In Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee, legislators are about to allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom! Many questions arise: Will the teachers be forced to do so to get tenure? Will they be promoted based on the number of kills or on academic performance? Will they get paid time to train on a shooting range? Who would know what teacher is carrying what gun: school principal, parents, students, and/or the local newspaper (Journal News, Westchester County, NY)? How would the weapon be concealed: purse, waist, holster, socks, boots, garter belt? Would it be visible when the teacher is on the blackboard turning his/her back? What kind of gun: automatic, semi-automatic, assault? What kind of magazine? Would the teacher be expected to draw his/her gun each time a shooting starts otherwise be sanctioned? What if a teacher shoots a student by mistake, who is liable? Who is paying for these guns? the school boards, meaning taking away from already bankrupt educational budgets and/or increased property taxes?! I am sure the NRA will broker a discount and will fund a "Teacher of the Year" award.
The 2011 number of FTE teachers included 3.3 million public school teachers and 0.4 million private school teachers. Among full-time and part-time public school teachers in 2007–08, some 76 percent of public school teachers were female (better learn to shoot fast). How many more guns in circulation would that mean at a time when the country is trying to do the exact opposite? Another statistic says that 83% of teachers are white. What kind of racial riots will that set us up for? I do not need to remind you recent and not so recent American History.
I am sure the above questions would find some answers in a 2,000+ page unreadable legislative bill, but the million dollar question would remain: What measures would be put in place to prevent the students from getting a hold of a teacher's gun and going on a rampage? Even if as just a prank, you all know it will happen some day. What kind of a blame and legal circus would that provoke even if there is no shooting? How much disruption to the already battered American school system?
Here's a very recent story: A former high school teacher faces up to five years in prison after federal authorities say she pilfered the identities of past Broward school district students in Florida. Four of the identity theft victims were enrolled at Monarch High School while she taught there. During a five-week span in the summer of 2008, she opened or attempted to open 17 credit card accounts using seven different people's identities.
This story reminds us that even teachers can be identity thieves, sexual predators, pedophiles or other criminals. Just because they have a license to teach that does not make them saints. So are we just going to give them guns to increase their temptations to go rogue and use them as a tool?
Power of the Pen No More. Careful Who you Shoot at Teach!
