Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) says that schools in his state will be safer when school districts are given the ability to allow staff to carry guns.

Speaking to a cheering crowd of Northeast Tarrant County Tea Party members on Monday, the Texas governor called last week’s shootings at an elementary school in Connecticut an evil act but insisted that new gun laws were not the answer.

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“We have to do everything we can to make sure those types of evils are restricted the best they can be,” he explained. “One thing I hope I don’t see is knee-jerk reaction from Washington, where they come in and think they know the answers.”

“In the state of Texas, if you go through the process, have been trained, and you are a handgun-licensed individual, you should be able to carry a gun anywhere in the state.”

Perry is just the latest Texan to declare that more firearms in the classroom will help solve the problem of mass school shootings.

Austin-area gun store own Crockett Keller on Monday told KRLD that he was offering teachers a discount on training for conceal-carry permits.

And Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asserted on Sunday that the children in Connecticut would have been safer if the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary had been armed with an M4 carbine, a a military-issued assault rifle designed for urban warfare.

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Watch this video from WFAA, broadcast Dec. 17, 2012.