Teachers don’t support these proposals either.
In 2020, while the US grappled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country was experiencing another crisis: gun violence topped the lead causes of death among young Americans. Since the year prior, the rate of firearms-related deaths among American youths under 20 years old increased by 29.5 percent, which was twice as high as the relative increase of gun deaths among the US general population. Yet even with those alarming statistics on gun-related deaths among children, pro-gun lawmakers are calling to put more firearms in schools, as a remedy for the country’s school shooting crisis. The tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last week renewed calls for stricter gun control legislation, after 19 children and two teachers were killed, and 17 others were injured in the attack. But conservatives and gun lobbyists argue the only way to solve the country’s epidemic of mass shootings is to put more guns in the hands of the public. Some have even called for arming teachers and school staff with firearms of their own. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was among the first Republican elected officials to call for arming educators following the school shooting in Uvalde.
“We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things. We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly,” Paxton said during an appearance on Fox News. Former President Donald Trump, speaking at this year’s NRA convention on Friday amid heavy pushback in the wake of the Uvalde shooting, also called for “highly trained teachers to safely and discreetly conceal carry” firearms in school. The idea of training teachers, whose primary job is to educate students on lessons like math and English, as an extra security defense against potential school shooters is not new and such training programs have existed for years in some form in many states. There is also little evidence to suggest arming school staff actually makes schools safer. On the contrary, school safety advocates warn about the potential risks of encouraging teachers to carry guns at school — increasing the number of guns in schools, even if they were put in the hands of responsible educators, may increase the likelihood of gun-related harm. Studies have also shown a direct correlation between the presence of guns and increased gun violence. Proposals to arm school teachers and staff have not received much support from educators, either. A survey of more than 2,900 teachers across the country by a researcher at California State University found that 95.3% of respondents believed teachers should not be carrying guns in the classroom. The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the US representing 3 million educators, has also criticized suggestions to arm teachers as an antidote to America’s school shootings.
“Bringing more guns into schools makes schools more dangerous and does nothing to shield our students and educators from gun violence,” NEA President Becky Pringle told the Guardian. “We need fewer guns in schools, not more. Teachers should be teaching, not acting as armed security guards.”
Still, current debates over gun laws might just accelerate legislation in states where teachers and other school staff are already permitted — even encouraged — to carry guns inside the classroom. Hundreds of school staff are already armed in the US
In 2018, two high-profile school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas — both of which saw at least a dozen people killed or injured — prompted state-level lawmakers in 34 states and US territories to propose legislation targeted at arming school personnel.
