It’s tough having to write this article again. Not because it’s horrible having to cover a topic under the worst of circumstances, but because in order to suggest this one has to seemingly put his heart down as so many others are breaking in half in order to turn to cold logic. But in this case, cold logic is going to save lives, and keep hearts whole.

You probably already know what I’m going to write, but I’m going to write it anyway. If you want to stop school shootings from occurring, put guns in the school. Hire armed off-duty police or ex-military, and allow them to wander the halls of the school. Should a shooter be stupid enough to wander in and begin attempting to slaughter the innocent, then Darwin will have his day, and one less idiot set on doing evil will exist on this plane.

Or do what other schools have done, and begin training and arming teachers. Argyle ISD in Texas has begun arming its faculty, and there is a training school in Colorado that teaches the teachers how to use a gun and deal with school shooters with deadly force instead of just running and hiding.

Stepping back from the obvious heartbreak of the loss of the lives of children and young adults is difficult, but pure logic dictates that in order to stop an aggressor, you need an aggressor. A school defenseless is not a safe one. A gun-free zone isn’t at all safe if the only people respecting the rule have no intention to use a gun. I wish those who present no danger to anyone were safe from harm, but that’s not how the world works. You have to be as ready to deal death in defense as the killer is to do so in cold blood.

I’m sure you’re as tired as I am of seeing news about innocent people being shot, and when it’s children who are the victims it’s even worse. However, if we really want those headlines to stop appearing on our social media feeds, and cable news channels to stop airing the horror of it, then we must have measures in place to stop the atrocity the moment it begins. If getting rid of all the guns in America is impossible (and it is), and gun-free zones are where people die quite often (in the high 90th percentile of mass-shootings) then the solution defensive force.