Education Week - March 1, 2017 - 10

Christopher Capozziello for Education Week

Bobby Caina Calvan/AP

Abbey Clements was a
teacher at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in
Newtown, Conn., when a
gunman killed 20 students
and six of her colleagues in
2012. Clements, who
teaches at another
Newtown school, lobbies
for tougher gun laws and is
staunchly opposed to
arming teachers.
Teachers and staff of the
Clifton Independent School
District in Clifton, Texas, at
a handgun training session
in February 2013.

Lance Rosenfield/Prime for Education Week-File

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
John Moffatt, a retired
administrator, testifies in
opposition to a bill proposed
in Montana to allow school
employees with concealed
weapons permits to carry
guns on school campuses.
Moffatt was shot in 1986 by
a student at a high school
where he was vice principal.

Educators Stepping Up
To Oppose Gun Laws
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Trump, who was endorsed by the
National Riﬂe Association, will follow through on a campaign promise
to push for ending federal gun-free
school zones that he once referred to
as "bait" for a "sicko" who may attack a school.
The federal law prohibits carrying or discharging guns within
1,000 feet of public or private school
grounds unless a person is speciﬁcally authorized to do so by a state.

Differing Viewpoints
Pro-gun groups argue that those
restrictions make schools more vulnerable. Would-be shooters, they
argue, know that they are less likely
to be confronted by armed individuals. And there are some educators
who favor having armed staff in
their schools in hopes of preventing
another tragic shooting.
"Gun-free zones prevent lawabiding citizens from protecting
themselves, and create vulnerable
populations that are targeted by
criminals," said U.S. Rep. Thomas
Massie, a Kentucky Republican who
recently proposed a bill to eliminate
10 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 1, 2017 | www.edweek.org

gun-free school zones.
But groups like Moms Demand
Action counter that teachers and
school staff aren't prepared to respond to armed intruders, and that
carrying guns would interfere with
their duties to support and teach
students.
"You hear these noises and you
have no idea where the gun shots
are coming from," said Clements,
who now teaches in another Newtown school. "So, you know, the idea
that had a teacher been armed that
she could save the day, like in the
movies-that you would quickly
know where the shooter was, know
that there was only one shooter, and
that the kids would be quiet and sit
still so that they wouldn't get hurt-
is insane."
A 2015 CBS News/New York
Times poll found that 57 percent of
all respondents opposed allowing
teachers and staff to carry guns in
schools, though the idea was more
popular among Republicans.
In the confirmation hearing for
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy
DeVos, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who represented
Newtown as a congressman, asked
the nominee if guns have "any place

in or around schools."
DeVos said that decision is best
left to states and localities. She referred back to a school in rural Wyoming with a special fence to protect
it from grizzly bears that had been
mentioned earlier in the hearing.
"I think there I would imagine
that there's a gun in the school to
protect from potential grizzlies,"
she said. DeVos also said she would
support the president if he moves
forward with a push to end gun-free
school zones.
Her response drew mocking jokes
from late-night talk show hosts and
stoked concern from educators opposed to guns in schools. Moms Demand Action gathered 40,000 signatures on a petition opposing DeVos'
nomination-1,000 of them from
educators, the organization said.
The organization invited those
educators to join its Educators Demand Action effort, which now has
about 3,000 members who meet
with local chapters, attend lobbying
days to learn how to communicate
with state legislators, and testify
about bills and policy changes at the
state and local levels.

'Powerful Voice'
Their work comes as lawmakers
in many states take up a perennial
batch of bills that would loosen gun
restrictions. The group's members
focus particularly on laws that
would require schools and college
campuses to allow concealed carrying of handguns by staff and teachers or that would give districts the
option to allow armed staff. Nine
states currently allow concealedcarry permit holders to carry guns
in schools.
"Teachers have such an incredibly powerful voice on this issue because they are in the classroom and
they really do know what's best for
students," said Shannon Watts, the
founder of Moms Demand Action.
In some states that have debated

guns-in-schools bills, police have opposed them, noting the difﬁculty of
cornering a shooter in a chaotic situation, even with law enforcement
training. Noting federal data that
show that children are more likely
to be shot outside of school, educators involved in Moms Demand
Action push for more-restrictive
gun laws, like those to expand background checks for gun buyers.
"It shouldn't be up to teachers to
stand up to gunmen because our
Congress won't stand up to the gun
lobby," Watts said.
The group also partners with the
national Parent Teacher Association
to offer educational materials on
how to safely secure guns and keep
them out of the hands of children.
While high-casualty shootings often
grab headlines, attacks at schools
are often smaller in scale and involve guns that were insecurely
stored, Watts said.
Moms Demand Action only supports guns in schools if they are carried by trained security guards and
police ofﬁcers. That's not far off from
an earlier position of the National
Riﬂe Association.
In 1999, Executive Vice President
Wayne LaPierre told a gathering of
NRA members that the organization believed in "absolutely gun-free,
zero-tolerance schools" with "the
rare exception of law enforcement
ofﬁcers or trained security personnel," a statement that was met with
applause. But after the Newtown
shootings, LaPierre said politicians
did little to address school attacks
but brag about gun-free school zones
with signs that "tell every insane
killer in America that schools are
the safest place to inﬂict maximum
mayhem with minimum risk."
He pushed for armed security in
every school and the use of armed
volunteers, like military veterans,
if necessary. LaPierre stopped short
of directly advocating for arming
teachers.
"The only thing that stops a bad

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Education Week - March 1, 2017

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