Should Teachers and Staff Be Authorized to Carry Guns in School

“Should Teachers and Staff Be Authorized to Carry Guns in School By arming teachers or the staff that helps to support schools will only increase the level of liability in schools. Kenneth S. Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services said “School districts considering arming teachers and school staff with guns would take on significant responsibility and potential liabilities that I firmly believe are beyond the expertise, knowledge-base, experience, and professional capabilities of most school boards and administrators,” it is short-sighted for those supporting the idea to believe that educators who enter a profession to teach and serve a supportive, nurturing role with children could abruptly kick into the mindset to kill someone in a second’s notice. Police and military personal train their entire career for these kind of situations. They are trained and placed into situations that require them to be in the mindset that they may have to take a life.

This is the opposite of the caring role of a teacher. Arming teachers will also increase the operating cost of school districts that are already short on funding. We hear each year that schools are being forced to cut back programs for the students or the salary of teachers. By arming teachers we would add to that cost by requiring firearm training for those that are authorized to carry a firearm. Additionally will the school district use their own range as law enforcement does? Who will have the qualifications to operate this range? If teachers don’t have their own range there will still be added costs to use a range to train or qualify teachers and staff. Adding more costs to school budgets will only decrease the level of education that children receive by cutting educational things out to make room for arming teachers.

Resources

Arming Teachers and School Staff with Guns, by Kenneth S. Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/arming_teachers.html