Arming teachers is still a terrible idea
Last week, Republican senators Ralph Hise and Warren Daniel filed a bill that would boost the salaries of teachers who underwent specialized police training to carry firearms on campus. The same bill was filed last year and died in committee. However, Republicans are saying that the climate around arming teachers has changed, and support has grown for this type of legislation. But North Carolina educators continue to fight any effort to arm teachers with guns, arguing that “[i]t is a disaster waiting to happen”.
Bringing more guns into our schools does nothing to protect our students and educators from gun violence. 78% of North Carolina educators say it is a bad idea to arm teachers. Our students need more books, art and music programs, nurses and school counselors; they do not need more guns in their classrooms.
- Arming teachers will do more harm than good. A teacher with a handgun versus a shooter with an AR-15 is an unwinnable outcome.
- Teachers are not only found in classrooms but also in the hallways and outside during recess. Teachers are responsible for breaking up fights between school children, and if a teacher were armed during such a situation, the gun is at risk of being in the hands of the wrong person.
- North Carolina’s state superintendent, a Republican, has come out against teachers carrying firearms.
- Instead of arming our teachers and creating a “prison mentality” by increasing the police in schools, our lawmakers should be focusing on the solutions that will work—better access to mental health help and restricting access to semi-automatic weapons.
Arming teachers will make our schools less safe, not more safe. No evidence exists that arming teachers would deter a shooter. Arming teachers is a terrible idea.
