Education Week - October 29, 2014 - 28

COMMENTARY
By Russ Moore
I
Guns Don't Belong in Schools
"
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 "carry
concealed." That's right, I can legally
carry a handgun, and you
wouldn't 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.
No one wants to compare mass
shootings-the 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 President
Obama that Saturday evening 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's
eventual reaction to what happened
at Sandy Hook, as expressed
by its executive vice president and
CEO, Wayne LaPierre, was not surprising:
"The only thing that stops
a bad guy with a gun is a good guy
with a gun." In fact, Mr. LaPierre's
response was pretty consistent with
what it's been to every shooting-
perhaps 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've never belonged to the NRA and never
will. I disagree with its position on anything
and everything related to "gun control"
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 outthere
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 "national
schools shield safety program." It seemed to
be an easy fix to school shootings.
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't 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-which
thankfully, I've never done and hope I
never will have to do-in any situation is
not to be taken lightly. Most people would
not have the nerve, rational thought, or
I believe that changing laws
and regulations to allow
educators to be armed in
schools is flatly bad policy
and a bad idea."
to carry guns, according to an NBC report
from September. Earlier this month, a 6th
grade teacher in Utah wounded herself at
school when her handgun, which she was
legally carrying, accidentally discharged.
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't 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-the angry, aggressive
parent; the out-of-control 17-yearold
student; the gang member who's
guarding his turf. We don't 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-regardless of their comfort
level with handling guns-to
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.
This approach would require us to be
skill to do it on the spot. Providing stopgap
"training" would not address the whole
picture. You would be taking people who
were trained to educate-many of whom
had most likely never owned or even fired
a gun-and 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're getting
themselves into. Educators didn't (and
don't) sign up for that line of work.
placing guns in schools now-guns that
could easily be used inappropriately. Don't
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
Allowing educators to carry guns
makes them the appointed defenders
of our schools. But what if the
principal (or teacher) doesn't act quickly
enough? Or doesn't believe in pulling a
gun? Or couldn't find the key to the locked
drawer containing the gun? Or wasn't in
the building when a threat presented itself?
There now becomes a culpable nondefender,
someone who didn't 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. I
RUSS MOORE is the principal of Shaker
Junior High School in Latham, N.Y. He blogs at
mooreperspective.wordpress.com.
| INSIDE | 22 LET'S STOP THE
BICKERING AND
CHANGE THE
CONVERSATION
22 RESTORING THE
PROMISE OF EQUITY IN
CHARTER SCHOOLS
28 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 29, 2014 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary
23 GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION:
MORE THAN JUST FACTS
24 LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
Gregory Ferrand for Education Week
http://mooreperspective.wordpress.com http://www.edweek.org/go/commentary
Education Week - October 29, 2014

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