Arming Our Teachers: Really?

Is it enough for teachers to be teachers, or should they also be prepared to defend the lives of their charges by any means necessary?


With the recent shocking violence of the Sandy Hook shooting, as well as the perception that there is increased gun violence in our schools, the debate rages about just how proactive our teachers should be. Is it enough that they are molding young minds, or should they also be prepared to protect those young minds and allow them to survive? Is it fair to ask such a thing of our educators, many of whom just want to teach and not be expected to defend themselves and their young charges by any means necessary?


Parents want to believe that their children are safe in school. School, after all, is supposed to be reliable. It’s supposed to protect. It is historically the very definition of nourishment, of the mind and the body. The perception has long been that school is a safe haven. If teachers and administrators are defenseless against violent perpetrators, why shouldn’t parents be afraid to leave their children at school anymore? Why shouldn’t they want to know that their children will be protected if someone tries to force his or her way in with a weapon?
This isn’t just about the students, either. They are young and defenseless within the walls of the school, but unarmed teachers are equally defenseless. The teachers should have a right to decide whether or not they will be sitting ducks, so to speak. They should be allowed to have a plan to protect those of whom they are in charge, in addition to protecting themselves.
Why are teachers the exception? Anyone with a concealed weapons permit can carry their weapon with them. Why can’t teachers be allowed this same privilege in the classroom? For students’ peace of mind, for parents’ peace of mind, and for administrators’ peace of mind, it is important that teachers be allowed to defend their classrooms in instances of attack.


Giving a teacher a gun does not guarantee the safety of anyone – not the child, and not the teacher. If anything, arming teachers presents the potential for more senseless violence. If a teacher is not familiar with handling a gun, or is not comfortable with being told that they must be prepared to fight and to kill in order to do their job, it is absolutely not fair to expect them to do so.
Additionally, who is to say that an innocent person won’t be hurt or killed? If a gun is easily accessible to a teacher, why couldn’t a student find and handle it too? If the gun is locked up away from students, then how is it feasible to have in the classroom? The teacher would have to be able to get to it, point it, aim it and shoot it in a very short amount of time, all of that with adrenaline rushing and students highly agitated. To have a plan to hide the students, get the students in their spots, retrieve the gun and then be able to use it effectively in a very small window of time is highly improbable at best.


Schools should absolutely have plans in place to deal with shooters. Screening for weapons or bulletproof glass are excellent ways to keep a shooter from entering the premises, either by blast or forced means, but if a person wants to come in and do harm to a group of people, they typically will find a way to do so. Providing more guns for people within the building could certainly complicate the matter, setting up a potential for a shootout situation in which innocent bystanders might be more likely to be wounded or killed. Having safeguards in place to prevent children from accessing the gun will also slow down potential response time of the teacher, time in which the shooter could do more damage.

There are too many things that could go wrong for arming teachers within the school to be a good idea. False alarms, delayed response time, and keeping children out of the line of fire are all potential negative results. There isn’t an answer that will protect every child in every circumstance. However, time and proper attention to detail may come up with workable solutions that protect the majority.
No child left behind? Maybe not, but in this case, cooler heads are better than itchy trigger fingers.