The turret was a little much but why not? The NRA and department of defense had already funded glock 19s for each teacher plus AKs for the school entrance and principals office but I wanted to be really extra safe so I installed the turret.

There is an elevator in the back of my art room that only teachers and administrators and our counselor and janitors and a few other people have the key to. It lifts me up 30 feet in the air to a platform with a mounted M60E4 fully automatic machine gun on a spinning 360-degree holder. My students designed the turret in my Geometry class because I’m all about project-based learning.

And yes, I had to obtain a special Federal Firearms License from the FBI and the ATF but that was easy (the NRA always helps with the paperwork), they want to keep teachers safe too.

The NRA was also monumental in upgrading to the M60E4 from the original M60 because of, “Key improvements: the introduction of three styles of barrels (long / standard, short and assault), and an improved belt feed with greater pull force for improved belt lift capability. Several parts are redesigned and strengthened. In limited use by the US Navy (mostly Special Operations forces).”

I didn’t even know what “improved belt lift capacity” was but now I can’t live without it.

They also included a Vokul Tactical 3 laser scope that expands the kill range from Macarthur Ave. to the entire SVHS campus. During practice firing I even was able to shoot a Santa Cruz Slimeball skate wheel off the shoulder of Rob Wilson at the Old School Skate shop across the street on Broadway.

Plus they threw in a mounted M240 for the top of my truck because what happens if the bad guys try to get away? Peace through superior firepower, that’s the answer, right?

And our school won’t stop there; we have an upgrade contract with the NRA and defense department that guarantees new weapons each year. The 700 billion dollar defense budget this year will continue to increase as long as rational people are in office…

This is simply nuts people. We cannot solve the gun problem with more guns; do we solve the obesity problem with more food? The opiate problem with more opiates? Yet the ridiculous scenario above is being touted as the answer to solve the gun problem.

18 years teaching in an alternative high school environment and I’ve never been fearful of gun violence. Why? Because we are connected as a school, maintaining our positive learning environment and if a student seems to be veering in a negative direction we react and intervene. Plus the students know that learning happens here, not violence or anger or bravado. Would me packing a glock help this, no, it would do the exact opposite.

We have too many guns as I’ve written before, Start there, look to other countries like Australia for what has worked. It’s not perfect but it’s a start.

Keep the second amendment in tact, single shot sporting arms are fine, but stop producing and selling any weapon that is made to kill people. Why is this even an issue?

Stop supporting people who think the answer to gun violence is more guns. We have become a paranoid, violent, fearful country but we don’t have to be. Just like in the classroom, we have to change the mindset becoming more connected and supportive of each other.

Support the kids on March 24. Send your child to the rally in Washington. Make a sign and stand in the horseshoe on the plaza on Friday afternoons so that everyone knows that this is not just a Facebook protest.

Arming teachers is nuts, more guns for the good guys so the bad guys lose is short sighted and moves us in the wrong direction. Our democracy should bring us together to make our lives better not filled with paranoia and fear.

Make America Smart Again. Gun Reform Now.