Arming teachers would hurt, not help

Two recent letters to this paper stated that arming all our classroom teachers could prevent many mass murders in America. Intruders would be deterred by the possibility that teachers might shoot back, and if they attacked anyway, the armed teachers could take them down.

This is a really bad idea.

"Just arm the teachers" is simplistic and shortsighted. Teachers would have to be trained, and not just in gun use, safety, and marksmanship. Those basic skills are not nearly sufficient.

If we expect teachers to take down an armed attacker in an active shooting situation, in the midst of hundreds of children and fellow teachers, they must be trained like police and S.W.A.T teams. This requires months of active, full-time instruction.

If teachers are armed but improperly trained, the wrong people - students, teachers, law enforcement - will get shot.

One letter stated, "If it saves just one life, it is worth it." But what if that one life saved comes at the expense of dozens of lives taken by accident, panic, poor aim in a chaotic situation, guns found and misused by mischievous students, or local police called to a school who shoot the armed intruder only to discover it was an armed teacher trying to help.

Every week we hear about police, soldiers, and S.W.A.T teams who shoot and kill the wrong person, through bad information, carelessness, rage, insufficient training, poor aim or just bad luck. Those people are far better trained than our teachers would be.

Texas S.W.A.T. Operator Brandon Carley agrees. "Arming teachers will make law enforcement's job harder, add to the stress of the situation, and significantly increase the danger to both officers and civilians."

Teachers should not be armed in their classrooms. Innocent people would be hurt or killed. It would cause far more harm than good.

Steve Loh

Hoffman Estates