Is Arming Teachers Practical?

A good look at the question, and the correct answer. Yes - a very practical and low cost way to deter these vicious lunatics and make them choose other venues for their violence.

Approximately one-fifth of teachers would carry a gun at school if they were allowed to, and were trained for it. Hinderaker correctly points out that having a few armed teachers or staff at schools would be inexpensive, and would undoubtedly make schools safer places. Spree killers are known to favor hitting places where they will not be opposed by defensive guns. Therefore, every school should have a few responsible adults carrying deadly force.

While arming teachers seems to be one solution to school shootings, one would have to find that one teacher or a couple of teachers willing to be armed. I suggest that the only teachers willing to do this would be the physical education teachers. From my days in school, they were the only ones who broke up fights and participated in athletics in and out of school and were generally seen as not the person one would want to mess with.

I would say it depends on the teacher. My biology teacher in high school was an ex underwater demolition guy in Korean War. Most of men teachers at that time were ex-military of some sort. My son’s golf coach when he was in high school was an ex-cop. I would go with what our church did, train and arm six men of the church who come to church every Sunday. We don’t know who they are (some of us have guessed) but they are there just in case. You wouldn’t have to arm a whole congregation or school.

One out of five is a fantastic ratio, compared to the typical ratio of zero out of 30. Just let any teacher, interested in exercising her second amendment rights, carry a gun to school with her. Same for any administrato, janitor or student of age. We forget that the "Wild West"was , unlike it's Hollywood description, actually pretty peaceful, since anyone you met might be armed. Violence stopped before it started. The last thing we need to do is to "harden' otherwise peaceful schools with uniformed security personnel. Hiring a million of them brings no value, and is a waste of money. Plus, the school shooter nutcase would launch the spree by taking out those functionaries.

Teachers SHOULD be armed, and trained as individual tactical shooters. In addition, each school should train the armed teachers as a tactical unit so that any incursion can be met with a custom tactical response using overwhelming force. Having liberals prancing around with designer guns in fashion holsters is probably not a good idea.

Instead of everyone having to carry weapons, I would like to get back to putting wrongdoers in jail. At least, give that a try.

Re #3, on in five teachers say they would be willing. They don't have to be PE teachers. Breaking up a fight takes a physically large and strong individual....which fits the description of many HS coaches, as you say. BUT - old saying, "God created men, and Samuel Colt made them equal." And women can wield a handgun about as effectively as a man. Anyone who doubts that some women can do the job - here's some proof. An Aussy lady running a few stages in a Aussy state handgun competition. https://youtu.be/okRYWtkLMLY

what do Sandy Hook, Parkland, Columbine, Uvalde, parents think?

I'm all for it, as long as it doesn't create a situation where a large student or students could wrest the gun away from the teacher. Like a sucker punch - now we have an active shooter situation.

This is how I would do it.: In a nutshell; provide members of faculty/staff with access to hidden, locked, and possibly alarmed lock-boxes where each lock-box contains a loaded firearm and a bright identification bib. Post and publicize the fact that the facility has lethal response capability. The number of firearms and their locations would not be publicly disclosed. That uncertainty would make planning a shooting difficult. Other defense measures such as armed personnel or secured perimeter could be incorporated as well, but generally they require high ongoing costs and impose a detracting atmosphere that is not conducive to work, entertainment, or education. These other defensive measures are often known a known quantity and can often be bypassed. The lock-box plan also minimizes the concern that a guard or armed staff member might be ambushed resulting in their being neutralized with the possibility of their weapon being used by the shooter. A lock-box will never match the speed of a carried weapon, but it would not be hard to engineer a box hidden in a wall cavity that could be accessed in 5 to 10 seconds and opened in another 5 to 10 seconds. That would probably be less than the time for someone to traverse from one hall (or building) to another. Lock-boxes allow a redundancy and flexibility that would otherwise not be practical. Also consider the fact that a lock-box firearm could be a rifle thus greatly increasing the effectiveness and accuracy of the defender. Most other details (procedures; number and location of firearms; type of hidden firearms; staff qualifications, responsibilities, and compensation; etc.) should be worked out with school officials and law enforcement. Particular emphasis should be given for a procedure of armed staff members to safely surrender their firearms to police.

In high school, one of my history teachers was a retired Army colonel. I'm sure there are a few like him today who would be more than able to handle whatever situation involving firearms. Any would-be school shooters would have been dead before they fired a shot.

This small town in the Piney Woods of East Texas has the following signs posted at school campuses. "...personnel are armed and may use whatever force necessary to protect our students and staff." This being the bible belt, posting "F... around and find out." might have been considered a bit crude. The ISD police department also has one armed officer at every elementary campus and more than on at secondary schools.

NOT arming them ....has proved to be the most impractical thing possible, NO other effort(and there have been dozens) short of arming them has been effective either. Every school shooting and nearly every other shooting of any kind, ends immediately upon the "Arrival of another gun", no matter who wields it. Average deaths when it is the Cops? 13.8. Average deaths when it is a civilian? 2.3

Only if teachers are well trained on how to use their weapon. I still believe asking for armed, veteran volunteers to patrol outside the school and inside is the best solution. Leave the teachers to teach.

Every little bit helps. In schools where the teachers won't or can't step up, get armed security who will. If there are guns that can be used against the maniac, most maniacs will at least hesitate. And if they think someone besides the publicly armed guard is carrying, they will probably refrain or look for a gun-free target.

All the school staff should have training to understand basic tactical maneuvers and how to get out of the way. Older students could opt for the training to guide students to safety, take attendance, oversee the others.

I've had and seen a few female PE teachers who fit the bill of not wanting to mess with #8. My comment didn't specify only male PE teachers.