A gun-owning teacher from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dismantled Donald Trump’s new proposal to put guns in classrooms on Thursday, saying it’s a “very, very, very bad idea.”
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Gregg Pittman, a teacher at the high school, said he “did not sign up … to be a policeman, to be in the army.”
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Pittman said:
I am a gun owner. I think it would be very difficult for teachers to go into a classroom and have a gun. One, where do I put the gun? Do I put it in my pocket in a holster, in my desk? Is it locked up somewhere? Number two, there is a potential shooting situation on campus. I’ve got to make a decision as a teacher, do I shoot the student because maybe they’ve done something and they’re a threat? What if I make mistakes and the student is dead? Three, police and S.W.A.T. Come on campus and I’ve got a gun and I accidentally get shot. I am in the profession to teach. I did not sign up to be S.W.A.T., to be a policeman, to be in the army. Whatever. Other military or uniformed services that have done that, I am not paid to do that. They barely pay us to teach as it is. … We all think this is a very bad idea.
Point by point, Pittman laid out the reasons why arming teachers and putting guns in classrooms would make things much worse and more complicated, not better. It would add another level of chaos and confusion to the already dangerous situation of having a gunman in a school.
The proposal by Donald Trump and his NRA masters to arm teachers has nothing to do with making students or teachers feel safer or more comfortable in their schools. It’s simply about creating a situation where more guns are necessary, which would benefit the gun lobby. More guns will put more money into the pockets of firearm manufacturers that fill NRA coffers and contribute to politicians like Trump.
Studies have shown that environments with more guns lead to more deaths. Teachers don’t support the proposal to bring these weapons into their classrooms. Students certainly aren’t comfortable with it. Not even all Republican lawmakers are in favor of such a strategy.
It’s time for the president to start listening to these people instead of his blood-stained NRA donations.
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