Gun group head wary of arming teachers

The head of the state’s largest gun owner advocacy group is balking at the idea of arming teachers in order to prevent gun violence at schools.

“Teachers have an awful lot to do. They should focus on education,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners Action League. “I think there’s a lot of people who could help, if they’re serious about hardening school security. There are retired law enforcement officers, some retired military who would be happy to provide their expertise.”

Wallace did not dismiss the idea entirely. But he said any armed teachers would have to be trained and ready to run toward the sound of gunfire.

“If you have teachers that have the ability and have the OK of the administration and have the confidence in themselves and some training that shows they are capable, we can talk about that,” he said.

But Wallace said arming someone who does not want to carry a weapon is dangerous.

“One thing I don’t want to do is to force anybody to carry a firearm. What we teach in our training is that if you are not comfortable with it, you should not carry,” he said. “Sometimes people come to us — and we provide all types of firearm classes — and they say I want to own a gun, and we ask them what are you going to do? Are you going to carry for self-defense, is it for home target-shooting? We try to make it clear to people that if they’re not completely comfortable, there’s a lot of bad things that can happen if you’re not serious, when it comes to firearms.”

Using firearms for self-defense or defense of others requires training and safety considerations that, if not adhered to, can lead to tragedy, he said.

“If you’re carrying, you have to be ready to use that without a second thought,” he said. “You can’t hesitate. You need to, as a person, be confident in those situations. There are people who could never be a soldier. The same is true when you are carrying. You have to know what your weaknesses are and have confidence in your ability to use a gun to defend yourself.”

President Trump touted the idea of arming teachers as a way to stop school gun violence of the sort that struck Parkland, Fla., last week.