How do educators feel about armed teachers?

In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary, lawmakers across the nation are responding with ideas to increase school safety. Here in Olympia, some lawmakers have proposed bills that would allow teachers to be armed in the classroom. While that bill (HB 1788) is not likely to pass, it does raise the question: how do teachers feel about guns in the classroom?

An online poll of 10,661 educators from all 50 states conducted by the School Improvement Network gives us an answer to that question.

The survey found that nearly three out of four teachers were unlikely to bring a firearm to the classroom if they were allowed to. It also found that only three out of ten teachers felt safe from gun violence in their school.

In other words, 69% of teachers believe gun violence could become a reality in their schools, but fewer than 30% were likely to arm themselves as a solution.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently weighed in on the issue telling reporters, "The vast majority of teachers have spoken pretty loudly and said they're not interested in being armed, so that's a red herring."

The survey also reveals how schools have increased security since the Sandy Hook shooting. A few of those include:

• Locking doors from the inside
• Practice lockdown drills more frequently
• Extra security/police patrols
• New security entrances
• Require visitors to get a visitor's pass to be on campus

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The state of gun laws

​Washingtonians have been flocking to local law enforcement offices to acquire permits to carry concealed weapons, according to a recent news report. Gun sales, too, are booming in the state. The surge in demand in both cases likely arises from fear of impending restrictions on gun ownership in the aftermath of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Gun laws vary widely from state to state. In Washington, the state constitution – in Article I, Section 24 -- includes a stronger and less ambiguous declaration of the right to bear arms than the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides.

States have different rules about concealed-weapons permits, background checks and many other elements of firearms regulation. Washington, for example, is one of many states that requires no permit for the open (unconcealed) carrying of a handgun, while three states – Florida, Illinois and Texas – and the District of Columbia prohibit “open carry.”

Two national organizations that advocate tighter regulations – the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence – issue scorecards that grade the states on their level of firearms regulation, with more regulation generating a higher grade. In the latest Brady scorecard, Washington scored 15 out of 100, which actually placed well within the top half of scores nationwide (California was first, with 81). On the Law Center scorecard, Washington rates a “C” -- again, well within the top half of the class.

In 2008, the Law Center reports, Washington had the 15^th lowest number of gun deaths per capita. Generally, the center says, there is a strong correlation between high grades on their scorecard and low gun-death rates.

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