Don't talk back

A small town in Texas thinks guns and teachers are a good mix:

HARROLD, Texas (AP) — A tiny Texas district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting employees follow certain requirements.

The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office, leaving students and teachers without protection, said David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District. The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target, he argued.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site.

A gun in every holster

In what is probably the most important Second Amendment decision in U.S. history, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the right to bear arms is a right of the individual, not a collective right regulated by the state.

The decision does not automatically undo any gun laws, except for the near total ban on handguns in Washington, DC that was at the heart of the case. However, expect lawsuits.

From a cultural standpoint, this could change the nature of politics in rural American where, as Barack Obama delicately put it, people are known to cling to guns and religion as markers of who they are and what they believe.