I read The Bulletin article concerning the recent Bend-La Pine School Board meeting and found it missed the focus of what I said.

Yes, I did speak of the gun culture in Central Oregon. Guns are here to stay, and there will be no legislation to end access to guns — no repealing the Second Amendment. That will never change. Guns are safer than the children.

Yes, I addressed arming teachers, and I oppose that idea. Claiming it isn’t a topic of discussion at Bend-La Pine is false. Parents, the public and the faculty are discussing it on radio, television, newspapers and the internet.

The expectation a teacher with a handgun and some training will assume a role that trained law enforcement officers are reluctant to fill is wishful thinking. We often see armed officers in full body armor huddled outside of schools waiting for an accurate threat assessment. We lament the death of teachers who protect their students, shielding them with their own bodies. Some of us demand more.

Some would do it, but this is a reactive posture. Consider the firepower these young men possess: extended magazines and semi-automatic rifles and pistols that fire as fast as shooters can pull the trigger. If it takes two to three minutes for a teacher with a gun to respond, it means hundreds of rounds can be discharged. We are minimizing fatalities, not preventing them.

The idea that eliminating ‘gun free’ zones would frighten shooters into inaction doesn’t hold water. They go in expecting — if not hoping — to die. They have decided life is no longer worth living, and they are going to inflict as much damage as possible upon those responsible for their pain and anger. They will feel differently because they might be shot by a teacher instead of a policeman? Hardly.

I spoke at the meeting to promote the only alternative that I feel will work: metal detectors and limited access. At this point in our culture and history we have to adopt the same attitude and procedures we adopted post 9/11 for out airports at all of our schools. The risk is real. Two weeks ago there was a very real arrest of a 16-year-old student. We were lucky. The ‘see something, say something’ philosophy paid off this time. If we can’t keep the guns off campus, we have to be this lucky 100 percent of the time. Our teachers, counselors and administrators can never make a mistake. Students can never make a mistake. All of the parents and caregivers can never make a mistake.

That’s an unreasonable expectation, and I have zero confidence it will be the case. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope we will be spared that “Bend school shooting” headline in the paper. I stood with my wife, in shock, while being told that our child was dead. No parent needs that sense of loss and despair. With no action and investment in school security, it will happen and we will all bear the responsibility.

It is not cheap. Put a price tag on a child’s life, because if you feel we can’t afford it, you are doing a cost-benefit analysis that says one outweighs the other. Scanners aren’t a substitute for all of the other things the district is doing. Talk to the administrators and staff. Visit the district website and explore it. They are trying and succeeding. What they’re not claiming is that the danger is not real and they will successfully identify all threats. How can they?

Before the memes about respect, religion, race and rancor enter into this debate, let me state that returning to “when I was young” isn’t going to happen. I was struck last night by the Bend-La Pine twitter #changingtheworld. To all of you, I would suggest #theworldhaschanged.

— Stephen Cramer lives in Bend.