I am a licensed gun owner and have been ever since I was able to purchase a firearm legally. I also possess a pistol permit and have ever since I could apply for it legally. My pistol permit allows me to 鈥渃arry concealed.鈥� That鈥檚 right, I can legally carry a handgun, and you wouldn鈥檛 even know it. In fact, I own several handguns, rifles, and shotguns. I hunt sometimes. I target-shoot sometimes. I am a law-abiding, responsible citizen. Oh, and I am also a school principal.
Once again our nation has been stunned by a school shooting, this time at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state last week. No one wants to compare mass shootings鈥攖he loss of any life is horrible, no matter what. The Sandy Hook Elementary School killings certainly took a bigger toll on me and likely most other people, however, because of the age of the victims. I was badly shaken by the news, and during the weekend that followed that 2012 tragedy, I found myself riveted to the televised reports of the devastation caused by one lunatic. I listened to and agreed with him that, individually and as a nation, we have said (emptily) too many times that something needs to be done. As we approach the second anniversary of that horrible day, I continue to look forward to our taking significant action as a nation.
The National Rifle Association鈥檚 eventual reaction to what happened at Sandy Hook, , was not surprising: 鈥淭he only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.鈥� In fact, Mr. LaPierre鈥檚 response was pretty consistent with what it鈥檚 been to every shooting鈥攑erhaps a little more forceful in this instance, if only because he had to counter and deflect the horrific reality of 6- and 7-year-old children being murdered.
I鈥檝e never belonged to the NRA and never will. I disagree with its position on anything and everything related to 鈥済un control鈥� because the NRA opposes it. I believe there are reasonable steps that should be taken to limit access to guns, but that is not the point of this essay.
On the K-12 front, one of the more out-there prescriptions suggested was for school personnel to carry guns, thus ensuring that armed security forces would be present on every campus. The idea took hold with many, perhaps even originating with Mr. LaPierre when he called for a 鈥渘ational schools shield safety program.鈥� It seemed to be an easy fix to school shootings.
I believe that changing laws and regulations to allow educators to be armed in schools is flatly bad policy and a bad idea.
However, I believe that changing laws and regulations to allow educators to be armed in schools is flatly bad policy and a bad idea. I don鈥檛 differentiate between arming principals, teachers, or other school personnel. It is a poor excuse for a response to unnecessary school tragedies that we witness all too often.
Using a gun to defend yourself鈥攚hich thankfully, I鈥檝e never done and hope I never will have to do鈥攊n any situation is not to be taken lightly. Most people would not have the nerve, rational thought, or skill to do it on the spot. Providing stop-gap 鈥渢raining鈥� would not address the whole picture. You would be taking people who were trained to educate鈥攎any of whom had most likely never owned or even fired a gun鈥攁nd transforming them into the appointed defenders of schools.
How sane is that? How much training do swat teams, police officers, or security guards undergo before they are ready to handle these dangerous encounters? How exactly can we ready educators in a shortened time frame? People who become public defenders know what they鈥檙e getting themselves into. Educators didn鈥檛 (and don鈥檛) sign up for that line of work.
This approach would require us to be placing guns in schools now鈥攇uns that could easily be used inappropriately. Don鈥檛 for a minute think that a secured gun, stored in a school, would be inaccessible. For a gun to be available for defense, it needs to be accessible. That means it would be accessible to more than just the principal or teacher. This will become an even greater concern should more states pass gun laws that allow people with valid pistol permits to also carry them in schools.
Although in New York state, where I am a principal, it is illegal to bring a gun into a school, more than two dozen states have passed such laws, and seven of those states allow teachers and school staff members to carry guns, . Earlier this month, a 6th grade teacher in Utah wounded herself at school when her handgun, which she was legally carrying, . An isolated incident, perhaps. But what if a child had been nearby? If more states jump on the bandwagon, more guns will be in schools and accessible to more than just the legal user.
Yes, I am a licensed handgun owner, and, yes, I am comfortable with guns. I know how to shoot. I know how to handle guns safely. I have hunted and killed animals. It is true that there are many educators who are even more comfortable with guns than I am. And I would like to think that if put in a life-threatening situation, I and others like me would be able to act appropriately. But there is no guarantee. Until it happens to you, you can鈥檛 really know.
I have even greater doubts about people who do not have my level of experience with guns. Is it easy to make an instantaneous decision whether a particular threat merits pulling a gun? Having an armed intruder is probably an obvious time to do so, but there are many other circumstances that are not so clear-cut鈥攖he angry, aggressive parent; the out-of-control 17-year-old student; the gang member who鈥檚 guarding his turf. We don鈥檛 pull guns in these instances now, but if given the authority to do so, would some people do just that?
I do not have enough faith in our citizenry鈥攔egardless of their comfort level with handling guns鈥攖o believe that everyone would have and/or use the proper judgment in the many uncomfortable and sometimes intimidating, even threatening interactions that can and do present themselves in the school yard or building. And, referring again to last week鈥檚 school shooting in Marysville, Wash., the shooter reportedly , who is being considered a hero for her actions.
Allowing educators to carry guns makes them the appointed defenders of our schools. But what if the principal (or teacher) doesn鈥檛 act quickly enough? Or doesn鈥檛 believe in pulling a gun? Or couldn鈥檛 find the key to the locked drawer containing the gun? Or wasn鈥檛 in the building when a threat presented itself? There now becomes a culpable nondefender, someone who didn鈥檛 do her duty and now another target for finger-pointing, excuse-making, lawsuits, or worse.
Educators carrying guns? Not an answer to the policy questions before us. My guns stay home.
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Retired Montana Principal John Moffatt says arming teachers and school staff is not the right way to respond to the threat of school shootings. His opinion is informed by his own experience as the survivor of a 1986 school shooting.
