Give us gun laws, not guns in schools
Kudos to columnist Patricia Murphy for cutting through the illogic of paying some teachers to carry firearms in classrooms and school as a safety measure.
First, teachers’ curriculum is currently micromanaged by legislators, few of whom have teaching training or experience. Why undermine teacher recruitment, which is already an issue?
Second, if school systems want better security, then hire more school resource officers.
Third, teachers are there to educate and nurture student development, not be an armed deterrent against bad folks with semiautomatic weapons.
Fourth, it mistakes the problem’s nature. The widespread availability of guns in Georgia is the problem, not the solution.
A starting point is to pass laws like red flag protection and require background checks on all gun sales.
Empower teachers to teach, not arm them for a quasi-police role. If the legislature is insistent on arming teachers, have each of the legislators develop a new 300-word lesson plan every day. Fair is fair, right?
RICH LAPIN, DUNWOODY
We need bold climate action, like carbon pricing
This summer’s record heat, wildfires and flooding highlight the need for environmental stewardship. In the AJC, we read, “Georgia Power seeks to add fossil fuels” (News, Oct. 29) in response to increasing requirements for generating power. We also read that West Georgia churches are taking climate action seriously (AJC.com, Oct. 23). Thank God churches are responding.
We learn too that “Shuttered coal plants see possible new future” (News, Oct. 30), suggesting they could quickly be converted into “generation sites for renewable power and battery storage.” Our Georgia utilities need to heed the pastors’ examples. The urgency grows daily with each fossil fuel use.
Our governments should heed the call to phase out fossil fuels. How? By pricing carbon pollution. Canada does it with a carbon cashback. A new bill in Congress would do that, too: The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 5744).
We all should act by joining the Citizens Climate Lobby to ask Congress for bold climate action.
BOB JAMES, ATLANTA
