Florida Bill Allows Teachers to Carry Guns in Schools

Sydney Johnson

Gun violence and mass shootings have been more frequent over the past few years. The number of school shootings has also been drastically increasing, causing fear in many students and parents. For many schools, cameras have been put in the halls and intruder drills happen more frequently. However, schools in Florida have taken another approach: arming teachers.

In the hopes of decreasing the number of fatalities, the new Florida bill allows for teachers to be armed during the school day. To stop the number of deaths caused by bullets, they are deciding to put more guns in the schools. Supporters of the bill say that armed teachers have a better chance of taking down an intruder.

However, I believe teachers should not have access to guns. Although teachers will go through hours of police-like training, bringing guns into schools will likely cause more gun-related accidents. There is also the fear of improper gun use for situations that can be handled without one. If a fight breaks out at a school, who is to say a teacher won’t panic and pull out a gun?

Let’s say a school decides to opt-in to the teachers carrying guns program. And let’s say there is an active shooter in a school.  A brave teacher could start firing at the shooter, but now there are bullets coming from two directions. More bullets equal more deaths of innocent students. When police officers enter the school to stop the shooting, how will they know which person is the intruder if more than one person shooting?

Not only could this new bill hurt students, but also hurt courageous teachers trying to help save the school. There is much more harm than good at risk. The good this bill could bring to schools doesn’t come near to outweighing the bad.