A smartphone in one pocket, a gun in the other
Donald Trump’s suggestion that teachers be allowed to carry guns, following the tragic killing of 17 students in a Florida school, is tantamount to adding oil to fire.
To have kids grow up with guns in their daily lives, as if firearms were toys, should be an embarrassing and frightening prospect to all educators.
Instead of being protected, teachers are perhaps being drawn reluctantly into the line of fire. Trump probably takes it as granted that armed teachers would confront shooters, when in fact even a deputy sheriff of Broward County, where the Florida shooting took place, is being blamed for avoiding the gunman.
Trump is not just fighting on battlefronts abroad but also nurturing one at home. The president is setting the clock back by promoting the carrying of guns, instead of wrestling down the powerful NRA when he has the opportunity to do so. In future, perhaps we will see a return to the scenario in “How the West Was Won” – citizens strolling around with guns in the same way they do with smartphones.
Yingwai Suchaovanich
