I have not yet heard a single good argument for why we shouldn’t generally allow teachers to carry concealed firearms on school grounds. With as many school shootings as we’ve experienced in this country, it is time we stop ignoring this absurdly simple solution. It is among the lowest-hanging fruit of the gun debate.
The objections to this proposal usually take two forms, both of them utterly useless and insufficient. The first is shock and disgust: “We shouldn’t have educators carry weapons of war in places where children are supposed to be learning!” This is a purely sentimental reaction, not a realistic counterargument; it is full of hot air and empty of any meaningful content.
This objection presupposes as a matter of course that guns are somehow incompatible with a learning environment — that a classroom in which a concealed weapon is present is a bad one.
Nonsense. A qualified teacher with a handgun on their hip is perfectly capable of instructing a classroom. Where is the evidence to suggest otherwise? That’s not a rhetorical question. For all the hyperventilating over the idea of teachers carrying guns in schools, partisans have not, to my knowledge, ever been able to prove why it is, for some reason, such a wildly bad idea.
One suspects that it is an ideological objection more than anything: Some people simply do not like guns — they see guns as nasty, profane, scary, loud, part of an alien culture of which they are entirely unfamiliar — and they believe that letting teachers carry guns will somehow denigrate or defile the educational environment. People are perfectly entitled to their opinions, of course. But this is a debate concerning vital matters of public safety, and we should not allow irrational anti-gun ideology to influence such a pressing and critical dialogue. It’s fine if some people don’t like guns, but that doesn’t mean we should prevent responsible people from carrying them and using them.
The second objection is more equivocal: People will often say, “We should be working to keep guns out of the hands of homicidal maniacs instead of allowing teachers to carry guns.” I agree with the first part: We need to do something about our school shooting problem. It is a brutal and absolutely pressing problem, the abolition of which should be the prime objective of every good person in this country.
But you can do both. In fact, you should do both, because until we begin fixing our school shooting problem in a systemic way, schools will still remain vulnerable, attractive targets for psychotic madmen. We should not leave our schools open to such attacks. There is a reason that crazed gunmen never shoot up police stations or gun stores: Because they know that the armed populace inside will shoot back, and their rampage will end in quick and ignominious death. A school, on the other hand, is as low-risk a target as one can hope for. That would change if we allowed teachers and administrators to carry guns.
Occasionally one hears other, even less-rational objections to concealed carry in schools. For instance, “It will cause even more gun violence!” This is profoundly silly. Concealed carriers are among the most law-abiding individuals in the country. And schools could insist on strict safety protocols for teachers who carry: training, certification, a careful and deliberate system of ensuring that guns remain where they’re supposed to at all times.
It’s not complicated, it’s ridiculously simple.
If someone has an objection to teachers carrying guns in schools that isn’t “Guns gross me out” or “Let’s focus on the criminals instead,” I’d be delighted to hear it. If not, then for goodness’ sake, what are we waiting for? Let the teachers carry.
Daniel Payne is a writer based in Virginia. He is an assistant editor for the College Fix, the news magazine of the Student Free Press Association. He blogs at Trial of the Century.
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