When I began my teaching career over 30 years ago, I was asked to teach the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission hunter safety class. During the class, I took firearms to school to let the students practice the safe handling of a firearm. At the end of the class, our local wildlife officer provided my students the opportunity to shoot skeet at the range on Majolica Road.

This behavior was considered “normal” at that time.

During the Columbine shooting, school resource officer Neal Gardner exchanged gunfire with the murderers but then made the decision to stay in the parking lot of the school and wait for backup while students were being killed inside the building. A teacher bled to death before law enforcement came to his aid. The Columbine shooting is often mentioned by gun control advocates, instead of the Pearl, Mississippi, event in which an assistant principle retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and stopped the shooter.

Over and over again, killers have proven that “gun-free” schools make students and teachers easy targets. There are now firearms on campus at our local schools. However, teachers who hold a North Carolina concealed-carry handgun permit are forced to lock up their firearms in their vehicles.

This produces a “gun-free” building but not a “gun-free” campus.

Were there any firearms locked up in vehicles on campus during the recent shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte?

There is one thing for certain: The shooter knew he would be walking into a “gun-free” classroom. Sadly, this is the new “normal” for American schools.

Meanwhile, thousands of our nation’s children die every year as a result of abortions, and this is also considered “normal,” but there is no cry from the liberal media to stop the killing of those who cannot defend themselves.

— Joe Teeter

Gold Hill