Listening to Donald Trump pontificate on school shootings
and the cure for such is like asking Richard Dawkins to preside at Billy Graham’s
funeral. Trump knows nothing about
public schools and public school teachers and it is pretty apparent he knows
very little about guns. Arming classroom
teachers is absolutely the worst idea since hydrogen blimps or the Ford Pinto. This is typical Trump, however. For every highly complex problem there is a
simple solution, and it is wrong. Count
on Trump to shoot from the hip in a thoughtless rant about how to fix school
shootings and come up with an idea that will increase school shootings. That is, putting guns in schools.
We have to begin to unpack the idiocy in this suggestion by
thinking about classroom teachers. I
spent 40 years in public education and I know teachers of all sorts, all ilks,
all subjects, from experienced pros to rookies.
And though each teacher is a unique human being, they all share several characteristics. For instance, they all would rather help kids
than hurt kids. Period. They show it in different ways, but I deeply
believe this is true. Put a gun in a
teacher’s hand and ask them to shoot a current or former student very, very few
teachers could or would pull the trigger.
Teachers are taught to disarm situations in ways other than
violence. We listen. We prompt.
We counsel. We extoll. We direct.
But we have never, ever been taught to use violence to resolve a conflict,
even if it is a bloody conflict.
The other dimension of classroom teachers that is not often
discussed is the drama level that can occur on any campus. Yes, the teachers are the adults. But in the microcosm that is a public school,
little ripples in the tranquility pond turn into tsunamis. I have seen teachers totally lose it when the
Xerox machine breaks down. Or when
someone failed to make a new pot of coffee in the lounge, or they are called to
a meeting during their conference period, or they are shamed in public by a
terrible principal, or the previous teacher did not return the computer cart. I absolutely would not want any of those
otherwise great human beings to be armed when they go ballistic.
The logistics of such a suggestion are even more
impossible. Set aside the actual cost of
providing a firearm, ammunition and training of teachers. That alone is a deal breaker. But assume that the Koch Brothers buy
everyone a gun. OK, so I am a
teacher. I am experienced with
firearms. I even have a concealed weapon
permit and a carry permit. I spend time
at the range shooting targets with my Glock 17 handgun. I am good.
While in class I do not wear my gun on my belt because it would be too
tempting for students to focus on that and not the lesson, and for safety sake
I do not want a loaded weapon so easily available. I keep it locked in my desk or armoire. Suddenly I hear gunshots in the hallway. I hear the intercom issue the code for active
shooter. I order my kids to duck and
cover near the hallway wall and I go to unlock my handgun. I get the gun and step out in the
hallway. Just as every other teacher has
stepped out in the hallway. I am looking
at the backs of my colleagues who are all facing the shooter. Really?
Am I going to shoot? Or, I am
alone in the hallway with a handgun and 75 feet away is someone with an
AR15. What chance do I have of hitting
that shooter before he shoots me with his semi-automatic rifle? Very little.
In other words, given the physical structure of schools and the need for
day-to-day security, quick response is unlikely, and any response is likely to
be unsuccessful and may kill others.
Plus, while I am going for my gun I was not able to lock my classroom
door to keep the shooter outside, so after I am shot all the kids in my class
are fair game.
And finally is the simple common sense argument that having
guns does not decrease the number of deaths from someone else’s gun. In fact, the more guns that are present in
America the more shootings we have, not vice-versa. President Reagan was protected by six armed, highly
trained Secret Service officers when he was shot on a sidewalk. Bobby Kennedy was surrounded by Secret
Service when he was shot. And at Fort
Hood populated by highly trained military personnel a mass shooting occurred in
2009. No schools have the weapons available
like a military base. Almost every
school where there has been a shooting had an armed officer of the law and it
did not diminish the bloodshed. More
guns more people armed with guns is not the answer unless every hallway in
America’s public school is staffed with armed officer of the law who have no
function other than to keep guard.
So, if giving teachers weapons is stupid and I will always
argue that it is, what might work? How
about metal detectors at the doors.
Nope. Won’t work. Picture a typical classroom wing with doors
at each end and classrooms on each side of the hallway between the doors. It would take two metal detectors for that
building. But it would take much more
than that. It would also take an x-ray
machine and someone to monitor it for purses and backpacks. It would take armed officers at each detector
so if the alarm goes off someone will be there to respond. And each of those officers will need to have
a wand as well. Kids entering the
building will back-up as the line forms to get through the scanner, just like
at the airport. Bell schedules will have
to be radically amended so that the time allowed between classes is expanded to
include the sweep. And what happens
after the first period when as many kids are trying to exit the building equals
the number trying to enter the building.
That will be total chaos. Most
any student could find a way to enter going upstream and avoid the
detectors. Or worse, any armed shooter
will not be slowed by a metal detector because he will take out those officers
first. And shall we do this at elementary
schools as well? Sandy Hook may wish
they had such a system, but it would not have helped. Any shooter dedicated to killing people will
not be slowed by a metal detector or an officer at the door.
How about active shooter training? Nope, doesn’t help much. Each school has an active shooter protocol
based on the structure of the campus and the grade level of the kids. Training in this protocols is probably OK,
and though I have sat through several, the main message I got was run away if
you can, hunker down, lock the door and pretend the room is empty if you can’t. As a last resort attack the shooter, but we
all know how that will work out. There,
you have now had active shooter training.
I’m sorry, but the issue is not the school or the
preparedness of the school or weaponizing faculty. The issue is the readily available source of
firearms. As long as there are so many
guns, and acquitting a gun is so easy there will be school shootings, mall
shootings, movie shootings, concert shootings, etc. Obtaining a gun ought to be at least as
difficult as obtaining a drivers license with pre-ownership training required,
test proficiency required, frequent renewals, and liability insurance
requires.
Make owning a gun a much more restrictive process and
eliminate semi-automatic military style weapons, make fully automatic weapons and
silencers illegal, and update our list of folks who cannot buy a gun to include
mentally disturbed folks. Perhaps if we
do so we will see the sharp drop in such killings as has most of the civilized
world. We cannot continue to sacrifice
children for the profit margin of gun manufacturers. We cannot continue to argue that the right to
bear arms is more critical than the right to life.
