A recent article at MSN highlights a Rand Corporation study about the arming of classroom teachers as a solution to violence in the schools.
I teach in California, so I will never have to worry about this in my career, but here’s a few of my ideas on this from my former career in personal protection (back before I was able to read and largely had jobs that leveraged my size and strength).
The 4 universal firearm safety rules that everyone learns when they are qualifying for a purchase of a firearm are: treat all guns as if they are always loaded, never let the muzzle point at anything that you are not willing to destroy (and pay the price for), keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to shoot, and be sure of your target and what is behind it.
Now, think about those in the context of a classroom.
First off, an unloaded gun is an expensive hammer. It’s rather useless for personal protection. So, armed teachers will have a loaded gun in the classroom. For personal protection, people generally choose a small, packable, concealable pistol to carry. They’re often chambered in 9mm due to the price of ammo and the ease at finding rounds of this type. 9mm ball ammo is a horrible choice for personal protection inside of buildings. It punches through its target and keeps going. This fact ties into the fourth rule, knowing what behind your target. You have no way of knowing what’s behind the wall.
Those that carry, know the problems that can and will occur for you when you choose to use deadly force. Those that carry, keep insurance. Who will pay for the insurance for teachers? Will the teachers unions represent a teacher in a use of force investigation? Will their school district protect them from the eventual parent law suits? Will teachers want to even join the profession if their state requires teachers be armed (or even gives the option)?
What about situations where you have to physically restrain a student? What happens if you lose track of your pistol during a fight or a riot? Or … does your favourite pistol have a manual safety? Do you know why this might be important for a concealed hand gun?
Making the decision to pull the trigger isn’t as simple as it seems. If you’ve never had to hurt someone intentionally, you have no idea the psychological weight of that decision. You have no idea the infrastructure necessary to help you though the trauma of using force against another human, up to and including deadly force. Do you have the means and the opportunity to seek out and find such care? If not, does your employer? What happens if your PTSD is such that you never want to return to the classroom again? Will your employer consider you “permanently disabled?” If they won’t, will you pull the trigger? If you won’t, and you’re carrying in the classroom, what sort of liability do you face if you choose to not engage a deadly target?
Back to the concept of “sight picture.” You have no idea what’s behind the walls of the next classroom. Thus, you’ll want hollow points. Hollow points are the “safest” rounds to use indoors in self defense situations. Reliable rounds in 9mm can cost about $2/cartridge. You don’t want to scrimp on ammo. Considering the price of ammo, who will pay for yours? What about training and qualifying? Who will pay for that? It’s not cheap to be a firearms owner. It’s certainly not cheap to be an active and trained firearms user.
With all of this in mind, do you think it’s safe to arm teachers?
Similarly, I work in CA and do not feel this will be an issue here in the foreseeable future. That said, no, teachers should not be armed.
Consider the teacher who has snapped at a student that rode a last nerve on any given day. I know I have snapped at a student. I'm not proud of it but I'm human. I apologized, we moved on. What if that teacher has a weapon? What if they pull it out to intimidate, to flex, to regain "classroom management?"
One more point, we are educators, not first responders, not law enforcement, not therapist, not law makers, or military person, or anything else. We are educators and education doesn't require forced, threatening participation.
Similarly, I work in CA and do not feel this will be an issue here in the foreseeable future. That said, no, teachers should not be armed.
Consider the teacher who has snapped at a student that rode a last nerve on any given day. I know I have snapped at a student. I'm not proud of it but I'm human. I apologized, we moved on. What if that teacher has a weapon? What if they pull it out to intimidate, to flex, to regain "classroom management?"
One more point, we are educators, not first responders, not law enforcement, not therapist, not law makers, or military person, or anything else. We are educators and education doesn't require forced, threatening participation.