Controversy Erupts Over School Proposal to Teach Kids to Fight Back Against Gunmen

A proposal to teach children as young as 10 years old to fight back against a classroom gunman is causing quite a stir in a small town in Massachusetts.

Georgetown Police Chief James E. Mulligan told FOXNews.com the proposed technique was intended to be a "last ditch" thing to be used in cases where a gunman has been able to thwart police and get inside a classroom alone with students.

But others think the last thing you want to teach young kids is how to fight off an intruder with a gun.

"To put that expectation on young, emotional, scared, frightened children is really a slippery slope," says Kenneth Trump, the president of National School Safety and Security Services. "It has a high risk and higher probability of escalating a situation than it would to neutralize the situation."

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I have to confess as a parent of two elementary aged children, I am torn. I absolutely can appreciate the points of both sides of this argument. I have said many times that the public school system is the number one most dangerous place in America for a child to be in these days.

We have taught our children since the time they were able to understand us, that if anyone they do not know or even if they do know them tries to make them or take them and they know that's not right, that they are to scream at the top of their lungs, "that man/woman is not my mom/dad, please someone help me." I want them to fight in an environment like that. I want them to make as much noise to draw attention to themselves.

A man with a gun in their school, well I'm just not sure about that. If a man with a gun has entered the school and made it through the ridiculously inadequate security provided, I think I'd rather my child find a safe place to hide and be quiet. It just isn't the same as a group of adults being held hostage on an airplane. Adults are capable of fighting; their capable of reasoning out what the odds are and how best to play them. Children just aren't strong enough or developed enough in their ability to reason out their next move. They can reason, "I need to run from here to there," but they would have trouble with more complex decision making items. "If I have to make contact with this guy, where should I hit/kick him and what should I use as a weapon?"

I guess I lean more on the side of just biding your time and following directions until a rescue plan can be devised and implemented by experts. I just don't think the average child has the capability to make wise choices in such a high stress environment.