Allowing guns in Utah schools is nutty

I'm a moderately conservative Republican who owns guns. I've owned guns nearly my whole life. Some of my fondest memories come from tramping the fields and marshes hunting waterfowl or pheasants and hiking to the top of Blue Mountain in San Juan County on the opening day of the deer hunt.

I think people ought to be able to own guns, and I'm a staunch defender of that right.

However, I don't believe guns belong in schools. And I also believe that private property owners ought to be able to control whether people bring guns onto their property.

While polls clearly show my beliefs on this issue are mainstream Utah, I realize that I am at odds with some of my conservative brothers and sisters in the Legislature who fervently believe that people with concealed weapons permits should be able to pack their guns nearly anywhere they please.

I don't have a problem with concealed weapons permits. Utah law allows essentially any law-abiding citizen to obtain such a permit, and many thousands have done so. But I do believe there ought to be some restrictions on where you can pack a gun. Schools, for example, ought to be off limits. And if a business owner doesn't want guns on the premises, the business ought to be able to ban them.

This private property issue is very big because presently many large businesses are likely in technical violation of the current law if, for example, they use metal detectors to screen employees and visitors and don't allow people with guns onto their premises.

To me, allowing guns in schools (except for trained law enforcement personnel) is just plain nutty. Mixing loaded weapons with several hundred rambunctious kids in an elementary or junior high school is a recipe for disaster.

Proponents of guns in schools argue that an armed teacher or custodian might just be able to protect children if a bad person tries to harm them. But this is the role of trained school security personnel. Concealed weapons permit holders are not trained in the use of firearms in life-and-death circumstances. In a standoff or a tense situation, the more guns that get pulled out, the scarier it becomes.

And to me it's just common sense that if a teacher, custodian or parent is routinely taking a loaded handgun into a school, the danger of a tragic accident is a thousand times more likely than that concealed weapons permit holder protecting children from some deranged person. That's why Utah educators are almost unanimously against having guns in schools.