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. Although that seems unlikely, school shootings are a real problem in America. Last month, three people were wounded at a shooting in Phoenix, Arizona.

Local officials have argued that the single campus in their 110-student district is too far away from the nearest sheriff's office if there were an emergency. They have also said that a nearby main road might increase the chances of a dangerous gunman attacking the school.

In a local newspaper interview, David Thweatt, the superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District, defended the decision and said keeping guns out of schools was more dangerous than having them in.

'When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying "sic em" to a dog,' Thweatt told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.