Following the devastating Parkland school shooting, President Donald Trump P’00 called for schools to arm teachers to prevent future school shootings. Several Florida legislators later approved two bills that allotted millions of dollars to training for teachers to carry firearms. While on paper this may seem like a plausible idea, in reality, it is entirely impractical. Arming teachers is an idea designed by those who do not spend time in the classroom or understand what being a student or teacher is like today. School environments have already been transformed from atmospheres of learning to ones tainted with fear as a result of the numerous school shootings that have occurred. This notion of unsafe schools will be furthered if educators teaching in classrooms are in possession of concealed weapons.
Many studies have led to the conclusion that in the presence of more weapons, more accidents and fatalities occur. A study conducted by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center analyzed the correlation between gun availability and the risk of homicide across 50 states from 1988 to 1997. The study ultimately concluded that in all states across the US, where there were more guns, there were more deaths. Pairing this research with the arming of educators — individuals tasked with spreading knowledge, not carrying firearms — will only reflect these results. Only days after President Trump proposed his idea of arming teachers, a teacher at the Seaside High School in California accidentally injured one of his students in a gun safety class by firing a bullet from his semi-automatic handgun in class. While the student’s injuries were minor, this situation explicitly discredits the idea of arming teachers. The teacher’s intentions were good; after all, he merely hoped to teach students about gun safety. But this excuse is inadequate. Arming teachers will yield the same dangerous result despite the good intentions of the educators.
Moreover, teachers do not have to undergo any sort of rigorous training for using firearms, leaving them vastly underprepared. For example, the legal minimum standard of gun training in Michigan is just eight hours for teachers. Not only is this training time deficient, but teachers also cannot be expected to act in the face of a threat with the practicality and knowledge of military or law enforcement officers. Additionally, many educators have no interest in carrying firearms, as illustrated by their widespread participation in the March for Our Lives. Many have already criticized arming teachers, arguing that it will only increase the probability of an accident or fatality occurring in the classroom. Many teachers are using social media to ask legislators to “arm them” with something different instead, such as resources and funding for their students.
There are numerous other solutions that would better prevent school shootings. For instance, between 1999 and 2012, Germany suffered twelve serious cases of school violence. Rather than arming teachers with guns, the country began efforts to prevent the threat of a school shooting before it could happen. The Berlin Leaking Project established preventive methods based on early identification of potential student-shooters, and the Networks Against School Shootings (NETWASS) project compiled these efforts into a training and intervention program that educated teachers and students on how to identify “leaking” behavior. Leaking behavior refers to suspicious behavior indicating that a student plans to carry out an attack, such as threats of violence, fascination with past acts of violence, or preparation for an act of violence. The NETWASS project acts against gun violence in a manner that does not involve more guns. It seeks a rational approach to the prevention of school shootings without fighting fire with fire.
Overall, preventing school shootings is a much-needed process that will, unfortunately, prove lengthy. But there are certain measures that can be taken now to inflict change — and arming teachers is not one of them. Instructing educators to carry firearms will only increase the chance of fatalities for numerous reasons. Instead, we must work to identify potential threats before they become reality, and more importantly, we must enact stronger gun legislation to prevent another tragedy from occurring.
