David M. you noted that you are "anti-cop", and I'm sure that you have very good reasons for such a choice. Sadly, police - as others in any profession - are human, and vary between good and bad, honorable and despicable, and honest or untrustworthy. I am curious; what alternative would you propose to replace the police force?

I live in Greater Cleveland, so I heard plenty enough about the Tamir Rice situation, and it is a tangled mess that I feel will never achieve a satisfactory resolution. The police officer apparently was not up to police standards, so his judgment was called into question. Tamir Rice had a toy that was extremely similar to the appearance of a real weapon... the orange cap that would be on a toy had been removed, making it resemble a true handgun.

I can only put myself in the place of the police officer; called in on a report of someone waving a gun around callously. Arriving on the scene and telling the suspect to drop the weapon... and instead of it being dropped, having it pointed right at the officer. I'm afraid I would react as the policeman did, and shoot.

I would regret it forever, and I'm told that a lot of police who have to shoot hate it, and require therapy. The majority of peace officers do not want to use their weapons and shoot civilians, I believe. But if there is no time to give a situation critical analysis... well, as noted, I trust a police officer's training in such situations.

The only addendum I have is regarding all the family members and friends who stated that it was just a kid with a toy, and how could anyone find that threatening? I just considered... who thinks it's a good idea to point a weapon at a police officer? What resolution COULD someone expect?

The only way to truly keep people from getting shot is by removing guns and/or bullets from the equation.

Ban all guns. The ones who can't live without violence in their lives can live in jail. 

Arming teachers is just ludicrious. As many have noted, if someone can walk onto a military base with a pistol and kill 13 people then what will 20% or even 100% of armed teachers going to do to prevent death? When I think about all the teachers I ever had from kindergarten to my senior year of high school I cannot come up with 20% of them that I can imagine being up to the task of police/teacher.

Personally, I think people should be allowed to own guns, but there should be strict, ownerous and comprehensive regulations. The type of weapon and person should be rigorously vetted and include annual recertifications. I would want laws that leverage the "well regulated" portion of the 2nd amendment to the fullest possible extent. Ideally, I prefer former Cheif Justice Warran Burger's interpretation of the 2nd amendment or even that the amendment has no place on the Bill of Rights.