In the wake of three recent school shootings, Wisconsin legislator Frank Lasee suggested an idea that has put much of the country in turmoil and labeled Lasee as extremist for his idea. Lasee proposed that teachers be given the opportunity to be armed in the classrooms with concealed weapons.

Is the idea of arming teachers crazy? Is it extreme?

Let me start off by stating it is difficult to determine what exactly causes someone mentally unstable to become unhinged enough to want to kill - let alone innocent children in a classroom environment. I am not a psychiatrist, nor do I play one on television, so I won't attempt to figure out what goes on inside these peoples' minds.

It does, however, seem obvious, even going back to Columbine, that there's one thing in common with all the school shootings - our schools have been declared gun-free zones.

A gun-free zone seems like a great idea on paper. However, the only thing that a gun-free zone accomplishes is that it puts up giant, neon, flashing invitations to bad people who are hell-bent on causing mayhem and murder. It tells bad people intent on doing harm that they can walk onto a campus, tell schoolchildren to stand up against the blackboard, and kill them indiscriminately.

Our police are put in a lose-lose situation when it comes to a school hostage crisis or shooting. If the police waste too much time trying to assess the situation, bring in the hostage negotiators, and attempt to diffuse the situation, they lose because children are further traumatized. Classmates and teachers are killed. If the police decide to end the situation as early as possible by storming the campus, they lose because children are further traumatized. Classmates and teachers are killed. There will always be Monday Morning Quarterbacking, and in the end, someone will always criticize the police for either not doing enough or for doing too much.

In my opinion, bad people choose schools because they know that they will be met without armed resistance. I also believe that most of these bad people know they will not leave the school alive - they're suicidal. This is demonstrated by the outcome time and time again.

What's the best way to combat a person hell-bent on murdering innocent schoolchildren and teachers? Revoke the notion of the gun-free zone. Give teachers and administrators a choice as to whether or not they want to arm themselves. If a teacher or administrator doesn't want to carry, nobody would force them to. But, if a teacher or administrator does want to carry, he or she should go through proper training and obtain a concealed weapons permit from the county sheriff. Those that carry would be trained on how to properly use a gun, when to properly use it, and would have to go through continuing training throughout the year.

We have allowed our commercial airline pilots to do this since 9/11. I don't recall a single instance of an armed pilot's gun being misused, and I'm positive it would make big news if it would have occurred.

If someone good (or a group of good someones) was armed in these school shootings, there would have been an opportunity for someone to stop these madmen in their tracks. Instead, children and school teachers are literally nothing more than caged ducks waiting to be shot.

I'm sure that there are those who go ballistic (pardon the pun) over the notion of arming teachers, and think that curious children are going to take hold of one of these guns and cause a disaster. That's not going to happen, because the teachers are going to carry these guns on their person concealed. These guns won't be kept in the desk, won't be hanging on the wall, sitting in a purse, etc. There won't be an opportunity for children to take hold of these guns and cause an accident.

There are those who will think that children will be traumatized because they'll know that their teacher is armed. The fact is that the children won't know that the teacher is armed. The teacher will be carrying the gun concealed.

There are those who will think that the teacher will go crazy and open fire on the students. If this is your major concern, does this not present an even bigger problem, such as, Why is someone unstable allowed to be with my child?

I can't offer any promises that children will be unharmed in the event that another school hostage crisis occurs. I can't even promise that a child wouldn't accidentally get shot by a teacher attempting to shoot a bad person. There are no guarantees in life short of death and taxes. But, we have to give students, teachers and administrators a fighting chance to survive when a madman storms the campus.

I don't think the idea of arming teachers is crazy at all.