Kate Alaks

The no-concealed-carry signs posted on RB doors are not a sign of vulnerability. They do not proclaim that we are sitting ducks; they tell people that RB is not a place for gun violence. If somebody is determined to come in and shoot us, the sign won’t stop them, but neither will the lack of the sign. They are not thinking rationally, and so a rational fear that they might get shot is not necessarily going to be present.

Rather, the sign protects us from rational people who might happen to be impulsive and also carry guns, who aren’t intending to break the law. They keep RB from an atmosphere of fear, not only the constant thought of “what if there was an intruder” which would be brought to the forefront of people’s minds whenever they thought that teacher or this security guard might be carrying a gun, but the fear of “what if something happened within the school.”  I wouldn’t trust even my favorite teachers with guns, nor would I feel comfortable knowing the security guards were armed. Whether or not such a thing would happened, I would be paranoid that something would go wrong.