By: Raul Biscaino
SAN MARCOS, Texas — The debate of arming teachers as a defense to mass shooters is being intensified throughout the nation as Americans witness yet another high school shooting.
In the wake of the recent Florida school shooting, the March for Our Lives march, and President Donald Trump tweeting support and perhaps monetary bonuses for armed teachers, legislation for arming teachers is perhaps being considered by state lawmakers.
According to a Pew Research article, a survey found that more than half of U.S. adults would oppose allowing teachers and officials to carry guns in K-12 schools.
Beverly Holt, 23, an education major at Texas State, believes arming teachers is not the route needed to tackle the issue at hand.
“I don’t think teachers should be armed because imagine you’re a firefighter trying to put out a fire, you wouldn’t use more fire to put it out. With that logic, why would we add more guns to teachers when there’s professionals who already have guns?” said Holt.
Jason Crouch, a reference assistant at Texas State, disagreed with the idea of arming educators however acknowledged some educators perhaps are already carrying concealed weapons around campuses.
“I think there are already some that do carry concealed, but I think that just on the face of it, arming teachers is not necessarily a good solution,” Crouch said.
Like every other issue our nation faces, there are voices that disagree with the majority opinion and believe arming teachers perhaps is a direction the nation should consider.
Morgan Glenn, a communications disorders major, agrees with the idea of arming teachers believing it could be a possible solution to stopping further violence.
“Yes. I mean, I think it’s beneficial in a way because if there is another incident like this again then at least we have people who know what to do and they can help protect us and even eventually our own children at one point,” said Glenn.
Brittany Matt, a communication disorders major at Texas State, grew up around guns in her conservative town. While expressing the need for gun control, arming teachers is something she would consider.
“I think faculty with specific qualifications and certifications to conceal carry firearms on school grounds could produce a better turn of events in a school shooting. This being a touchy subject of debate, I think it is worth it as an attempt for safety,” Matt said.
Americans demanding the banning of military style firearms is a result of the mass media focusing more on the type of firearms being used in mass shootings.
Seth Irwin, an electrical engineer residing in San Marcos, believes banning certain types of guns available to the masses would be a better alternative to stop mass shootings.
“For starters, ban assault rifles. And by ban I mean make it as hard to buy a fully automatic rifles,” Irwin said.
Leela Rao, a current Junior studying special education, expressed uneasiness with a topic directly affecting her future place of work.
“Personally, it’s really scary. I’m currently student teaching at a school in New Braunfels and when the Parkland shooting happened, my mom immediately called me asking, “Do you know what you’re supposed to do when you’re with those kids?” and I responded, “Not really, I’m not sure.”” Rao said.
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