Student Spotlight: Sam Howard, '25
Recently, the Tennessee House passed a bill allowing teachers to carry weapons in schools. Of course, these teachers would be required to undergo proper training before being allowed to carry, and it also depends on whether or not the school or district wants to implement this bill. Most people believe that teachers should not carry guns in schools, and the idea of even creating a bill like this is ridiculous. From students, to parents, to police officers, the majority of people disagree with the idea of teachers having guns. There is no need for teachers to have to worry about educating the students and protecting the students. Allowing teachers to carry or even have guns in school will not make schools safer and can also add to the problem.
As time has gone on, shootings in schools have increased, especially within America. The call for change has been running rampant throughout the streets, but there is no telling if giving teachers guns is the right change we need. Many people don’t want to get their guns taken or have more restrictions placed on them; many people say cops or outside agencies should run security on all campuses, and the government should fund it. Many more just don’t know what to do. As of now, teachers with guns in school may sound appealing to some, but there is no telling what having a policy like that can do to life at school or the lives of the teachers. For many teachers, the thought of carrying a gun in general is scary enough, but the thought of having to use a gun is even more worrying. As I’ve researched this topic and asked around my school, every teacher I’ve talked to has found the idea outrageous for many reasons. Mostly, teachers felt worried about carrying guns and said they wouldn’t feel comfortable carrying them around school. Another reason teachers listed is their emotional standing. Many of the teachers I talked to not only didn’t trust themselves with a weapon, but also didn’t trust themselves to take action on another person, especially if it was a former student. Many local teachers think of the Covenant School shooting, as it is something that hits very close to home. Knowing that the Covenant shooting was committed by a former student,many teachers agree that having to deal with a similar situation would make them feel stuck; they simply don’t feel comfortable killing or stopping a former student or a person in general.
Whenever people look at the overarching problem, they think only of the sake of the children and what matters for this child, which is of course the most important part, but not many think of the teachers. Some teachers are uncomfortable with carrying guns and also don’t think they would be able to handle a weapon, even with proper training. When we talk about teachers with guns, we need to worry about the teacher's health, not just the students. In a poll taken by Gallup, American teachers were asked if they favored or opposed a proposal for teachers to receive special training to carry guns in schools. In the poll, Gallup received a response from 497 teachers across America. In the poll, teachers had the choice between strongly favor, somewhat favor, neutral, somewhat oppose, and strongly oppose with only 11% strongly favoring, 7% neutral, and a staggering 63% strongly opposing the proposal with the remaining 19% split between somewhat oppose and somewhat favor (“Do You Favor or Oppose”). Steering clear of the general population, Gallup asked the teachers what their opinions were, as it affected them more than anyone else. In opposition to just asking the teachers, YouGov asked anyone 18 or older with 1,498 respondents and asked a similar question, "Do You Support or Oppose Giving Teachers and School Administrators Permission to Carry Firearms on School Property?" Although the turnout was the same, with the majority strongly opposing, there were only 29% who strongly opposed with 22% who strongly supported. What was more interesting was that 18% of people somewhat supported it, 15% were somewhat opposed to the idea, and 16% of people were unsure of their opinion (YouGov).
When it comes to teachers with guns, not only do we need to think of the teachers, but we also need to think of how law enforcement would treat this. At Ensworth, we have an in-house security team led by Ryan Peters, a former SWAT member and Lieutenant. As an officer, Peters was tasked with consulting school resource officers and helping with their training. When asked, Peters stressed the importance of school safety, along with the importance of teaching. In Peters' mind, teachers are already tasked with handling so much; teaching and worrying about a gun 24/7 would impede and degrade the learning process. Additionally, this tasks teachers with worrying about the guns and the training that goes into it. This physical and emotional responsibility is tasking and not something average teachers want to undergo. Along with the extensive training comes protocols and systems that have to be put in place at the schools. When I talked to Peters, I asked him what he thought the best system of security for schools, especially in America, would be. His response was very intriguing. At the top of Peters’ list was in-house security. Peters’ reasoning for this was the training, capabilities, and management of these guards were all done in-house, meaning you had complete control over the security and how they handled themselves. Second on Peters’ list was contract security. Contract security is when you hire an out-of-house company to manage the training, capabilities, and overall management of the security guards on campus. A final point to note were on-duty officers. Peters ranked on-duty officers last in terms of priority, because the security is managed by the state, which already deals with enough officers. Some officers are proven to be ineffective or just lazy in general, and it’s hard to determine if they’ll do a good job with security or not.
There is also the opinion of the parents surrounding this topic. Many parents, when surveyed in the emergency room in upstate New York, stated they feel that teachers shouldn't be given guns in school. In a sample size of 202, 157 parents indicated they were against the idea of having teachers with guns in school. In comparison, 155 parents (76.73 %) said there should be armed police present in school (Muhammad, Kristen). Now, parents want their children to be safe, but they do not feel that teachers should be the ones in charge of keeping the children safe. The idea of teachers having to be in charge of the safety of students, not just the education, is probably scary to most. Even with proper training, I myself wouldn’t even trust my teachers to act accordingly in an emergency situation like that.
In contrast to my argument, a lot of people will state that having teachers with guns would be the best option for many reasons. First off, teachers would already be in the hallways, classrooms, and outside as the shooting is happening, giving them a better opportunity to protect the children as opposed to security officers or nearby police. Secondly, having guns in schools is something that many people think would make shooters second guess themselves. Often, the knowledge of security, police, or guns on a campus would make the shooter change targets, much like the case with the Covenant shooter. The Covenant school shooter did not originally plan to attack Covenant. Originally, a different school somewhere in the area was mentioned in their writings, but after doing research, the shooter determined that the security at the original target was too much to deal with. Alongside these valid points, one must wonder if teachers would be comfortable having to focus in the moment. Would they be able to act accordingly? While with the training they may be able to, many teachers have worried they might struggle emotionally while trying to properly defend the students. Having teachers carry guns as a deterrent method makes no sense if you could have already properly trained officers or for-hire security guards do the same thing.
Teachers are just like any other citizens and are subject to the same emotions as everyone else. Even some cops who are properly trained struggle to do their job when it comes down to it. Teachers, of course, should protect themselves and students, but having them focus on things other than the sake of their class and the education of their students would impede the education system and teachers’ ability to build proper rapport with students. When we think of teachers having guns, we must consider both the safety and educational impacts.