This NY Daily News reporter seems a little shocked that teachers in seven less-hysteria-prone states have figured out the correct answer to this multiple choice question.

There is an active shooter in your school who is advancing on your classroom. Which of the following has the best chance to save the lives of teachers and students when the active shooter enters your classroom?

a). Informing the active shooter that this is a “gun free zone” and that law enforcement officers are 5-20 minutes away.

b). Begging the active shooter for mercy.

c). Throwing books at the active shooter.

d). Firing a controlled pair of bullets into the shooter’s chest from a handgun, scanning and assessing the threat, and firing additional shots, if needed.

This isn’t rocket science.

Reasonably intelligent voters, districts, school administrators (yes, there are a few) and teachers have figured out this answer all on their own after seeing the alternatives fail.

“I never really thought about it before Sandy Hook,” Hansen said. “It just killed me. It’s something personal when you mess with students or children. It’s as if you were messing with one of your own.”

For the past decade, Utah law has allowed anyone with a permit to carry guns on school property.

In 2013, Alabama, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas enacted laws permitting school staff to carry guns on public school property, according to the Council of State Governments. Georgia was added to the mix this year.

Utah has issued more than half a million firearm carry permits, making guns ubiquitous in schools, parks and other public places.

“I think every teacher should carry,” Hansen said. “We are the first line of defense. Someone is going to call the cops and they are going to be informed, but how long is it going to take for them to get to the school? And in that time how many students are going to be affected by the gunman roaming the halls?”

There have been no fatal school shootings in Utah, but there have been stray accidents.

Earlier this month, a 14-year veteran teacher from Westbrook Elementary School was struck in the leg after her firearm discharged while she was in the faculty bathroom. The shot hit the toilet, making it explode, and the shards pierced her leg.

No one else was hurt.

The rabidly anti-gun Daily News has been waiting for the opportunity to write a story about a teacher having a mishap with a firearm at a school, and they finally got one. A university professor injured himself in a negligent discharge this summer as well.

You know what?

Teachers and college professors nationwide still have a lower number of negligent discharges leading to injuries than just the NYPD.

It’s also true that when it comes to the data on intentional discharges—intentionally firing on someone perceived to be a threat—concealed carriers are far more likely to hit an actual bad guy than a misidentified innocent bystander than the law enforcement.

I’d love for Corinne Lestch—or any other anti-gun journalist, editor, anchor, or talking head—to take some of their time to compare the firearms training that goes into training teachers to carry in schools in most jurisdictions (the requirements in Missouri might be a good starting point), versus the firearms training required of the average law enforcement officer.

I think they’d be shocked to discover that the basic firearms training and periodic re-qualification standards required of most law enforcement officers is surprisingly minimal, and that many of the school districts that allow teachers to be armed have qualification/skills requirements that are significantly higher than law enforcement in this specialized environment, and in many cases is on par or exceeds the specific training of many SWAT/ERT teams.

In the event of an active shooter, armed teachers can save lives. Unarmed teachers can merely comfort the dead dying, if they aren’t among them.