Teachers’ Views on Trump’s Proposal of Them Being Armed with Guns

The perpetual debate over gun control and school safety has become pressing after the tragic school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. As the survivors of the shooting initiate action against gun violence and allow their voices to be heard, so do students all around the nation, including those at Stuyvesant.

While the community anticipates legal action, such as stricter gun control laws, to restrict gun rights, President Donald Trump has something else in mind; he has created a proposal that allows teachers to be armed with guns with the hope of ensuring the safety of students during a school shooting. He believes this action will effectively reduce the rate of gun violence at school and promote school safety; the presence of guns and trained faculty would instill fear among potential shooters, deterring them from intruding schools and inflicting physical and psychological damage on students.

Moreover, he states that his proposal is a better alternative to school shooting drills, which he believes to be scary and scarring for the students. To promote his idea of arming teachers, he suggests giving teachers who choose to be armed a salary bonus. However, most teachers at Stuyvesant do not support Trump’s proposal.

Most teachers believe that Trump’s proposal would only perpetuate widespread gun violence, as more people have opportunities to obtain a gun. “It’s appalling. I think we should be getting rid of guns, not finding more opportunities to get guns. Unless you’re a part of the National Guard, I don’t think you should have a gun,” physics teacher Thomas Miner said.

“We need less guns and not more guns, especially in schools. There’s always a possibility of an accident, and that would be a real tragedy, especially since the idea is to make people more safe,” history teacher David Hanna said.

Hanna advocates for responsible use of guns and believes that assault weapons should not be legalized at all. He recounted his experience of growing up in an environment where gun possession was prevalent but restricted. “I grew up in Maine, where the gun culture was a part of life,” he said. “But there was a mark of distinction: you had to go through training to learn how to properly use rifles for hunting deer or shotguns for hunting birds. Now, it seems like anybody can get a gun and even assault weapons; it doesn’t seem to be the same kind of responsible use of guns and safety. The assault weapons should be only for the military and SWAT teams. I don’t understand why anyone would need an assault weapon to hunt deer. It’s illegal.”

Teachers have also voiced concerns that since they have no experience in handling arms, there is no guarantee that they will use guns properly. “Even law enforcement agents who are in a live-shooter situation have 33% accuracy. We can’t expect teachers who get much less training to do a better job, especially in a high-anxiety situation where there are lots of people around who would get injured and potentially killed,” social studies teacher Lee Brando said.

Furthermore, arming teachers with guns conflicts with their societal role as educators. Physics teacher Youning Wang deemed this “recruiting the teachers as the [nation’s] law enforcement.”

“My [responsibility is] to be a teacher,” social studies teacher Ellen Siegel said. “While safety is one of our responsibilities, as we conduct fire drills and other kinds of lockdowns in the school, I don’t think that I should need training on how to use firearms in order to teach social studies. It feels like I’m being asked to do something that I’m neither qualified for nor is within the realm of my job.”

Some people may argue the Second Amendment grants citizens the right to obtain a gun since it states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” However, Miner argued that there is a misinterpretation of the amendment. “It discusses the militia and the right to bear arms, and I think these things are inextricable. I don’t think we should be talking about just normal citizens being able to carry guns,” he said. Many fail to acknowledge that the Second Amendment’s mention of the right to bear arms discusses the militia, which Miner believes should have the right to bear arms in times of defense and security.

The Second Amendment has been “misused by groups with special interests,” Wang said. An example of these groups is the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA interprets “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” to mean that citizens are able to obtain weapons anywhere. They use their interpretation to justify their advocacy for citizens’ rights to bear arms. Then, they use their power, which comes from their deep pockets and ability to mobilize gun rights advocates to vote, to gain political dominance.

“We should think seriously about what the March For Our Lives students said this weekend and about stricter gun control measures. We have had stricter gun control over the years, and because of the NRA lobby, it’s been eroded. There has been a coincidence of more mass shootings, deaths, suicides, and homicides,” Brando said.

Wang believes that in order to prevent this misinterpretation, the government should follow three steps: “amend the Second Amendment,” enforce more inspection policies such as background checks, and tighten the ammunition supply.

Many other faculty members also encourage students to actively express their opinions to push for change against gun violence. “It’s really wonderful, regardless of your opinion on this issue, to see students out and activated. Young people have so much ability to influence even before they vote. I really hope that the young people who feel energized today will continue [to make change in government] and express themselves through voting booths and other civil methods,” Siegel said.

Mental health is another important aspect to consider; taking more initiatives and finding more effective ways to take care of those who may be suffering from mental health conditions could potentially ensure school safety and gun control. “It’s hard to identify with students because we’re not therapists; we’re teachers, but the more mental health staff we have, the less isolated students will feel that they want to take extreme measures. And those extreme measures might not be a gun but hurting other people and even just hurting themselves. And we can all agree that that will be a positive,” Siegel said.

However, even if measures are taken for those who may be mentally ill, it would only scrape off the top layer of the overarching issue. “Some people sense that the only people hurting others with guns are people with mental illness. And that’s not true. Either there are accidents at home where children are playing and guns are unsecured, or there are crimes of passion. Those things are unpredictable. So I don’t think that mental health in itself gets rid of the gun violence, but the issue inside schools should be no guns and greater mental health services,” Siegel said.

While legal action should be taken to keep schools and communities safe against gun violence, Trump’s rash proposal to arm teachers with guns does not seem to be the right solution or the safest one.