Debate resumes over whether teachers should be armed
Even among teachers there is no consensus on the difficult issue
Utah teacher Kasey Hansen says carrying a concealed weapon in school is “more of a solution” than hiding in a corner and waiting if an armed intruder enters the classroom. But Texas teacher Tara Bordeaux worries that she lacks “the instincts” of a law enforcement officer and can’t easily see herself carrying a gun in class.
Both say carrying a gun in school is a matter of personal preference. But in the aftermath of yet another mass school shooting, there are deep divisions, from President Donald Trump to educators, parents and school security officers, about whether teachers should be armed.
Lawmakers in several states are wrestling with the contentious idea, including Florida, where the 17 victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland are being mourned.
Trump said during a listening session Wednesday with parents and survivors of school shootings that a teacher adept at firearms “could very well end the attack very quickly.” He followed that up with a tweet Thursday that “highly trained teachers would act as a deterrent to the cowards that do this” and later suggested they receive bonuses for the added responsibility.
The president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, called arming teachers a horrible idea and said an educator’s handgun would be no match for the assaultstyle weapons often wielded by attackers.
“The solution is to ban these military weapons from people who shouldn’t have them,” Weingarten said.
The National Association of School Resource Officers, which provides training to school-based law enforcement officers, said it opposes arming teacher. “Anyone who hasn’t received the extensive training provided to law enforcement officers will likely be mentally unprepared to take a life, especially the life of a student assailant,” it said in a statement Thursday.
Wayne LaPierre, vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, said Thursday that reactions like Weingarten’s are expected after mass shootings.
“The whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely ridiculous,” he told a conference of conservatives in Washington.
Calling schools “virtually wide-open soft targets,” LaPierre added, “It should not be easier for a mad man to shoot up a school than a bank or a jewelry store.”
In Florida, Republican state Sen. Greg Steube has proposed allowing specially trained educators with military or law enforcement backgrounds to be armed.
“Our most valuable, most precious resources are our children. Why in the world are we going to put them in a circumstance where there is nobody that is armed and trained at any of our schools to be able to respond quickly to an active shooter situation?” Steube told The Associated Press.
Similar discussions have taken place in Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and Alabama in recent days. In Wisconsin, the attorney general said he’s open to the idea.
“Our students do not need to be sitting ducks. Our teachers do not need to be defending themselves with a No. 2 pencil,” Alabama state Rep. Will Ainsworth, a Republican, said in proposing a bill days after the Valentine’s Day shooting in Florida.
In contrast, a California law that took effect Jan. 1 halted the ability of school districts to allow non-security employees to carry guns on campus.