Editor:

I do not know Linda Witt, but in her letter published Saturday, she expressed perfectly my sentiments. I believe that they also reflect the thoughts of a lot of people who want to see bloodshed reduced, but have no desire to "take all the guns" as the NRA would have you believe.

As for Mr. Calderone, I have seen his name on many letters with which I disagreed, but this time I feel the need to respond. First of all, discipline and self-control do not start in school. They start at home. And as someone who is so protective of his Second Amendment rights, he is very quick to ignore the rights of others.

If a teacher body slammed a student as he describes, it would not be his Second Amendment rights he would have to worry about; more likely his Miranda rights. It tells a lot about Mr. Calderone’s state of mind that he considers physical abuse as the best/only means of discipline. As for his suggestions about school security, some of them are rational and, in fact, some are already in place.

As far as teachers carrying guns, as someone who has worked in a school for over 30 years, I strongly disagree for several reasons. Teachers have more than enough on their plates teaching students without taking on the added responsibility of building security. Guns do not belong in a classroom of children. That’s why we need school resource officers in each school.

Mr. Calderone said that "a gun is a neutral object and by itself can do no harm."

This is true, but some neutral objects are inherently more dangerous than others. Any gun is a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. But a gun that was created for the sole purpose of killing a lot of people very quickly does not belong in the hands of anyone other than military and law enforcement.

Until the attitude in this country changes from thinking more guns are the answer to everything, and "it’s my right to own whatever I want to regardless of the effect on others," we will continue to see more innocent bloodshed. And that’s a shame, especially in this part of the country where we like to think of ourselves as the "Bible belt."

But I’ll leave that discussion for another day.

Niki Seale

Hinesville