An increasing number of school districts around the country are looking into hiring armed school guards to protect students after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Butler County schools in western Pennsylvania is the latest to take that step. The county already had school guards, they just didn't have guns.

The Washington Post reported a school superintendent there realized that guns need to be part of the solution, not just part of the problem.

"Armed guards are the one thing that give us a fighting chance. Don't we want that one thing?" Superintendent Mike Strutt told the paper.

A dozen states are proposing taking that same step. But right now much of the debate is happening on the local level.

In Emporia, Kansas, school officials decided this week to allow security guards at the district's high school and middle school to carry guns.

"A number of districts throughout the state are reviewing their safety and security plans, their crisis plans," said Donna Whiteman, attorney for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Meanwhile, five states are actually talking about banning armed guards in schools.