Should Wisconsin Teachers Carry Guns At School: Take Patch's Survey

WISCONSIN — School shootings have continued to rock the country with alarming frequency. Amid the tragedies, lawmakers, community leaders and parents have sought solutions to keep students safe in their places of learning.

One of the more controversial ideas to protect students has been to arm their teachers. The idea prompts strong reactions from people for and against giving teachers guns. Fill out Patch's survey at the bottom of this story to share what you think about giving Wisconsin teachers guns in schools.

By filling out the survey you give Patch permission to publish your responses. We will share a results story after the survey closes on July 25 at noon. The survey is designed to give a broad idea of public sentiment and is not meant to be a scientific poll.

To Arm Or Not To Arm

Each time a school shooting happens, the idea of arming teachers is often raised, invigorating a nationwide debate over whether the people responsible for teaching students should also be expected to carry firearms to protect them.

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.

Recent initiatives by Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly attempted to push laws forward that would lower the minimum age for concealed carry to 18. The laws passed by the Assembly in January would have also allowed concealed carry permit holders to have a gun in their car on school grounds.

The bills did not make it past Democratic Gov. Evers' desk, according to a report by Wisconsin Public Radio.

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.