Are teachers willing to carry guns in schools? 18% say yes

A new Gallup survey says 18 percent of teachers would be willing to carry guns at school.

In recent times we've heard all sorts of opinions from the media that teachers in public schools would be unwilling to potentially use a gun to be ready to protect students in the unlikely event of an emergency, that there wouldn't be enough teachers willing to take up this role, and that if teachers were required to as part of their job requirement many would quit. Well a new survey has dispelled these objections.

A recent Gallup survey revealed that 18 percent of America’s teachers would be willing to carry guns in school buildings, a fact that runs against the grain for a majority of educators, but might be typical of any group in which there is a small percentage of people who step forward for any task.

It may affirm an adage that there are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.
It is not as though school shootings are an everyday occurrence, because according to NPR, that is simply not the case despite rhetoric in recent days about the “epidemic of gun violence.” Here’s what NPR reported Thursday:

“The Parkland shooting last month has energized student activists, who are angry and frustrated over gun violence. But it’s also contributed to the impression that school shootings are a growing epidemic in America.

“In truth, they’re not.”​

To back that up, NPR spoke with James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University “who has studied the phenomenon of mass murder since the 1980s.” According to Fox, who worked with doctoral student Emma Fridel, there is an average of about one multiple-victim school shooting per year.

Here’s something else the NPR story revealed: “Second, the overall number of gunshot victims at schools is also down. According to Fox’s numbers, back in the 1992-93 school year, about 0.55 students per million were shot and killed; in 2014-15, that rate was closer to 0.15 per million.”

But is arming teachers a bad thing? According to 73 percent of teachers responding to the Gallup poll, it is a bad idea. On the other hand, 20 percent of responding teachers “strongly or somewhat favor” special training that would enable them to carry a gun in school.
Fifty-eight percent of teachers, according to Gallup, think armed teachers would make schools less safe, while 20 percent think schools would be safer and 22 percent don’t believe it would make a difference.

Another Gallup revelation is that 29 percent of teachers think that arming them or their colleagues would be “very or somewhat effective in limiting the number of victims of a school shooting” while 71 percent disagree.

 

The only scenario where I can envision an armed teacher is in his/her own class room. I would not expect an armed teacher to go 'hunting' for the shooter. Close the classroom door, get behind your desk. Aim your gun at the door and wait for someone to come in the door. Be very aware it's the shooter before you kill him/her.

 

We most likely would not be talking about teachers actually carrying all the time on their person.

Most likely there would be some hidden lock box built into the wall somewhere, with both a key and a little combination lock, ready to be accessed at a moment's notice in the event of an emergency.

The real resistance to this isn't coming from the teachers themselves but from the school superintendents, many of whom would never let their teachers be allowed to bring any sort of weapon on school grounds.

I have a story about this. Someone in my family is a teacher, in one of the schools in a bad area. They wore a clip-on pocket knife on their belt. One day they were called outside to meet with both the principal and superintendent. The superintendent started off "It's been brought to my attention that you brought a knife on the campus." The teacher was still wearing the knife. The superintendent spotted it hanging out on the teacher's waist. "Give it to me."
The superintendent made the teacher hand the pocket knife over to him, like a child. "Don't ever bring this on the campus again." The teacher didn't get it back until after school was out. It was just a little fold-up utility pocket knife.

 

You shoot to stop an attack, not shoot to kill, they might surrender.


You do not aim or point a firearm at anything not an identified known threat.

Why ?

When adrenaline kicks in, muscle tremors, spasms coupled with noises and anything to startle, student screams, can cause you to pull the trigger unintentionally, in such times of off the charts stress, as has happened with seasoned Police Officers, keep it holstered and stay ready.

 

There are instant fingerprint access handgun safes now, not very expensive either, and reliable, I had a phone with built in fingerprint security feature and pad next to the camera lens.

 

Might not be the best idea. Those things can fail or sometimes be very slow to work during what may happen to be a critical moment. Various reasons for this. Just because it's reliable 90% of the time isn't good enough. Old style key with little 4-digit combination lock would be the most reliable.

 

You do aim or point your gun. You do keep your trigger finger out of the trigger guard along side your pistol frame. F*** a trial. You shot to kill if it's the shooter. If you wound him he might be pissed off enough to kill you.

 

Exactly.

 

After several law enforcement academys, And LE firearms Instructor training and 10 years of work as a L.E. firearms Instructor.

I might know a little something about this topic.

Aim centermass.

Finger off trigger, until you need to shoot.

You shoot to end an attack, reference Masad Ayoob,
Veteran Police Officer, Expert Court Witness, Firearms Instructor, Author.

If you wound him he might be pissed off enough to kill you.

This concern has never been raised in any law enforcement classes, we were taught to shoot centermass, you shoot until the threat and danger ceases to be a threat, Also, they might surrender.

 

might complicate your calculations if you think there's a possibility they may be wearing a vest under their loose-fitting baggy trench coat.

In that case, if you guessed wrong, you might not get the chance to correct the initial mistake.

Sorry, I don't mean anything by this, just trying to throw a cog into your nicely oiled gears. Life in reality is rarely so simple as we like to imagine.

 

I think the whole "arming the teachers"-approach is almost as silly as the "more gun control approach". Most teachers would not carry, even though they were allowed. And in the cases where they carry, they'd protect their own class, sure, but the mass shooter would still probably be able to kill a lot of people, as he's more likely to enter an unarmed classroom than an armed one.

Not saying people shouldn't arm themselves, if they find it reasonable. But arming yourself in case of a mass shooting/terror attack is something I'd never bother with, since the likelihood of being caught up in such an event is so astronomically small anyway. It's the same reason gun control shouldn't be implemented because of mass shootings, and other media sensationalized events.

Basically arming teachers is the same mindset as more gun control, just from the other side. Maybe it will have an effect, maybe not. But it's still an over the top reaction to something that's an insignificant danger in a country of over 3 000 000 000 people. I don't have a problem with teachers carrying guns, but opening that door, also opens the door to accidents, which could surpass the annual casualties to mass shootings in number. And it won't stop mass murderers anyway, since they could still just change their tactics to arson or something like that if they aren't going to shoot people up.

Like gun control, arming teachers is just falling into the false perception that mass shootings are a significant danger in today's society. It's way better to spend resources, political power, and effort to combat deaths that are more common, and more preventable. Like affordable physical and mental health care. Safe workplace regulations in industry and agriculture. A better correctional system, which gives felons the ability to turn their lives around and be law abiding citizens.

 

18 percent would be enough to do the trick.

 

Even so, center mass is the largest part of the target, and contains the vital organs. Start there because it's easier to get hits.

 

I was speaking as a fellow who years ago was a LEO for seven years in the suburbs of Detroit. The only training a rookie LEO got back in the 50's was: here's your gun, badge, bullets and hand cuffs. Report for duty at 3;30PM. Kill the s.o.b. and aim center mass both have similar meanings to me. People who suggest you shoot to wound are the ones who have no idea what they're talking about. I was never involved in a shooting but I did have a few dry runs in my seven years.

 

Even with a vest, getting shot at close range will stun you and possibly cause serious internal injuries or death. Just keep shooting until the threat is gone.

 

Actually the survey is indicating that 82% do not want to carry a gun

 

Which contrasts to the usual leftist claim that teachers do not want guns in schools.
Apparently around 1 in 5 do.

Now tell us again which guns cannot be used to commit robbery.

 

If it’s not 18% in each and every school, it’s a worthlesss number.

 

Again, the vague 18% number is worthless. You could say that just one school out of five wants guns, one state school system out of five wants guns and still be at the 18% number.

Unless the measurement is 18% in each and every school, the plan to make teachers responsible for their own security is a pretty stupid one.

We’re going to have to pry our wallets out and pay for real security guards.

 

-Do- explain how this is the case.

 

Teacher, not school. The point is a significant number of teachers support the idea, which is not what we hear from the NEA. NFT, and Democrats.
The schools giving those teachers the opportunity to carry is another story.

 

Again, without a school system by school system breakdown, your number is worthless. Are 80% iof teachers in Texas willing to CC carry and 0% of the Teachers in Oregon, Wisconsin, and Maine not willing to carry? The poll is worthless without a school by school breakdown.

And the worst part of this is that if school teachers are cleared to carry, people are going to assume that every school is covered, so we don’t need to find real security guards, while the truth might be that only 3 schools out of every ten might have a teacher with a gun.

Stupid plan that gives a false sense of security.

 

You keep saying this, and yet offer no reason why.
Especially when you clearly do not understand the significance of the 18% number cited.

Why do you want kids and teachers to be defenseless?

 

Armed Teachers are only a part of School Security, obviously for many reasons, all teachers will not be armed.

School Security Agents are needed,
Buildings re-configured to prevent unauthorized entry, better Security measures, these are all elements of the larger picture.

 

Most larger high schools have over 100 staff members .5 or 6 trained teachers with a gun can make a huge difference .