Easily the most ridiculous idea from pro-gun zealots in their efforts to fight gun violence with more guns is their plan to eliminate school shootings by arming teachers.  Any effort to increase the number of guns in schools is a bad idea, but putting the burden of protecting students on teachers is just awful.

In a recent piece at Campus Progress, I wrote about the reaction from teachers and administrators to this proposal.  Needless to say, they are not in favor of it.  Among their reasons are fears over the effectiveness of arming teachers and fears that guns would potentially fall into the hands of students, leading to further tragedy.

Beyond that, teachers are already underpaid…

…and are getting older, on average…

…so expecting them to act like police officers is just silly.

Luckily, public opinion seems to be opposed to any proposal to give guns to teachers.  While there may be some support for placing armed guards or police officers in schools, at least these people are paid to protect and serve.   Teachers are paid (and not very well) to teach.  We should let them do that, and keep guns as far away from our classrooms as possible.