Should teachers carry guns?
It’s easy to think, when sitting upon the high hill of the University of San Diego, that it is unaffected by the surrounding world around us. However, as more reports of gun violence at academic institutions enter the news cycle, it becomes harder to ignore the real fact that firearms could affect this very community.
On Feb. 14 a mass shooting occurred at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida killing 17 people — all of whom were students and faculty members. According to the Washington Post, this is the fifth reported school shooting, and according to Shooting Tracker the 36th mass shooting this year. In the aftermath of yet another gun-related tragedy, there has been a resurgence of the gun debate.
Now the question of whether Americans should be allowed to own a firearm in any capacity remains. At a White House talk with the families and victims of the Parkland shooting, President Trump suggested arming up to 20 percent of trained faculty members as a potential solution to this controversy.
Professor of anthropology Jocelyn Killmer objected to President Trump’s suggestion that faculty should have the possibility of being armed.
“I would feel completely uncomfortable,” Killmer said. “I have never owned a gun and I don’t want to own a gun. This is not what I signed up for when I became an educator.”
There are other professors who feel the same way. English professor Lisa Hemminger stated that there are complexities within the gun debate that have her falling somewhere in the middle, wishing for more regulation but still understanding the human desire for self-protection.
“I would never agree to being armed,” Hemminger said. “I would switch my job before I agreed to that.”
Professor Killmer explained that arming educators would only exacerbate the problem the U.S. currently faces. Not only that, but she expressed there could be a potential shift in the teacher-student dynamic that could be detrimental to the learning process.
“I would worry about what the students are thinking when they’re looking at their teachers, who are supposed to be this nurturing figure in some ways,” Killmer said. “The teacher is supposed to be creating a safe environment for learning. And then all of a sudden, the teacher’s role would suddenly shift to policing. There are many children who have already had run-ins with law enforcement. To have that enter the classroom as well … it doesn’t seem like it’s fostering the right kind of learning environment.”
Hemminger agreed that guns could be detrimental to the teacher-student relationship.
“I think that a gun-carrying professor — even a responsible person with good intentions — would, at the very least, bolster the wall already present between students and teachers,” Hemminger said. “I strive to break down differences between myself and students, not create more differences.”
It’s not just the professors on campus who believe the classroom atmosphere could be changed for the worse if the professors carried guns. Sophomore Alexandra Unapanta also fears there might be a shift in the classroom dynamics if she knew a professor was armed during a lecture.
“I would be more afraid to go to class because I don’t know the professor’s background,” Unapanta said. “I don’t know how they would react in that situation. I don’t know their ways and actions and how they behave outside of school matters and teaching. A professor is a lot different as a person than when they have to teach a class.”
Sophomore Jake Sanborn holds a more neutral view in regard to the gun debate. He believes that as long as more restrictions are placed on the purchasing of guns, there should be nothing wrong with citizens, including professors, owning them.
“I don’t know many of my teachers as people,” Sanborn said. “I would not be concerned for my safety, because I trust my professors, but I think I would be more aware in classroom. It’s hard to generalize professor to professor how they’d react in that situation.”
Professors carrying weapons could potentially lead to tension between them and their students. It’s hard to predict how someone will react in a life-threatening situation even if these people are trained as President Trump has suggested.
“It would make me feel more on edge to have a violent weapon strapped to my body or anywhere within reach,” Killmer said.
Weapons could shift teachers’ focus away from the lessons they are supposed to be teaching and serve as a fearful reminder of what could happen. It seems counterproductive to have the instructor’s full attention not be on their students and the course material.
On Feb. 28 a Georgia school was forced to evacuate after a teacher barricaded himself in the classroom and began firing a gun. Many people online have pointed to this as being a clear indication of why schools should not be arming educators. While USD is unsure whether President Trump’s plans will actually come to fruition, the school’s faculty and students, as well as others across the country, have vocalized their objections to this possible solution.