Let me start off by stating that I really didn’t want to write another column on school shootings. But some of the public discourse surrounding Parkland has been...ill-conceived, irrational and reactionary. At best.
Many politicians, from the executive branch to state senators in North Carolina, have proposed the idea of arming teachers. The idea is that teachers with guns can protect students and potentially diffuse active shooter situations.
There are hundreds of schools that currently arm teachers. For teachers in Ohio and Texas, gun accessibility ranges from secured safes to open carry. At most of these schools, there has not been an active shooter on campus, and guns have not been used at all. Not only is this largely a waste of money, but it’s unfair to teachers.
Teachers are entrusted with the heavy burden of teaching and nurturing students, and you want to add to that weight by giving them guns? It’s hard enough to teach students, much less with the knowledge you might have to shoot someone (potentially a student) to protect them.
Additionally, N.C. ranks fourth lowest in teacher pay. We can’t arm teachers with a competitive wage, but we can arm them with Glocks?
Many teachers are expected to pay out of pocket for classroom supplies. We can’t arm teachers with school supplies, but we can arm them with cases of ammo and a waistband holster?
I haven’t even gotten to how this disproportionately impacts Black students who are already subjected to discipline and violence in different ways and at higher rates than white bodies within schools. Providing teachers with guns puts Black students in an even more dangerous position.
Some may remember last year when a white teacher in Charlotte hit a Black 11-year-old girl with a broom. Imagine if the incident wasn’t caught on camera.
It’s entirely plausible that a Black teacher could be mistaken for an active shooter and killed by police, simply for trying to protect their students.
