A candidate for state superintendent of schools in Oklahoma proposed an idea last week that would require schools to place thick, used textbooks under the desks
of students to give them a shield in case of a school shooting.

Hopefully, this was just a ploy for attention and not a sign of how absurd the reactionary policies of the nation have become following any sort of tragedy.

Sure, after horrific school shootings, we would like to be prepared for anything, but a textbook as a shield against bullets is certainly not the best plan of action.

Even with the Amish tragedy near Lancaster, school shootings are quite rare, and textbook shields will not help.

This is the same type of logic that produces "watch for drunk drivers" signs alongside dangerous roadways. We already live in a society where the government lets us know how scared we should be every day. This would just terrify children that much more. Could you even imagine being told on the first day of school how you should protect yourself from a gunman?

Even if some type of drill showing students how to use their books as shields -- against bullets -- no one could know how each student would react if placed in that situation. At that point, instinct takes over and the lives of children are too important to gamble on the proper execution of blocking a lethal projectile with a book made of cardboard and paper. It could prove to be just as useless as hiding under desks to protect from fallout in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cold War.

To make matters worse a school district in Texas has been teaching students to attack gunmen as a defense against school shootings. While that could work, and no one wants to sit back and let something terrible happen without a fight, it is not worth a higher body count when children could find cover or a way out of harm's way.

A solution is needed to protect students against being gunned down in school, but it must be well planned.

Metal detectors positioned at entrances could keep the guns from ever getting inside the school, as would increasing security personnel.

So before Oklahoma and the rest of nation fall down a slippery slope of preposterous defense plans against shooters, please leave the books to educating students, not serving as their only line of defense.