Immediately after a school shooting, before the bodies are buried, political opportunists attempt to exploit the story to achieve their objectives. A few days later, most of the details of the tragedy are known. After a week, the commercial media has settled on a narrative that benefits their political interests or they move on to other news.
Banning guns is the typical objective. Everyone knows that won’t reduce shootings because the killer isn’t concerned about breaking laws. When the ban doesn’t work, a more draconian ban is proposed after any subsequent shootings. If all guns magically disappeared, killers could use other means to harm children.
Conservatives have been responding with a proposal to arm teachers. That would occasionally stop school shooters, but is fraught with additional dangers.
Capitol police leave gun in bathroom again. Those are the police officers that guard the US Congress. An armed teacher would have less training and experience with firearms. In 25 years of teaching, I have never been in the vicinity of a student fight, much less have to wade in to break one up. Many of my colleagues have. In that situation, or even in a crowded hallway, a student could grab a teacher’s firearm. Students are notorious for making impetuous decisions.
One solution is to store the firearm in a lock box that is accessible to the teacher. Science rooms often have a prep room attached to the classroom. Other classrooms may have a back room or office attached. There are a host of assumptions built in to that approach.
Who would purchase and install the lock box? That may seem like a minor detail, but if a student could pry it open or kick it off the wall and steal it, then a child has a gun. At North Royalton, the asst. superintendent and the maintenance staff could do that job. If any of the building administration were involved in that process, they would screw it up and put children in danger.
Who would have the combination or key to the gun locker? Building administrators can be surprisingly petty and distrustful. It is conceivable that they would leave the firearm and remove the ammunition. At the end of the school year, would the teacher drop off his weapon along with building keys?
Choosing the teacher would be critical to the success of a program to arm teachers. Public education has a large population of Liberals and a few Leftists. They may distrust Conservatives and be afraid of guns. People with that perspective aren’t likely to make informed decisions regarding guns.
A couple of colleagues and I were going to take a Saturday trip to Pittsburgh to shop at IKEA. We were meeting up at my house. One teacher noticed my gun case, and asked to see my deer hunting Mossberg. The other teacher was upstairs, using the bathroom. When he came down the stairs, he saw the first teacher handling the gun and siting through the scope in a safe direction. He was shaken, and went to go sit in the car.
It isn’t clear that a teacher familiar with firearms would take on the responsibility of having access to a firearm at school.
The entire point of the program is that a teacher would be emotionally prepared to kill a student. The student would be an armed killer threatening other people, but that is a difficult concept to accept. Secrets don’t last long, so other staff would know that teacher is comfortable with the premise.
Students would speculate about which teachers are armed. Accurate or not, those teachers could become a target for a school shooter.
Liability would be a big issue. If the firearm is stolen, is the teacher liable? If there is an actual shooter in the school, does the teacher face liability for anything he does or does not do? Blanket indemnity would be necessary, but probably not offered.
To remain competent, the teacher would need tactical training and time at the gun range. That would be an ongoing program. Bullets are not cheap.
This has been discussed amongst my colleagues who hunt or shoot. None are eager to accept that responsibility. We decided it would take something like blanket indemnity, training and expenses, and a $20,000 annual stipend. None of that is likely to be forthcoming.