankato. The NRA's plan is a good one. Place an armed guard in every school.

A school in the Minneapolis suburb found $3 milling to purchase Ipads for every student. That amount would have funded 100 armed guards for one year. Are Ipads more important than our children's lives? The school Obama's children attend has 11 armed guards. OK for his children but not ours? All Washington D.C. schools have armed guards. See http://dc.gov/DCPS/Beyond+the+Classroom/School+Safety

From what I read, the shooter at Newtown entered the principal's office first. She and another person in the office had time to "lunge" at the shooter in an attempt to stop him. They were both killed. Had one of them been carrying just a side arm and was trained to use it, just one shot could have taken the shooter down, and the lives of 20 children would not have been lost.

Now, tell me, which would have been better?

 

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