Having run through the worst case scenarios with both daughters, I reckon that I am less concerned about them becoming helpless victims. Still, I have to say that as yet we have not seen even the tip of the iceberg insofar as what could be done at a school. Either because the assailants are not really interested so much in inflicting real harm, or they are just incompetents (as was the case with the Columbine crowd), the casualty rate for armed incursion and assault in our schools is insignificant relative to the potential. It is a fact that armed incursion with the intent to inflict maximum casualties in a school environment is quite a plausible concept. Even solo, a properly and easily equipped assailant could really break the hearts of a community, with casualty counts perhaps in the hundreds before being neutralized. Multiple assailants could put that number into the thousands, in a matter of minutes, long before any law enforcement response of sufficient capability could do anything about it. To cite a cliche, we ain't seen nuthin' yet.

As for arming teachers, there's been talk of that too lately. Two things I find infeasible about that concept. First, a person's career does not necessarily qualify them as a candidate for carrying or using a firearm. Most teachers I've encountered do not possess the correct disposition to warrant arming them under any conditions. My other concern is that protecting students from harm is not in the job description, and should not be. I pay good money for the right people to do that job, and if they can't because of whatever bureaucratic reason, then I will be inclined to spend my money on facilities that are properly manned. I would not want a cop teaching my kid algebra either.

There are solutions to this situation, but first folks are gonna have to come to terms with the harsh reality that we live in, and give up the illusions. I witnessed firsthand what reality for schoolkids was in Baghdad. You gotta have some cajones to take your kid to public school there, and yet it is working. We ought to be taking some notes.