A gun store owner in Austin, Texas has made an offer to teachers in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting, according to CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. The owner of Kellers Riverside Gun Store, Crocket Keller, said that it teachers want to obtain a concealed handgun license, he will offer them a discount.
“As we do with veterans, I would offer them a discount. Our normal rate is $110.00, so I would give them a rate of $90.00,” said Keller to KRLD. “If they are teachers, we would be more than happy to do that.”
The offer from Keller comes just days after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 20 children and six staff members were killed. The shooting has raised the debate of whether or not teachers should be armed on school campuses. Keller thinks teachers should be allowed to carry guns.
“We need to start thinking out of the box and deal with this violent culture,” Keller said. “We need to lobby our various state governments to allow teachers to be armed.”
Not everyone agrees with Keller’s views about arming teachers. One such person is Gayle Fallon, from the American Federation of Teachers.
“I knew this would come up at some point, there would be people who think the answer is to put guns on campus. Frankly I think it’s absurd. In a lot of cases, the perpetrator is a kid. Look at Columbine, it was a 14-year-old kid. You tell me a teacher is going to look in the eyes of a 14-year-old and pull the trigger — it’s not in their emotional make up.”
Fallon said that the answer to better safety on school grounds is adding more police officers on campuses and tightening restrictions for guns. Keller is not in favor of any of these suggestions from Fallon.
“Our personal safety is our responsibility, unfortunately the police and the military cannot be everywhere,” said Keller. “When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.”