Since the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, a new urgency has been added to the fight against gun violence, especially in schools. Lawmakers are exploring all possibilities that will result in students feeling safer in the classroom. One of these solutions includes potentially arming teachers with guns, baseball bats, or even rocks. Some school districts were apprehensive toward President Trump’s proposition to do so, while others were eager in taking action against the rise in school shootings.

So far, a handful of schools have taken the initiative of arming teachers. A school district in Sidney, Ohio has made the decision to hold a semi-automatic glock handgun in the district headquarters. In addition, throughout the seven schools in the district, safes containing guns can be found that are only accessible by a designated staff member using their fingerprint. Each person who has authority to open the safe undergoes intense monthly training, and must have a license to carry. The school also stores a bulletproof vest in a secret location, that will protect against any bullet except one fired from an assault rifle. This isn’t the first school to arm teachers.

Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania has begun arming all of its 500 teachers with 16 inch bats. The bats are being locked in classrooms and are only to be used during a real lockdown situation. With this, they have also established a new security plan called T.R.O.J.A.N (Threat assessment, Run, Obstruct and barricade, Join forces, Attack, Never give up).

In Blue Mountain School District, also in Pennsylvania, buckets of river stones are being placed in all classrooms. The idea is to change the previous “passive” protocol of having students basically turn off the lights and hide under desks in the event of a lockdown. Students are expected to throw all of their materials at the threat, including the rocks. The rocks are intended to give confidence to students and provide a sense of safety.

President Trump also proposes that teachers be offered a bonus when becoming trained for carrying a gun at school. In a press conference in February, President Trump said, “These people are cowards. They’re not going to walk into a school if 20% of the teachers have guns –it may be 10% or may be 40%. And what I’d recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. We give them a little bit of a bonus. They’ll frankly feel more comfortable having the gun anyway. But you give them a little bit of a bonus.”. President Trump goes on to describe gun free zones as a terrible idea, because they give the shooter a “clear target”.

While some teachers are being armed in the U.S, legislators in New York are trying to prohibit teachers form carrying guns in schools. Senator Todd Kaminsky says, “Calls to arm our teachers are merely a distraction from urgently needed, common sense gun safety measures, increased funding for mental health services, and funding for hardening technology for our schools… Our teachers want to focus on educating our students, and injecting more guns into our schools can lead to increasingly dangerous situations.” Many superintendents across New York are agreeing with Senator Kaminsky, saying that teachers should not have to worry about the responsibility of carrying a gun, as well as the everyday pressures that comes with the job description.” Thus bringing about the recent hashtag, #ArmMeWith.

Arming teachers can pose as a great danger to students. Last August, a teacher from Lithia Springs High School in Georgia fired a handgun inside the school. Also, in late February, an armed teacher opened fire in Dalton High School, also in Georgia. The reason for this has yet to be determined. For some, this is a perfect example that some people are not supposed to carry guns, much less in a school setting.

Our school has taken many steps to further making us feel secure at school. These include an increase in security cameras, 285 radios have been purchased for better communication throughout the district, and blue strobe lights have been added to all schools in the district. A full list of all changes to the district can be found here.