Teachers and Guns in Schools

classroom
The tragic event in Newtown has revived the debate over Second Amendment rights, firearms in the hands of teachers and administrators, and really, whether anyone other than the police and military should have guns at all.

Many argue that firearms have no place in schools—that our schools should be safe havens for learning. And while we agree that they should be a safe haven, we do not believe that further restrictions on firearms will make our kids—or any of us safer. After all, Sandy Hook was a “gun free zone.”

We quickly wanted to address the question of whether teachers and school administrators should be allowed to carry concealed weapons in schools. We believe the question is easily answered by taking a look at three simple questions.

  1. Who do we call when our lives are in serious danger?
    The police. Why? Because they’re the people that we believe are best equipped to save our lives. Because they have guns.
  2. Do you think as Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung ran down the hall to confront the gunman with only her body as a weapon, that she wished she had a weapon of her own in order to more effectively protect herself and her children?.
    The only reasonable answer is yes. As shown by her heroic actions, she was willing to do whatever it took.
  3. And finally, if you’d have known what was going to happen on Dec 14, 2012, would you have told that principal that she wasn’t allowed to take her firearm to work that morning?
    Of course you wouldn’t have denied her the fundamental right to protect herself—and others—from that unspeakable evil. You probably would have sent her with an extra magazine, and hopefully with the training necessary to be effective in what would turn out to be the most crucial few seconds of her life.

Having looked at those questions, is there any doubt that we should protect ourselves and our children the best way we can? Should responsible, law-abiding teachers and other school administrators be allowed to to defend themselves and those in their care? Absolutely.

Opponents will argue that even if the principal had a gun, it’s unlikely she would have been able to stop the massacre—and they may be right—we’ll never know. But don’t you think we ought to give her the benefit of the doubt? After all, the police didn’t stop the massacre either, did they? When confronted, the perpetrator ended his own life.

What we do know is that 20 innocent children and 6 heroic adults died that day with only a closet door or their own pleadings to protect them. As is the case with nearly every mass shooting on record, the only people that had any chance of stopping or decreasing the horrible tragedy that morning were the people already on scene when it started—the teachers and administrators. To claim that they shouldn’t be given every advantage over the deranged soul that took their lives isn’t just absurd, it’s dangerous and tragic.

Do we believe children should take weapons to school? Obviously not. Do we believe every teacher should carry a gun? No, not if they’re not comfortable, trained, and willing to accept the responsibility. But do we believe that humans have an innate right—even a responsibility—to protect themselves and those they love? Absolutely.

Don’t mistake us as saying that more guns in schools, churches, or anywhere else will make the world a better place. We all hope for a world void of violence, hurt, and loss. But to truly tackle the problem we do need more good people trained in self defense. It will require us to consider protecting those we love equally as well as we do our celebrities, our politicians, and our money. It will, perhaps most importantly, require us to take mental health seriously. To, as President Obama rightly noted, make “access to mental health care at least as easy as access to getting a gun.” It will require us to look out for our family, friends, and even co-workers. To offer them the help they need—even if that help is awkward, embarrassing, and so often painful.

There is no law of man that can stop all bad things from happening. But when we realize that we all have a responsibility to each other, and that we can do more than rely on additional laws, politicians, or someone else to save us from all of the bad in this world, we can begin to take the terror our of the arsenal of the terrorist—and make those we care about more safe.

If you are or know a teacher, please share this article with them, and let them know about our $15 Teacher & Administrator Utah CCW Classes.

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