To the editor:

Are children’s lives worth the cost of metal detectors in all the schools? I say yes.

When I attend a baseball game, board an airplane, or even attend a graduation like I did recently at the Chaifetz Arena, I have to be screened by a metal detector like thousands of other people for a gun, knife or any type of weapon.

Why aren’t metal detectors in all the schools across the country to prevent mass murders of American children from the hands of any evil person owning an AR-15 semi-automatic gun that can hold 30 bullets like the 18 year old who killed 21 at the Uvalde Elementary School in Texas?

It can’t be the cost because a simple hand held metal detector wand is only $39.99 online and a walk through metal detector is only $1,700. Isn’t the life of one American child worth more than that?

It can’t be the delays because baseball games are played, airplanes take off at airports and graduations are held all over the country.

As a former licensed Missouri substitute teacher for four years, I did the shelter in place exercises and the total lockdowns at elementary schools in the St. Louis area. That is not enough to prevent mass murders. An ear piercing loud alarm from a metal detector gives students and teachers precious minutes to prepare to run or shelter in place.

No national or state legislation is needed to screen students and teachers by using a hand held or walk through metal detector. No act of Congress or long speech by a senator is needed to install metal detectors in all the schools. It can be done locally by citizens who care about children.

William E. Mason

Affton