Arming teachers

Such proposals have engendered public debate regarding with whom the responsibility for providing a safe environment lies, and whether it would reduce or escalate the risk of shootings.

In the United States, proposals to arm teachers were made following shootings at schools in Columbine, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; Newtown, Connecticut; Sidney, Ohio; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

[7] Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wrote, "although the perpetrators of mass school shootings have been almost exclusively white, there's little doubt that arming teachers will lead disproportionately to the killing—by teachers—of children of color.

[12] In response, in 1995 a law mandating an armed security guard at every school with more than 100 students was passed,[13] while teachers remained unarmed.

[22] In 2022, a Durban teacher was suspended by the KwaZulu-Natal education department after allegedly bringing a gun to school to intimidate pupils she accused of being noisy and rebellious.

[23] Beginning in January 2004, terror campaigns by Islamic militants in the southern provinces of Thailand targeted government installations.

[35] On August 1, 2022, a Reason magazine article with Jacob Sullum reporting, commented on a New York Times piece that itself was criticizing the perceived low number of hours required for teachers to be armed in some states, Sullum commented however that, "The real scandal here is not how little training is mandated for teachers who want to carry handguns in school but how little training police officers receive for a job that extends far beyond handling firearms.

"[36][37] The New York Times opinion staff noted that 2022 was the United States' worst year yet for mass shootings, and described that teachers had been having more discussions about arming themselves.

[4] In 2011, a proposal to arm teachers was made in response to an Omaha, Nebraska, school shooting in which a student killed the vice principal and then committed suicide.

A measure was proposed by Nebraska state senator Mark R. Christensen to allow concealed handguns in schools for security guards, administrators and teachers, but it did not pass the legislature.

[41][42] Republican politicians in the United States soon expressed their support for arming teachers afterwards, including Betty Olson,[43] Francis Rooney,[44] Michael Speciale,[45] and Betsy DeVos.

[46] The topic of arming teachers resurfaced following the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, with Republican lawmakers pushing the idea.