Two Republican state lawmakers have come out with views on guns in schools that, combined, say a lot about today’s Republican Party.
In Ohio, state Rep. Niraj Antani sees no reason why, once they’re 18, high school students shouldn’t be toting long guns around their schools:
“If you look at what happened many decades ago, people brought their firearms to school. They kept them in their cars, maybe, but there was not a problem.”
The lawmaker said his view is that "anyone who is of age should be able to carry a firearm whenever they want."
"The only restriction I believe in is for private property," he said.
In Alabama, on the other hand, state Rep. Harry Shiver isn’t so sure teachers should be carrying guns, because, uh:
Alabama lawmakers need to protect "our ladies" and to do that, they should not arm teachers because most are women, argued State Rep. Harry Shiver, R-Stockton, this morning. [...]
"I've heard ... that 75 percent of Republicans support it, but I was there live and in person and I know what it is like in the schools," said Shiver [who is a retired teacher and coach]. "Most women wouldn't like to be put in that position. I know from South Alabama, they wouldn't."
Shiver did also say that it would be a problem to have teachers carrying guns when the police responded to an active shooter situation and saw anyone carrying a gun as a potential threat. So unfortunately for the Republicans, we can’t merge his views with Antani’s and just have 12th grade boys carrying guns whenever there aren’t enough male teachers to protect their schools run up a high enough accidental body count.