A Serious Moment, If I May.

Confusia here...

I'd just like to take a moment, in light of another school shooting, to share a word of wisdom with teachers.

Please, please, PLEASE do not leave your safety, and the safety of the students in your classroom to a quick response by police. We know we could potentially be in a life threatening situation every day we come to work. Sad, but true. Now, I don't think we all need to wear bullet proof vests, or retire early and cower in our homes. What we do need is a way to defend ourselves and the kids in our care should the need arise.
Please keep some harmless looking object in your classroom that could be used as a weapon in an emergency. For me, it's a baseball bat. I know this sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.
Guns don't belong in schools. The end. BUT, baseball bats are in schools across the nation. If your classroom is the first to get hit, there's not alot you can do, but if they call a lockdown, you can be standing behind your door with the bat. Should the wrong person attempt to enter, it's time to play Babe Ruth. I think these gunmen feel all powerful with a gun, but they're not. It's hard to fire a gun if someone's just used your head to hit a home run. Is it foolproof? Of course not. But it's something. Please don't be the next teacher who says, "I didn't think it could happen here."
For the sake of my safety, for my own children who need mom to come home from work, and the safety of the kids in my care, I will defend my classroom, no matter the age, gender, or mental capacity of the attacker. I advise you to be prepared to do the same.

It is here that I will have to disagree with you, not with the preparedness part, but with "all powerful" part. And even though I can hear the boos across the nation as I type this, I can't help it that I KNOW, having taught the 10 year olds that come to be these adults, that there is more to all of these incidents than we know, more than we are able to comprehend because we aren't in the place that these individuals are. Am I defending them? No. Am I saying that they were within their rights to destroy the lives of others? Absolutely not. Am I saying that these events occur not because of the power that comes with having a gun but because of the lack of power that put the guns in their hands in the first place? Yes. I love that you are prepared to defend yourself and your charges in the event of an attack. I worry that I wouldn't be able to get past age and mental capacity if I was placed in such a position.
-Terps