Letter: Reject NRA’s idea of armed guards

As the pictures and the stories of the children victims of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy came out, it was easy to relate. One constant that really struck me was that all the kids loved school.

I have a kindergartner and she loves school, too. School is an amazing place where kids learn to trust people who start out as strangers. They learn to develop a security in the world that was once reserved for home.

Educators get called mom, or dad, and never miss a beat. That’s the way it should be.

The NRA wants an armed guard at every school throughout America; I say, “no thanks.” It wouldn’t work and there would always be another danger. First the school entrances, then what about the playground? Goodbye recess?

At what point do we add steel doors with armed guards outside each classroom?

Eventually, we must accept that we can’t protect our kids from every harm; turning our schools into prisons is not the answer. An armed guard at every school seems like a high price to pay so that a “gun enthusiast” with a mentally unstable child can possess a gun that can shoot five bullets per second.

Heather Lindberg

Vancouver