To the editor:

By the time first responders arrive, it is already too late. The reality is that the best response to an armed threat is an immediate response. The only way to have that occur is that an armed guard or a person charged with defending the campus be located on site. Only then will the children be truly protected.

For those who consider guns an abhorrent object, that is an opinion. It is not an action to prevent violence. It is a person creating the threat of violence. The only real action against this type of threat is to change the attitudes and inner thoughts of individuals regarding other human beings.

There is only one world and we are its citizens. Let us start treating one another in a manner similar to how we expect to be treated. Then, maybe we won't have these deranged thrill seekers overtaken by evil causing the damage they do to others.

Bernard P. Giroux

South Dartmouth