I am writing not only to add my support of David Blanchette's [Friday, Jan. 4] letter advocating for a change to our gun culture, but also to include my opinion concerning the NRA's proposal to put armed guards in our schools.
Having been a combat veteran trained as an infantryman (First Infantry Division with a Purple Heart) and having been a middle school teacher here in North Adams for over 30 years, I am here to say that putting weapons in schools is lunacy.
If anyone has had first hand experience in a situation involving the exchange of gunfire, I believe they will agree that all of the classroom training you have had and all of the firing range training you have had cannot adequately prepare you to deal with a madman shooting children.
Quite simply, when it hits the fan, it is chaos.
Do we really want that in the classroom? Is that truly what we want for America? I believe the NRA is an organization whose leadership puts its agenda of promoting the sale of weapons over the safety of the American people. I believe that most members of the NRA are reasonable people who have every right to their hunting rifles and traditional handguns.
But I also believe assault weapons and large capacity magazines have no place in our society, let alone our schools.
Peter Haviland
Stamford, Vt.
Jan .4
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