Should teachers be equipped with guns?
 

Adds fuel to the already burning fire, to me.

My wife is a teacher of 10+ years, was a state teacher of the year candidate. She is adamantly against guns in classrooms as are all of the teachers at her school, including the military veterans.

Nope.
Educators already have enough on our plates.
Plus, kids+untrained civilians+guns=disaster+liability

I don't care how much training is provided, we still aren't going to be up to the same skill levels as law enforcement officers.

How about we quit arguing over teachers and guns and focus on the real issues in education: overtesting, underfunding, I could go on forever...

No. The fact that it's even a discussion is tiresome.

In the next 5-10 years it wouldn’t surprise me if it became mandatory. As time goes on, the more strange, out of order, and crazier things become. Just my observation.

ARMING TEACHERS
 

As a 35+ year educator, I can tell you that many, many people will NOT enter education as a profession if they are required to carry guns—it’s a different mindset. All the teachers in my generation went into education as a way of giving back—a community service of sorts. I think it was spurred by coming of age in the 1960s.

As a teacher, your FIRST priority is your students: educating them, nurturing them, protecting them—but NOT by having a shoot-out with them all around. When you are trying to be the adult in the room, keep them from panicking, get them to the safest place, the LAST THOUGHT would be to fetch a weapon, leave them and begin shooting in the hall.

Just NO! Where the hell have we come in 60 years? And as for the current political climate: of COURSE the NRA/gun manufacturers are supportive. Arming teachers=even more guns sold=more $$ in their pockets. And isn’t that their end game?

Hell, 40-50 years ago there’s all kinds of things people said they wouldn’t do or accept. Today it’s a different ball game on those very same things. I don’t put anything past what human beings will or will not do — will or will not accept.

I know the question pertains more to teachers of primary/secondary education, but I'll chime in here. As a college professor, while I've had a handful of students I was thrilled to see exit my life when the semester was over, I don't think I could ever shoot a student (and it seems the shooter is also a student in the majority of school shootings). As PGD-GRAD mentioned up-thread, teachers tend to have a "students first" kind of mindset. To completely dismantle that mentality in order to effectively remove the threat would be difficult under the best of circumstances. And an active shooter situation is hardly the best of circumstances. In my opinion, more guns is not the solution.

So, with all the classic TV show reboots, are we going to have "Walker: Texas Teacher" next? Kindergarten Cop was a movie, not reality.

I have been a teacher and professor of education for almost 30 years. I have done classroom observations in over 100 local classrooms and experienced the enhanced security procedures that all schools in our area have in place. All of our local elementary schools are locked during the day, most have buzzer systems and doorway security cameras. Someone in the office has to activate the door to open it, after viewing who is attempting to access the building.

As far as secondary schools, that seems to vary. I've experienced everything from locked doors and metal detectors to unlocked doors with open access.

I think the first solution is better, consistent security and limited access to school buildings. I can't imagine how it would even work to arm the faculty. First, the weapons would need to be secured and kept under lock and key, to prevent accidents and unauthorized student use. If there was an active shooter, the teacher would have to take time to access the weapon from its locked location, and this would presumably be occurring in the midst of scared students, chaos, limited information about the shooter/shooters and what's going on, etc. At best, this seems like an ineffective approach, and it seems that there'd be a high likelihood of someone shooting an innocent student, etc. Teachers are not trained SWAT professionals, and they're not going to be walking around armed.

Honestly, the fact that any legislator or policy maker would even suggest arming teachers is another indication of how little they know about the realities of teaching and the challenges teachers already face and meet every day.

Tight security, much improved mental health care access, and stricter gun laws would hold much more promise.

Teachers are paid to be teaching and learning for kids, not be COP's.

Where many of the problems stem from the home and parenting. The excuse today is that parents are working, B S. Both of my parents worked when my Father came home from the war WW II.How about adding to the fire pit, breaking down of neighbor hoods by busing, porches being added on the front of homes but decks and patios in the rear and fenced in. A lot of blame can be laid out, but with today's moral compass going awry I am not sure if there is a real answer??

I don't know any teachers who think this is a good idea and even if there were teachers who thought this was a fine idea, there are going to be many more teachers in most schools who will be against introducing guns into the schools at all. As it is, these school shootings seem to suck more oxygen up than they deserve as they are still very rare. Not every crime is preventable and sometimes, as in this case, the prevention would bring in a whole new host of issues.

As a Canadian, I just think it's insane that this is even an option. You need gun control, not more guns in places with children.

No.

I would move to your country if it wasn't so cold. Jersey is bad enough! :p

But seriously, what are Americans so afraid of? There are plenty of people in civilized countries around the world who don't feel the need to arm themselves to the teeth, fearful that the government or the boogie man are going to knock down their door tomorrow.

Why do people in this country feel like they need to be surrounded by guns everywhere they go?

No. I will leave teaching if this happens.