Welcome to Texas, where men are men and teachers are armed

Things just got even tougher in Texas. The Lone Star state, which prides itself on its macho Western cowboy image, is now to have the first school district in America in which teachers can carry concealed guns.

The tiny community of Harrold, in the far north of the state, has recently approved a local decision that allows its teachers to bring firearms to school to protect against possible shootings.



So when the school re-opens after the long summer holiday, any of the college's 50 or so staff could bring pistols to their classrooms. The decision is likely to provoke uproar in other parts of America and will shock gun control advocates, who argue that teachers with guns in class actually escalate the chance of a shooting.

However, those arguments have cut little ice with the authorities in the Harrold school district. They are worried that a steady stream of shootings in schools and colleges in America will eventually reach their small, isolated region.