Teachers offered discount on guns after US school shooting

Washington: A Texas gun store owner is not only encouraging teachers to arm themselves, he is also offering them a discount.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took 26 lives, Crocket Keller of Kellers Riverside Gun Store in Austin is offering a special deal for teachers to get a Concealed Handgun License. Instead of paying 110 dollars for the 10-hour CHL class, teachers only need to pay 90 dollars. “I have been counseled by some of my friends that I ought to do it for free, but I can``t afford to do that,” Keller told the New York Daily News. According to the report, many believe that the key to keeping students safe is providing better security for them, not arming their 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,” Gayle Fallon of the American Federation of Teachers told KRLD in Texas. “In a lot of cases, the perpetrator is a kid. Look at Columbine, it was a (teenager). You tell me a teacher is going to look in the eyes of a (teenager) and pull the trigger — it’s not in their emotional make up,” he said. Keller believes in bulking up security in schools, but that`s not enough. "Teachers can be as well trained in the use of arms as any policeman can," he said, adding: "The teachers are there all the time, they know what`s going on. They are familiar with their surroundings." The gun debate continues to heat up after Friday’s tragic incident in Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza used automatic weapons owned by his mother to kill 20 students, six adults and then himself, the report said. During a press conference on Monday, New York City Mayor Bloomberg said that "if this moment passes without taking action, it will be a stain on this nation``s conscience." (ANI)