Another school shooting, and the anti-gun crowd comes out of the woodwork. If they really believe in their cause, why do they disappear from the scene shortly after the news cycle has run its course, then re-appear with the next school shooting?

They claim they don’t want to see another school shooting. As a firearms person for just over 50 years, like most, I do not want to see another school shooting. However there is evil in the world and always will be. Feel-good measures will not combat this evil; it will take hard measures and determination.

One way to combat the evil is to raise good kids who believe in and exhibit restraint, respect and the Golden Rule. When I was in school back in the 1960s, when these values were still taught on our homes and schools, several of my classmates kept hunting rifles in their vehicles and no one minded, as they knew these students were hunting deer, not other students.

Evil does not abide in a firearm, but in the heart of man. Without evil in a man’s heart, he will never pick up a firearm and do evil with it. Therefore, taking firearms away from everyone, which is what the anti-gun crowd dearly desires, removes no evil from our society. This evil will always be with us. So, how can we battle it?

I, among many others, believe it’s time we have armed guards at our schools to protect our children from the evil. We can screen and train teachers for this purpose. There are many retired military and law enforcment personnel who are trained for just this purpose. If you want schools to be gun-free zones, I believe the only way to ensure a gun-free zone is to have it guarded by guns.

Dave Ricker

Wiscasset