President Trump’s idea of training and arming a small percentage of teachers is not only an effective potential deterrent but is the least schools should consider since trying to identify future attackers isn’t feasible, according to a well-known legal expert.
What’s more, said George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf, it could work even if the weapon is mace and not a gun.
John Banzhaf is a public interest law professor known for his victories regarding smoking, obesity, discrimination, safety, and environmental protection.
“While most would agree that even a small, light, and easily concealed handgun is many times more likely to stop a student shooter, a highly irritating chemical able to stop a grizzly and capable of being sprayed 20 or more feet is far more effective than attacking an armed shooter with chairs, backpacks, or even computer cables as some have suggested,” he wrote in a memo Friday.
Trump on Thursday strongly pushed for local communities to consider arming small numbers of teachers with concealed weapons.
“I want certain highly adept people, people that understand weaponry, guns — if they really have that aptitude. Because not everybody has an aptitude for a gun. But if they have the aptitude, I think a concealed permit for — having teachers and letting people know that there are people in the building with a gun — you won’t have — in my opinion, you won’t have these shootings. Because these people are cowards. They’re not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns,” he said Thursday.
Banzhaf said that considering such a move is the least communities can do and that Trump’s idea should be on the table. He told Secrets, “I’m also making the point to many who almost re-flexibly oppose Trump and everything he says that this general concept may have some merit and may deserve some kind of trial.”
Because, he added, “Simply trying to identify all teens who have a mental illness or defect which might become serious enough to lead them to shoot others might itself not be feasible, much less providing sufficient treatment, supervision, etc. to insure that it will not occur.”
Trump called for a larger group of teachers to be armed than Banzhaf who reasoned that the trick is more in the mystery of who is armed. That, he said, would help to scare away some potential killers.
“Allowing a small unidentified minority of willing teachers to carry concealed weapons might provide sufficient deterrence that many shootings would be prevented, rather than simply ended more quickly once they begin,” he wrote.
Banzhaf added, “While many potential school shooters may be prepared die ‘heroically’ at the hands of police, potential shooters may see little glory or honor in being shot down by old Mrs. Grundy who teaches 9th grade history.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
