Teachers Need a Higher Salary, Not Guns
Putting guns in classrooms is not the answer to gun violence
Last week the GOP-controlled Tennessee legislature passed a law allowing teachers to carry guns on school grounds, bucking recommendations from top education and school safety experts from across the country.
We already ask more from our schoolteachers than we do from almost any other profession, and we give them just the bare minimum to do it. The answer to school shootings is not to ask our teachers to become armed bodyguards for our children.
Republicans clearly haven’t thought this through.
A teacher with a handgun would simply be no match for an attacker with an assault rifle. Even if they could somehow abandon their classroom in the middle of a school shooting, it’s hard to imagine they would be able to get to the scene in time. Even if they did, it’s unlikely their meager amount of training would be enough to stop the shooter.
In fact, research concludes “an armed teacher is more likely to impede responding law enforcement than to stop an active school shooter.” There’s also the very obvious possibility that a student could gain access to the gun, which makes our schools more dangerous, not safer.
Tennessee State Rep. Gloria Johnson said it best in a recent interview we did together:
“Teachers already do four jobs. They’re teachers, they are social workers, they are nurses and they are counselors. And you wanna give them the job of security also. But you’re paying them poorly for one job.”
Johnson, a public school teacher for years who actually experienced a school shooting firsthand, slammed Republicans for passing the bill:
“When you arm teachers, you are bringing the gun battle into the classroom… We need to stop guns from ever getting to the schoolhouse door.”
Schools are understaffed and teachers are underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Research reveals teachers are paid on average 23.5% less than educated workers who choose other career paths. They work an estimated 7 hours a week more than the average adult and “25% of their work is uncompensated.” The position is so underfunded that more than 90 percent of teachers have to spend their own money on back-to-school supplies, and average between $500-$750 for out-of-pocket expenses during the school year.
Teachers don’t need guns, they need a raise.
So let’s arm teachers with a better paycheck and more resources to help make the best classroom possible. It’s time to give actual help to teachers, students, and parents by passing meaningful gun reform—starting with a federal assault weapons ban.
We should not allow Republicans to act like students are safer because teachers can carry guns in school. We must call out these right-wing, NRA-owned politicians who lie and say more guns are the answer to gun violence. And in November, let’s vote these lunatics out.
Until then, GOP lawmakers need to stop hiding behind their pro-gun blood money and take real steps to make our schools safer. Trying to turn a schoolteacher into Rambo is clearly not the solution for stopping school shootings, and it never will be.
Help spread our message:
Like/heart post at bottom of page!
Restack it! Hit ♻ button at bottom of this post!
Share this post on Substack and other social media platforms:
Add your thoughts on arming teachers:
We’ve sent over 21,000 letters to Reps in Congress demanding they ban assault rifles—you can join in here!
Absolutely agree 100%. As a teacher, I got a raise when I retired - stopped spending my own money on school supplies….. Teachers don’t need guns- ever. Also. BAN assault weapons!!!
Look at what happened in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday. a gunman killed 4 law enforcement officers and wounded 4 others executing a warrant for illegal weapons. This is what happens when our legislators work for the NRA and not citizens.
And now in Tennessee, after a horrific mass shooting in a school, the politicians decide to arm teachers, and parents aren't allowed to know which teacher is armed. Plus, they will get arms training even though no one else in the state needs any. They cut all programs for student's education but have money when it comes to more guns. The GOP is a soulless, corrupt party and so are the people who still vote for them at this point. I am also very disappointed in the Governor who lost a friend in this school shooting. I know it would have passed anyway but to not even make a point of not supporting them?