With the debate and controversy over arming teachers growing amid a recent spurt of mass shootings in the nation, public interest lawyer John Banzhaf today stepped up his call for more defensive weapons and tools in schools.
In his latest report on the issue, the George Washington University law professor said that arming teachers has proven safe and effective and that the practice should be expanded.
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“Since so many jurisdictions already permit some educators to be armed — and, as with the armed airline pilots program, there apparently have been no adverse incidents or other downsides — more schools should consider permitting at least a few teachers to be armed,” he said in a new post.
Banzhaf’s post played off a New York Times series of opinion pieces discussing arming teachers, gun security, and school safety.
While most known for his legal work and fight for the public in high-profile cases including smoking, Banzhaf has a little-known background in safety.
He told Washington Secrets, for example, that “Many years ago, in the 1960s, I was employed by the Institute for Defense Analysis as a security officer to guard ‘Top Secret’ research.” He added, “While so employed, I noticed two serious security problems at the installation. I came up with simple solutions, which were accepted.”
He has tapped that experience to push safety measures such as how colleges and larger buildings can protect against shooters.
He has included school shootings in his ever-growing list of topics, and recently put out a list of changes that schools can make to slow or stop shooters, but today he focused more on arming teachers with lethal and non-lethal weapons.
“Although not quite as good as a handgun, there are effective non-lethal defensive weapons, which teachers can carry with them and/or keep in locked gun safes in their classrooms, which will be much more effective than using chairs, tables, poles, and other objects teachers have sometimes been forced to resort to in defending their students,” he said in a preview of his posting.
Non-lethal alternatives listed include bear spray and paintball guns that could disable a shooter until police arrive.
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“Another possible non-lethal defensive weapon is a paintball pistol which can be used to fire pellets of colored paint into the face of an armed intruder from a considerable distance. While the pellets may not have quite the stopping effectiveness of bear spray, they are likely to at least disorient the shooter so that he or she can be stopped. A gun shooting pellets is also likely to be effective at a much greater distance than the bear spray canister,” he explained.
The best part, he added, is that they can be shot from a distance and are available on Amazon.
