Cops And Educators Agree: Arming Teachers Is A Terrible Idea

President Trump says more teachers should carry weapons. It’s a proposal that could have disastrous consequences.
In September 2014 at Idaho State University, a teacher accidentally shot himself in the foot when his concealed handgun discharged. Students in the chemistry class watched.

Later that month at a Utah elementary school, a teacher carrying a concealed weapon accidentally shot herself in the leg as she used the restroom.

In 2016, a group of elementary school students in Pennsylvania found a loaded gun in the bathroom after a teacher accidentally left it behind.

In all these cases, it’s lucky no child got hurt.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump doubled down on his suggestion that schools arm teachers with weapons to counteract armed intruders, such as the one who killed 17 people last week in Parkland, Florida. Trump went so far as to say that those who received training to use firearms could be eligible for extra pay.

But you don’t have to look far to see that this policy could have devastating, albeit unintended, consequences.

Law enforcement groups and teacher organizations have expressed opposition to the president’s firearm proposal.

Mo Canady, the executive director of the National Association for School Resource Officers ― the group that trains and represents school cops ― warned that law enforcement officers responding to an incident might mistake an teacher with a firearm for an assailant.

He also expressed skepticism about how an armed teacher would respond to a school shooting attack.

Source: huffingtonpost