Arming Our Teachers and Schools?

When I boarded one of the three buses traveling from Gettysburg to the March for Our Lives on March 24, I realized that some of us were reliving the protest movement in the 60’s that forced the end of the War in Vietnam. Once more our young people refused to stay on the sidelines while their very lives are threatened--this time when the possession of military-style weapons have become common in our schools and on our streets.

At first the initial reaction to the horrific slaughter of our students in Florida was usually “Well nothing will be done about it.” If 26 kindergarten students could be gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Congress would still be cowed by the NRA, what hope is there for any serious gun reform? Our own state representative Dan Moul commented after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting,  

“ I would love to be able to tell you that passing laws could have prevented this tragedy, but you and I both know that is not true. What we here in PA have done is given each and every school district the ability to have armed security in their school buildings…Part of the problem, I would say, is that the school boards and the communities have got to realize that our schools are soft targets and we do need to have armed professionals patrolling those campuses to protect our most vulnerable.”

I think Dan Moul is wrong on several fronts. Just look at the cost of this proposal. One of our former administrators in Upper Adams School District estimates that it would take 4 armed guards at each of our four buildings to provide “protection” throughout the school day. If we paid each of them a modest $30,000 a year plus benefits  ($50,000 total), it would cost Upper Adams an additional $200,000 a year to pay for Rep. Moul’s idea. Where does that money come from?  More property taxes?

There have been proposals from President Trump and many state legislators that we also arm our teachers, insisting that we have to be tough and be ready to respond to violence with violence, in a matter of seconds. But we don’t need more guns in our schools. I loved the story in the Gettysburg Times March 7 about the Gettysburg student who saw the folly of this approach:

“Sixth grader Alex Turner pleaded with the Gettysburg Area School Board not to place armed guards in his school. …’I am strongly opposed to having armed personnel in our schools…I believe this would most likely end in accidental shootings. Furthermore, like we saw in Parkland, this may not even prevent mass shootings.” 

One of the lasting impressions from the March for Our Lives were all the homemade signs challenging our nation’s obsession with guns. One sign read,  “I am a TEACHER. I speak for the schools.  Arming me with a gun is the plan of a fool. Semi-automatics are weapons of war, to maim and to kill is all they are for. Enough blood has been shed, enough lives torn and frayed.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Ban assault guns today!”

I couldn’t count the number of signs at the march from teachers protesting the idea of asking them to carry a gun to school. One can only imagine the chaos that could result from numerous teachers trying to respond to a real or a mistaken threat from an intruder. Certainly we need to strengthen security measures in every school, but this is only a band-aid approach to the problem. Students too young to vote are leading the way – and they urge us all not to allow the NRA to control the day.  I’m sure the NRA would be thrilled to have us arm our teachers or add numerous security guards with more guns. What a bonanza for gun sales! But that is not the country we should want to be.  Schools need to be safe places for children. We don’t need to add to the fear generated by arming teachers or conducting drills for responding to an active shooter. We need to ban assault weapons and demand universal background checks along with other common sense solutions to this national nightmare created by the NRA and a cowardly Congress.

Elaine Jones is a former educator, a board member of the Upper Adams School District and a member of the Gettysburg Democracy for America Education Task Force.