In the wake of Friday’s deadly shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a Texas gun store owner is offering a discount to teachers who would like to get a concealed handgun license.
Crocket Keller of Kellers Riverside Gun Store in Austin, Tex. told a CBS affiliate he “would be more than happy” to take $20 off the normal rate of licenses for educators, bringing the rate down from $110 to $90.
His store had previously only extended this discount to veterans.
“We need to start thinking out of the box and deal with this violent culture,” said Keller. “We need to lobby our various state governments to allow teachers to be armed.”
A Las Vegas premiere self defense and personal safety training facility is also offering a similar discount. In a press release, Front Sight Firearms Training Institute announced “free firearms training to any school administrator, teachers, or full time staff members designated as school Safety Monitors.”
Front Sight’s founder and director, Dr. Ignatius Piazza, cited Israel’s success at deterring terrorism acts on Israeli schools after they began arming and training teachers in the early 1970s.
“Society is safer when we train and arm our law abiding citizens. As the defensive training leader in the USA, Front Sight is willing and able to set the example for the rest of the country to follow,” wrote Dr. Piazza. “Gun control never has and never will stop criminals and madmen from carrying out acts of gun violence.”
The Newton, Conn. massacre has ignited the debate on whether teachers and administration officials should be armed in schools. The 1990 Federal Gun Free Schools Zone Act prohibits carrying firearms on school grounds in most cases.
“We have airline pilots that now carry pistols,” Keller remarked. “The same thing needs to, I think, happen in these gun-free zones that are so dangerous.”
Keller added, “Our personal safety is our responsibility, unfortunately the police and the military cannot be everywhere. When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.”
“Any place where the citizenry is not allowed to defend itself is at risk.”