Should Maryland Teachers Carry Guns At School? Patch Survey

MARYLAND — As school shootings become more frequent in number, lawmakers, community leaders and parents across the nation continue to desperately seek measures to keep students safe.

Among the most controversial proposals is whether teachers, including those in Maryland, should be armed to fight back against a potential shooter. Strong opinions are held by those for and against the idea.

Fill out Patch's survey at the bottom of this story to share your views on armed teachers in Maryland schools. By filling out our survey, you are giving Patch permission to publish your responses.

A results story will be shared after the survey closes. The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, but it is only designed to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

Shootings at Maryland Schools

Maryland is no stranger to school gun violence. Earlier this year, a 17-year-old student at Magruder High School in Rockville was charged with second-degree attempted murder in connection with a shooting that seriously injured another student and prompted an hours-long lockdown at the school.

In 2019, a man was charged in a shooting at Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore. Police said an argument led Neil Davis to shoot a special education assistant in the school lobby.

In 2012, police said a 15-year-old shooter walked into the cafeteria at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County with a gun and shot a 17-year-old classmate. Police said a teacher "heroically stepped in" to stop the attack, at which time the suspect fired another shot into the air. A police officer on the scene then arrested the suspect.

These are just three examples where guns have made their way onto school grounds in Maryland. However, there have been other incidents involving school shootings in the state.

To Arm Or Not To Arm

After school shootings, the idea of arming teachers is often circulated, invigorating 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.

It 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 all opposed it.

Arming Teachers: Maryland Leaders Weigh In

Following the Parkland shooting, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he opposed arming teachers. Instead, he favored enhancing school safety by adding more metal detectors, panic buttons, security cameras and secure doors and windows in schools, The Washington Post reported.

“I don’t think we should be handing out guns to drama teachers and biology teachers,” the governor said during a news conference in 2018. “However, I think we ought to let the local school systems make decisions about whether they should have armed, trained resources officers that they believe could protect the schools.”

To bolster school security efforts in the state, Hogan's administration announced plans to commit an additional $125 million to accelerate and enhance safety improvements in schools, as well as an additional $50 million in operating money each year for new school safety grants, which could be used for school resource officers, counselors, and additional safety technology.

Betty Weller, the former president of the Maryland State Education Association, told The Baltimore Sun that the association also opposes teachers carrying guns into the classroom.

"We should be arming schools with more school counselors and psychologists," she told the newspaper.

Around the same time as Hogan's remarks, Marietta English, the former president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, pushed for mandatory active shooter training for teachers, CBS News reported.

Harford County Delegate Rick Impallaria, a Republican, proposed House Bill 760 several years ago, which would have let school boards decide whether to arm certain school employees, such as teachers. However, the bill ultimately never made it to the governor's desk.

What The Polls Say

A 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 in Florida, 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.

A sizable majority — 45 percent — said they favored allowing teachers to carry guns in their classrooms, with little difference in the responses of parents with children under 18 in school and non-parents, according to Pew.

Education Week, an independent news site that covers education, tracked 27 school shootings from Jan. 1-May 31 in which 27 people were killed, 24 of them students or other children, and 53 people were injured.

Education Week defines a school shooting as one in which a firearm was discharged on a K-12 school property or bus while school is in session or during a school-sponsored event, injuring at least one person other than the perpetrator. Incidents involving armed school resource officers are not included in the criteria.

In 2021, there were 34 school shootings meeting the criteria, compared with 10 in 2020 and 24 each in 2019 and 2018.

What Do You Think?

Do you think teachers or other school employees should be allowed to carry guns on campus to protect students and others against a potential threat? Let us know in the survey below. Your responses could be used for a follow-up story.