When President Trump proposed letting teachers carry guns in the classroom, he was roundly criticized. Writers from the New Yorker to the New York Times called him crazy. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington even did it to his face, mocking Trump for wanting “pistol-packing first-grade teachers.”
Everyone condemned the proposal, everyone except the public, it seems.
A new Morning Consult/Politico poll found that half of voters support arming teachers even as support for gun control increases.
Asked whether or not they support “equipping teachers and school staff with concealed firearms to respond in the event of a school shooting,” 50 percent of those polled agreed while 42 percent opposed the idea, first floated by Trump after the school shooting on Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Fla.
It’s not just the supposedly knuckle-dragging deplorables who like the idea: 45 percent of independents and even 32 percent of Democrats agree.
But it isn’t clear what that popular support will mean for policy. While House Speaker Paul Ryan said he agrees with the idea in principle, the Wisconsin Republican insisted this was “really a question for local governments, local school boards.”
And he is right. The Department of Education doesn’t dictate school security. States do.
That doesn’t mean the federal government doesn’t play a role though. Since 1990, the Gun Free Schools Zone Act has prohibited anyone from carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of school property. There are exceptions, and already 18 states allow educators to carry a concealed firearm on campus under certain conditions.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie went on “Meet the Press” to push for his legislation that would repeal the Gun Free Schools Zone Act altogether. When host Chuck Todd dismissed the idea as unpopular and unworkable, Massie responded by telling him “you’re in a bubble.”
“If you take out New York and California, eight percent of Americans have concealed carry permits, and the people watching this show right now?” Massie said, “There are a lot of them getting ready for church in middle America. Putting their guns on.”
At least for now, it seems the public is on the same page with Massie and the president.
