In the aftermath of the horrible murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, everyone is demanding action to ensure that nothing like that will ever happen again. At either end of the political spectrum we have calls ranging from "confiscate all guns except for those in the hands of the military and police" to "arm all the teachers like the Israelis do."

Well, the debate can rage on ad nauseum as to where along this continuum we should act, but as the debate rages, budding "Adam Lanza copycats" simmer. People with sick minds feed on each other -- and on the media coverage their actions generate! The longer we wait to act, the more likely they will act. Regardless of how "the debate" turns out, we need a short-term solution to counter the threat. I have a humble suggestion that could immediately be put in place to deter such shootings.

Simply call out "the militia."

In this case, the militia would be composed of members of our military and police forces -- folks who should be acceptable to both ends of the political spectrum -- because pretty much everyone agrees that they, at least, ought to be armed.

My idea is to rotate qualified and heavily vetted volunteers from the ranks of the active-duty military; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard reserves; Army and Air National Guard; municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies; and retirees from all of the above to serve part of their time as, let us call them "guardians," at their local schools. To simplify the logistics of the undertaking, I recommend that part of the selection process for such guardians include picking folks who reside in or near a particular school district where they would serve.

Now, the selected guardians would have no "official" capacity at the school other than as a citizen -- who happens to be a trained professional -- to provide an armed presence to respond in the unlikely event of an attack on the school. Yes, we are grimly aware that such attacks happen, but statistically speaking, they are still unlikely, and would be even less likely to happen if said guardians were present.

Great! So who pays for this?

We've already paid for it! Our police and military personnel have already been trained and are paid to "defend our country" and to "protect and serve." My suggestion is that these folks be asked to volunteer (i.e. another one of the selection criteria) to do this as not only their civic duty, but also as another part of the "defend our country/protect and serve" equation.

For active-duty military and LEOs, it would amount to taking a vacation/sick/PTO day as little as once every few months or so to do "guardian duty"; for reservists and National Guards, it could serve as part of their "one weekend a month and two weeks a year" obligation and/or count as points toward their retirement; for retirees (and everyone who volunteers) it counts toward the betterment of mankind.

OK, so who provides the arms and ammunition?

Again, we've already paid for the arms and ammunition used to train these professionals; and if they can't or, for whatever reason, won't provide their own personal firearms to accomplish the School-Guardian mission, I'd be willing to bet that America's gun owners would donate some of theirs. We did something similar once -- during WWII -- so that the United Kingdom could defend itself from a feared Nazi invasion. We can do it again, to defend our schools from feared invasions by deranged sociopaths.

Honestly, I can't imagine that any active, reserve or retired service member or LEO would refuse to donate an occasional vacation or sick day to ensure that our schools are safe.

I also can't imagine that anyone -- even the most Left-thinking along the political spectrum -- would object to "the military and police" stepping up to protect our children. Short of arming teachers -- to which they would never agree -- I believe this is the best alternative.

I'm not sure about arming teachers, anyway. It's not their job. It's not their orientation. We've seen it proven that they are willing to die to protect their students, but I'm not ready to ask them to kill. I'd want to leave that to the professionals.

That said, I believe if a program such as this is implemented and then publicized by the mainstream media, as well as all the viral media, knowing that any schools in the area are protected by the likes of Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, Marine Corps Recon, Air Force Para Rescue Jumpers, municipal SWAT team members, et al, will serve as a deterrent to the likes of any "Play Station ranger" or "X-Box commando" fantasizing about shooting up a school. The mere thought of it should ake him decide to just stay home, or, better yet, seek professional help.