In the wake of the Parkland, Fla., shooting that left 17 students and school staff members dead, President Donald Trump said teachers trained to use guns could carry them in schools to protect students and act as a deterrent to mass shootings. The National Rifle Association quickly endorsed the idea. But many local educators are wary and don’t think teachers should act as gun-carrying security. Some feel it could simply decrease school safety further.

The Daily World reached out to about a dozen teachers around Grays Harbor to ask how they felt about arming themselves with guns to deter school shootings and defend their students and themselves. While most who responded think it’s a bad idea, some said they had collegues who would be in favor of arming trained teachers.

Ocosta Elementary teacher Jackie George believes guns shouldn’t be allowed in classrooms, and said having one could lead to accidental injuries.

“Our job is to educate, and make them feel as safe as possible, but my holding a gun is not going to make my students safe,” said George. “There are too many instances where children could get a hold of a gun, or accidents could happen, and teachers would be used as scapegoats the moment something happens.”

Ocosta is a community with many hunters who are often trained to use guns, but she hasn’t heard from any co-workers or parents in favor of placing guns in schools.

“Our union vice president was a member of the NRA for years, is a hunter, and when speaking with him, he agreed that guns don’t belong in schools,” said George, who added that many of the teachers in her school have discussed the topic of adding guns.

Michelle Reed, who teaches at Central Park Elementary and is a union leader for Aberdeen educators, said the “vast majority of teachers don’t want to be armed at school,” and that “many educators agree that universal background checks to ensure that dangerous people can’t have dangerous weapons would be more effective than arming teachers.”

Hoquiam High School art teacher Russ Skolrood said that in 30-plus years of teaching, he has never had a situation where it was necessary to have an armed teacher. In reaction to the national stories about arming teachers, Skolrood said teachers’ opinions ranged “from laughter to a sincere belief that it might be a good thing.” But while Skolrood said he doesn’t want to worry about getting trained with guns or the liability of being armed on campus, he added that the has friends who “wouldn’t hesitate to become an armed presence on campus.”

Stan Severson, a science teacher at Hoquiam High School and U.S. Navy veteran, said he would be in favor of some teachers being given firearms to protect students.

“I do think that if we really wanted to make a difference, having some armed teachers could make a difference,” he said.

And although Severson said he would not relish the responsibility, he said he would be willing to carry a firearm in his class to protect students, if there was a qualification program in place.

“If asked, I would carry, provided there was a continuing qualification program in place,” said Severson. “Preferably one monitored and provided by local law enforcement so they knew who we were.”

While explaining his opinion, Severson said some teachers would consider it a “privilege” to carry a gun to defend their class, and that he views most teachers as capable of learning to use firearms.

“Do I think that most teachers are at least as intelligent, responsible, and trainable as 19-year-old enlisted sailors?” Severson said, referencing one of his first watch stations on a naval submarine. “Do I think that the students in my class are at least as worthy of the same level of protection as the sailors and materials inside the submarines I was attached to? Of course I do.”

Aside from the option of guns, some teachers gave suggested alternative measures they believe should get higher priority to reduce shootings.

Skolrood, for example, thinks more should be done to remove dangerous students from classrooms.

“The state Legislature is really intent on limiting the expulsion of students and having students that commit criminal acts on campus from being turned over to the legal/judicial system,” said Skolrood. “While they believe that when you remove these students from the school system you are depriving them of their ‘right’ to an education they seem to forget the ‘rights’ of all of the other students that are in the classrooms where these students causing the disruptions and issues.”

Other teachers, meanwhile, think the likelihood of shootings is too low to prioritize security plans for shootings. George said that expecting teachers to carry guns seems like a “knee jerk” reaction to her, and that teachers already have too many additional things to worry about.

“We have already so many concerns and personal stresses getting through the curriculum, making sure kids are fed, and home safe,” she said. “It’s one of thousands. We can’t take care of every eventuality, we wish we could, but we can’t.”