Since I'm a teacher, people have been asking me my opinion about arming teachers.
Seriously?
Rarely have I heard such a stupid, ill-considered, asinine, terrible idea.
Again, the arming teachers debate is most likely just a red herring, a distraction from the real issue of mass shootings at schools.
There was an armed deputy officer at the high school in Parkland. He froze up. He did not go in during the shootings. If a trained officer freezes up in a crisis situation, how much more likely a teacher?
Teachers are educators, not soldiers. Training? Have you been to most trainings for anything? The instructor wants your money and to get done as soon as possible. Doesn't matter what kind of training it is. Even with actual, legit gun training, most teachers are not equipped for battle. Crisis training is a long, involved and expensive process. Who's going to pay for it? Especially now with tax cuts?
We. Are. Teachers. Not. Soldiers.
I know a lot of teachers. I do not want them packing heat. That's stupid. Think a class of teenagers can't overpower a teacher and take their weapon? A teacher distracted by the million other things teachers have to think about during a class period?
A really awful, horrible idea. One of the worst.
The calculus is simple: more guns leads to more violence.
The data backs that up time and time again. The more people who have guns the more likely they are going to use their guns. That's not opinion, that's simple arithmetic.
Education is supposed to be a safe place. Kids have enough to worry about. They shouldn't have to worry about teachers with a gun in a holster. Such a stupid idea. Provide better school resource officers and provide them with better training. You should see some of the slaps who have been hired for school security. We've had some excellent officers. We've also had some that made you think 'what were they thinking hiring that guy?' But with lack of funding,sometimes you gotta hire you can.
But it's all a distraction.
The NRA and Trump want to distract you from the real issues. Too many guns. Too many semi-automatic weapons. Too many assault rifles. Lax background checks. Too many loopholes. The ease of buying guns. The ease for the mentally ill to get guns. The ease for kids to get guns. The violence on television, movies and video games. The lack of funding for mental health issues. The incongruity of gun laws from state to state and community to community. The lack of coordination between law enforcement and mental health specialists. Domestic abusers getting guns easily. Magazine sizes. Bumper stocks. And more.
These are the real issues the NRA and their lackeys want you to forget about. These guys are crafty, clever men. They know exactly what they are doing. Don't buy into their scam.
Guns make killing a whole heck easier, guns are everywhere and they are easy to get. That's the problem.
