Keeping School Environments Safe in the United States

"Arming teachers doesn't make kids safer."

"In fact, it increases the chances that a teacher's gun will fall into the wrong hands or discharge unintentionally."

Shannon Watts, founder, Moms Demand Action 

 

"Without serious training, teachers would not be able to successfully use the guns to stop school shootings."

"I certainly would refuse to be responsible for a weapon in school,"

"Asking teachers to take on the role of cops would change the dynamic between students and teachers in a harmful way."

"In general, adding guns to our society does not decrease gun violence, but instead increases the chance of accidents and unintentional deaths."

Bronx Science history teacher Michelle Sagalchik 

Even trained police officers often miss their target during gunfights. RichLegg / Getty Images

 

In a move born of desperation following a series of mass shootings at schools in the United States there is a growing movement in support of allowing teachers and other school employees to carry guns. It is a potential 'solution' that has been promoted by Republicans and gun-rights advocates who claim the strategy allows schools and their employees to gain a fighting chance of avoiding catastrophe should armed attacks occur. At the present time there are 29 states allowing individuals beside police or security officials to carry arms on school grounds.

 

Survey data from 2018, the last year where statistics were available, an estimated 2.6 percent of American public schools housed faculty that are armed. It is logical to assume that since then the count has expanded. Democrats, on the other hand, fiercely oppose the strategy. Joining them are police groups, teachers' unions and gun control advocates, who feel that concealed carry programs in schools have the potential to create more risk for all those involved.

 

Polling in the past has indicated the vast majority of teaching staff have no wish to be armed. In Ohio a new law has drawn controversy, requiring no more than 24 hours of training coupled with eight hours of recertification yearly. "That, to us, is just outrageous", commented director of government affairs for the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, Michael Weinman.

 

Research has seen little evidence that school employees carrying guns is effective. On the other hand, arming school employees saw slight majority appeal among parents and adults, in recent polls. Laws vary by state but often do not specifically address how teachers must carry or store guns. And that can be problematical, as in one instance two first-graders in Ohio came across a gun when an employee in a concealed carry program left the firearm in an unlocked case close by her desk.

 

And nor is that a particularly rare occasion. Students have also discovered guns left on buses, and in school bathrooms, according to reports in the news.