LUMBERTON, Texas — As kids in Lumberton head back to school, they were welcomed by a sign that warned students there are now employees on campus allowed to carry concealed handguns and use them if necessary.
"A good guy with a gun is better that a bad guy with a gun," Lumberton parent Lowell Myers said.
The Lumberton School Board approved the new program about a year ago. Interested staff volunteered to carry concealed handgun, and from the pool administrators selected staff to be trained.
"People are just not realizing the world has come to this," Myers said.
Myers agrees with the district's decision because he says times have changed since he's been in school.
Andrew Kennedy graduated from Lumberton High School in May, and he feels differently.
"I'm not a big fan of the fact that teachers can carry concealed handguns because that's not what they signed up to do," Kennedy said.
Kennedy says teachers should only have to worry about teaching students, and not protecting them.
"The people who are trained that go to work and carry guns are your security guys and your police and I don't think it's very fair for a teacher to be asked that responsibility of them," Kennedy said.
This is the first year that some Lumberton teachers and staff will be armed. A spokesperson for the district couldn't say how many individuals will have guns.
"It's not a happy idea the fact that we've come so low that people think to prove a point they need to go to school with a gun," Kennedy said.
"People think it's not going to happen in our town," Myer said. "It can happen anywhere."
