Should East Arm Teachers?

by Daniel Krieger

In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, there has been a movement to arm teachers as a defensive precaution against a school shooting. This has been a controversial topic, with many disagreeing on this issue.

Florida has passed a law that would allow teachers to carry guns in school. It is the choice of the school district as to whether or not they will participate in the program, and it would be completely voluntary. If a teacher doesn’t want to participate, they would not be forced to.

Texas has been arming teachers for a while. Out of 1,023 school districts in Texas, 172 of them have allowed teachers to carry guns. This happened mostly after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012. Teachers can carry handguns on their person or keep them locked in a safe. The schools receive money designated for ammunition and training.

President Trump has proposed giving “rigorous firearms training” to qualified school officials. An NBC poll of 2,857 people showed that 56% of Americans disagree with Trump’s proposal to arm teachers. Will arming teachers solve the issue of safety from school shootings? An East Side News survey of 88 people showed that 44.3% of students feel unsafe at East because of the lack of walls. 

Aditi Kashyap, a junior at East, said, “The no walls thing freaks me out. Where do we go? Where do we hide?” 

Referring to East’s lockdown procedures, English teacher Mrs. Lumb said, “I think the protocols should be different at East then at South and North because it’s a different environment. East should develop its own system.”

English teacher Mrs. Schoeppich said lockdowns can “so easily go awry if we don’t have a door to lock.”

And mistakes have happened. In a school in California, a teacher brought a gun into school to teach his students about gun safety. As a reserve police officer, he had a handgun. While checking if it was loaded, he accidentally fired a bullet into the ceiling, causing debris to injure three students. It should be noted, however, that the school district did not permit the teacher to carry a gun on school grounds.

Some students, like Marcus Francisco, a sophomore at East, think arming teachers is a good idea. He said, “I think it would reassure students that there is a measure being taken to protect them.” 

Others, like sophomore Jenna Aguilar, think differently. She said, “I wouldn’t feel safe with a gun in the room.” 

Mrs. Schoeppich, in her interview, said, “There are too many unknown factors. People are too unpredictable.” 

Assistant Principal Mrs. DeSantis, in an interview with the East Side News, said, “Teachers should be able to focus on teaching kids. Our first line of defense is creating positive relations with our students.”

The Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, said in an interview on “60 Minutes” that arming teachers “should be an option for states and communities to consider.” In another interview with the “Today Show”, she said she thinks only teachers who are “capable and qualified” should be allowed to carry guns, and “only in places where it’s appropriate.” She did not specify what qualifies a location as appropriate.

In the East Side News survey, 43.2% of people said they believe teachers should be armed, and 18.1% of students would feel safer if this was implemented, while 61.3% of students would not feel safer.

One of the things under consideration is whether or not teachers can conceal the weapon on their person. In Texas, teachers are allowed to conceal their gun. This is a topic of debate since some people feel that they should know who has a gun, while others argue that open carry, the term for not concealing a weapon, would create problems.

East librarian Mr. Hurley said he would be opposed to open carry as it would make a teacher with a gun a potential target. “The details are extremely important,” he said. Mr Hurley was in the Navy Reserve for 30 years, has a permit to carry a pistol, and he hunts. He also said that if New York State followed in Florida’s footsteps and passed this legislation, he would “step forward” if it is not open carry.

Lydia Sulaiman, a senior at East, raised another issue with open carry, and said, “I wouldn’t feel safe if there are students who know where to get a gun at school.” Taylor Gibbs, a sophomore at East, similarly said, “If a teacher has a gun, what if a student stole it with bad intentions?” 

Some say that these issues could be solved by allowing teachers to conceal weapons.

Even with allowing teachers to conceal weapons, problems can still arise. In an elementary school in Pennsylvania, a teacher left a loaded gun in the bathroom, where the young students found it. Luckily, no one was injured, but this could be a cause for concern.

There are other methods to protect students. One example is increasing the presence of the police at East. In the East Side News’s survey, 89.8% of students believe that East should increase the protective measures we have. This is nearly unanimous. 58% of students want to increase the presence of police in the school. Sophomore Anna Miller said she feels we should have a full time officer at East. There was a guard that overlooked who came in at her old school, and she believes this was effective. She went on to say that at East “anyone with a backpack can get in.” 

Mrs. DeSantis said she would be in favor of a school resource officer who is assigned to East.

A public school district in Oklahoma has implemented bulletproof storm shelters in their elementary and middle schools, and plan on implementing them in the high schools too. The shelters can fit around thirty-five students and two teachers, and can also be used in case of a tornado. Costing around $30,000 per shelter, the school’s superintendent, Terry Shaw, said that other schools “need to see them as an option.”