The guy’s lucky that he’s able to even face charges. I have a feeling that, after the initial shock and fear wore off, more than one of this weirdo’s students would have liked to give him a lesson on the error of his ways, so to speak.
I’ve got mixed feelings on punishment. Mostly because I’m not sure what’s going on inside this guy’s noggin. Lining your students up in the classroom and re-enacting the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre isn’t the sort of thing one would normally associate with a stable person. If this guy’s off his nut, which is certainly possible, he needs to be locked up before he loads something stronger than blanks. If, however, the guy is just criminally stupid and has a clean record to this point, maybe a plea agreement with the prosecutor is in order. In either case, this guy should never be allowed in a classroom again.
As I see it there are four issues involved here:
1) Gun laws: There is a reason there are sound and solid reasons there are laws against “brandishing a firearm “. The laws of his state should be enforced in this matter.
2) Behavior as a teacher: He should be terminated, regardless of his mental health state, and should never be allowed to find work involving children again.
3) Mental health: This would influence criminal charges and punishment.
4) This could happen at a private school as well as government school so I don’t see this a being a problem intrinsic to the government schools.