The Delusion of Armed Guards at School

Tennessee politicians cannot imagine a solution that doesn't involve more guns.

When all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail. And when all you have is a gun every problem is just soft tissue to be sent back to its maker. And buddy, this is America. All we have is guns. 

You can see this rancid attitude in Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s press conference about the mass shooting at Covenant School here in Nashville, where three adults and three children were killed.

In response to the thousand-plus students who walked out of school and down to the Tennessee capitol building to demand stricter gun laws (or any gun laws), Lee is proposing instead more guns in school. In fact, he’s proposing about $155 million worth of them, by way of putting armed guards in public and private schools across the state. “Let it be heard from Mountain city to Memphis,” declared State Rep. William Lamberth. “Some evil person wants to try to kill our kids, you will be dead before you hit the front door.”

This schoolyard cops-and-robbers bluster would be cute if Lamberth was five and a little concerning if he was fifteen. Coming as it does from a 45-year-old elected official, it’s preposterous. Dead before you hit the front door? Does Lamberth think school shooters charge like stormtroopers towards the Hoth rebel base?