Students and teachers who survived a deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last week expressed opposition to arming teachers as a response to the threat of mass shootings during a CNN town hall with lawmakers Wednesday night.
Ashley Kurth, a culinary arts teacher who sheltered 65 students in her classroom at Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the shooting, said she was a registered Republican and that she had voted for President Donald Trump in the presidential election, but she split with a proposal Trump endorsed on Wednesday afternoon.
“If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly,” Trump suggested during a meeting with students and teachers.
Kurth raised practical concerns with the idea, asking whether she would have to go through extra training, wear a kevlar vest, and strap a firearm to her leg. She also said she did not want to risk confusion between teachers and the SWAT teams who respond to mass shootings by possessing a weapon upon their arrival. Florida Republican Marco Rubio, who attended the town hall, said that he also opposed arming teachers.
“I don’t support that. The notion that my kids are going to school with teachers that are armed with a weapon is quite frankly not something I’m comfortable with,” Rubio said.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel panned the idea as well, saying he didn’t think teachers should be armed, but that they should teach.
Florida Democrat Bill Nelson agreed. “I think it is a terrible idea,” Nelson said, calling for an assault weapons ban instead.
The Parkland shooting, which left 17 students and faculty members dead, was carried out with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle.
“If the weapon is a high caliber, rapid fire assault weapon, it is hard to go into a fight against that if you’ve got just a handgun. That’s not a fair fight.”
