Would Packing a Pistol Help Teacher Burnout?

Today the Christian Science Monitor covered an Oregon story by asking: Should Teachers Be Allowed to Pack a Gun?

An Oregon high-school teacher, backed by a firearms lobby group, is challenging district policy that prohibits anyone except law enforcement officers from having a firearm on a school campus. She specifically wants to pack her Glock 9mm pistol in order to protect herself from her violent husband. Gun-rights groups say that a district policy that prohibits firearms violates statutory law. Overturning district policy would have national implications.

Although her primary goal was to protect herself, the teacher also feels that as a veteran teacher, she has come to believe strongly that having responsible armed adults on campus could have prevented tragedies such as those at Columbine High School in Colorado, Thurston High School in Oregon, and Virginia Tech University.

Of course, teachers and administrators are divided as to whether guns would increase their feelings of stress and burnout, or if they would help teachers feel secure.