Should teachers be armed?

Since the most recent school shooting in Noblesville, Indiana, the question of whether or not teachers should be armed has become more pertinent. 

According to the New York Times, President Trump suggested, that teachers be paid more as an incentive to carry firearms, promoting his idea, despite demands for stronger gun control intensifying throughout the country. Trump has cycled through many ideas, including some gun limits, that are deemed unacceptable by the N.R.A. The biggest question that as Americans need to contemplate is whether or not giving teachers the option to carry a concealed firearm will help end school shootings and gun violence or lead to more violence throughout. Do we fight fire with fire?

To get more perspective on the matter, I went straight to the source, the teachers at Rocky Mountain High School.

Talking with English teacher Mrs. Madison, I asked what her course of action would be to stop school shootings and she said, “It is hard to protect the innocent, especially in schools. Maybe we should install metal detectors and invest in locks instead of arming people because I get how people have fear about their guns getting taken away. But I wouldn’t trust myself with a gun. ”

Mr. Flygt, a science teacher, was also asked how he would stop gun violence and he went on to say, “In a perfect world what would I do? The vetting process should be different, but the problem is who administrates that and how do we know it is not manipulated? Resources are stretched thin. I am not a believer that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed. With that being said, I think we need to do better, but I don’t know what that entails.”

Taking into consideration the beliefs of Mrs. Madison and Mr. Flygt, I believe that in order to end the violence, we can’t fight fire with fire. That doesn’t mean we need to take guns away, but we need to learn how to regulate them. I think that teachers need to be aware of what to do if there is a threat in our schools, not only from guns. Precautions need to be taken, but I believe more harm than good would come from arming teachers. I believe this because guns would be more accessible, emotional responses or mental illness in the teachers or students could trigger a violent reaction, and their firearm could easily be used against them.

Ultimately, I don’t know how to stop school shootings because of the number of variables that have to be taken into consideration. However, I know, personally, that I would not feel safe if I knew that my educators had the means to hurt or kill a person. I also believe that continued political participation and understanding that we have in our power the means to come up with a solution to the problem if we continue to work together.