To the editor:
More guns beget more violence. Yet, many of our leaders continue to turn their backs on our children regarding this issue.
Placing guns in schools is absolutely the wrong move. Many guns retrieved by youth are often because guns are not secured or they have been provided access. Passing a current House Bill 1253 and placing more guns in the schools will open a Pandora’s box by increasing the likelihood of greater access. You can count on more shooting and accidents within our schools. As we have witnessed time and time again, not “all good guys” are the ones who obtain the guns!
Additionally, as an educator in the field of mental health during Columbine, we learned that using external forces such as metal detectors, no-tolerance policies, and an increased presence of security officers only served to make schools feel like unsafe and hostile environments. Our money would be better spent providing support toward increased mental health prevention and resources rather than gun training.
Our true national emergency should be about our children being brutally murdered by daily gun violence on our city streets and mass shootings in our schools. Let’s get this right; our kids are depending on it.
Wendy Marencik, Bloomington
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