Should CA Teachers Be Armed? Patch Readers Weigh In

CALIFORNIA — On Sunday, 500 people were in attendance at a youth football game in Northern California when the sounds of gunfire rang out. The shooting injured two adults and a 6-year old child.

Reports like these — along with the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in decades, which occurred in Texas in May — have inspired a flurry of new gun restricting bills and reignited a conversation over whether school teachers should be armed.

In a recent survey, we asked Patch readers whether they thought arming teachers was a good idea. More than 65 percent said "no" and nearly 35 percent said "yes."

Of the nonscientific survey, which garnered 280 responses, nearly 64 percent said they had children in school while 36 percent said they did not have children in school.

The survey — which appeared in questionnaire form on Patch — is meant not to be a scientific poll but only to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

"As a former teacher I find this thought appalling," one respondent wrote.

"Teachers do a lot for their students. They are trusted to keep those children safe for a huge portion of their lives. Whether it’s safe from bullying or getting hurt at school. I believe them being armed, they would continue to do anything for their kids. It could save a lot of children's lives," another respondent wrote.

READ MORE: Shooting Injures 2 Adults, Child At Bay Area Youth Football Game

The idea was proposed by former President Donald Trump during a 2018 meeting with survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The National Rifle Association quickly endorsed the idea of weapons in schools, and the Second Amendment Foundation and Gun Owners of America signed on in support as well. Gun-control lobbying groups such as Everytown USA, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Giffords Law Center have all opposed it.

State leaders have been at odds about whether assault weapons should be regulated or how they should tracked, but after school shootings, the idea of arming teachers is often recirculated.

The notion has reinvigorated a nationwide debate over whether the people responsible for teaching students should also be expected to carry firearms to protect them. The idea of arming America's school teachers has both proponents and opponents.

A new Politico/Morning Consult Poll taken after the Uvalde school shooting in which 19 children and two teachers were killed found that while a majority of Americans strongly support more restrictions on gun ownership, 54 percent think teachers and other staff should be equipped with concealed firearms.

In 2017, a year before the Parkland shooting, a Pew Research Center survey found 55 percent of U.S. adults opposed allowing teachers and other school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, and 36 percent said they would strongly oppose such a proposal.

In California alone, at least 36 mass shootings have been reported this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Nationwide, 389 mass shootings have been reported in 2022, according to the archive.

Respondents to the survey shared their additional thoughts on the issue:

Arming teachers is insane.

My children are out of school now, but I would not have wanted their teachers to be armed.

Teachers do a lot for their students. They are trusted to keep those children safe for a huge portion of their lives. Wether it’s safe from bullying or getting hurt at school. I believe Them being armed, they would continue to do anything for their kids. It could safe alot of childrens lives.

Arming teachers would put more guns in circulation. The more guns in circulation, the more gun deaths there are.

Although I do not have children in school, my wife is a teacher. I do not think that adding more guns to the schools is a solution to this issue. I can only imagine the outcry when a teacher is forced to take a life. This is not and should not be part of their job description.

More security and school resource officers would be an improvement, but it is still not addressing the root cause and until that issue is addressed the problem will not go away.

I would not like to go to work knowing my coworkers may be armed. It changes the dynamics in a group environment.

I have been teaching youth for 26+ yrs. I find it abolutely abhorrent that folks don't trust teachers to teach current events and history - all of it, the ugly, lovely, and TRUTHFUL history - but they trust us to be armed?!!!!!! My time, energy, and motivation should be EDUCATING not ARMING or SHOOTING people! We adults are the problem! More guns = more shootings = more harm & death. Rather than arm teachers, we need to do the hard work of changing our mindset, our culture, about anger & violence and reduce the easy access to military-style weapons.

If I were still teaching, I would QUIT if I had to carry a gun!

I work at a school. If parents want me to carry a gun then bring back the Resource Officers you wanted so badly off your campus.

It's a yes and no answer, teachers or school security should be required to be trained and actively practicing prior to allowing them to be armed.

The day teachers are expected to be armed is the day I walk away from teaching.

As a retired educator of 35 years, arming teachers would only lead to disaster and tragedy.