Should Michigan Teachers Carry Guns At School: Take Patch Survey

MICHIGAN — As school shootings become more frequent, lawmakers, community leaders and parents continue to seek solutions to keep students safe in the classrooms.

One of the more controversial proposals to address safety is arming teachers. 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 Michigan 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 at noon Monday, July 25. The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, but it is only designed to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

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 the idea of arming teachers.

The idea has met with mixed opinion in Michigan as well. In May, state Sen. Dayna Polehanki, who previously worked as a high school teacher, said giving teachers guns is "one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard."

Polehanki told Click on Detroit that carrying guns is "not a reasonable thing to ask of teachers who are managing a million things during the work day, and could lead to additional tragedy."

In 2018, the Michigan Sheriff's Association also rejected the idea of arming teachers, saying "it does not make any sense."

A new Politico/Morning Consult Poll taken after the Uvalde, Texas 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, while 45 percent said they favored allowing teachers to carry guns in their classrooms.

Education Week, an independent news site that covers education, tracked 27 school shootings from Jan. 1 to 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. These do not include incidents involving armed school resource officers. In 2021, there were 34 school shootings meeting the criteria, compared with 10 in 2020 and 24 each in 2019 and 2018.

Share Your Opinion

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.

If you cannot see the form below, click here.