13 Reasons Why Arming Teachers is a Horrid Idea

This a very strange era we’re experiencing right now. The most moronic statement I’ve heard recently   was in regard to the most recent school shooting (the fact that I had to clarify which one should  indicate that there’s a larger problem at hand). People are suggesting that arming teachers is a logical solution for school shootings. That is absolute malarkey. Arming teachers is highly problematic for SO many reasons. If you disagree, you’re also problematic.

1. Who decides the standard gun every teacher gets? How much ammunition will we need? Will it be included in our classroom set-up budget?

2. Doesn’t arming teachers further perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline?

3. Eventually, a student will find a teacher’s gun and use it.

4. Or, a student will overpower a teacher for their gun and then use it.

5. A teacher will wind up with bullet wounds from a coworker’s gun during a heated dispute. Or, work will turn into The Belko Experiment.

6. Teachers are already overworked and underpaid. When do we have time for the kind of training that would be needed? Weekends, holidays, or after-school?

7. Teachers are flawed human beings. Accidentally taking a student’s life is a mistake no teacher should be concerned about making. 

8. A brown/black student will wind up with several bullets in him because he seemed “threatening.”

9. That messiah complex will intensify and Black/Brown students will continue to suffer at the hands of people they believe are supposed to help them.

10. As school shootings continue due to a lack of gun regulations, teachers will be blamed and labeled as ineffective. The outcry will be “They should have been able to stop them! They had guns, too!”

11. Guns will be used as a scare tactic in classrooms, rather than a means to protect students from domestic terrorists. Warning shots into the ceiling might become the new nonverbal warning.

12. Someone will need to ensure that every teacher in America gets trained on how to use a gun/gun safety.

13. Arming teachers and training them effectively would be expensive. Schools already lack educational resources, and, let’s be clear, we’d prefer supplies, textbooks, technology, and higher pay instead.

As I said, we live in an interesting era. But, what do I know? I’m just a teacher.