Teachers don’t need guns

When I was a senior in college, I was robbed by gunpoint.  After taking the public transit to a destination close to home, I stopped to pick up some dinner. While in the restaurant, I noticed some guys hanging around. I did not think anything about it, so I proceeded out. It was winter time and the streets lights came on when I was half way home. I heard the leaves on the ground crackle. I turned around to see what was making the sound and I noticed three guys about a block away behind me. I quickly thought to cross the street to knock on someone’s door for help because I had a gut feeling about them. Before I could get across the street, the three young men were standing directly behind me. One hollered, “Hey, you got change for a dollar?” Without turning around, I said, “I don’t have any money.” I kept walking. Then, I heard, “Well, hand over that purse.” As I turned to face my robbers, I was met with a pistol pointed directly to my head. The only thing I recall was that the hand that held the gun was shaking. I knew that whatever decision I made would have to be a quick one or the gun could possibly go off. I handed over the purse. They ran off and I walked as best I could the remaining blocks literally shaken down to my bones.

Before that incident, I used to profess that I did not need to carry a gun. After that event, I knew that if I had a gun, I would have attempted to use it. I just wanted the gun for revenge. These three people took something from me that was not theirs. They had no reason to do that. That incident stuck with me for so long that I was afraid to walk anywhere alone. I lived in a good neighborhood where robbery by gunpoint was “not supposed to happen.”

I probably would have pulled a gun on them even before seeing their faces appear from the shadows of the hanging tree branches. They could have easily been walking home just like me.

I carry this experience with me today as a teacher who encounters precarious situations all the time. After 20 years of classroom teaching, I can tell you that tempers can run high. If I knew that I could reach in a drawer to get a gun, I would have already used it to defend myself. A classroom is no place for a gun, trained teachers or not. A classroom is a place for me to teach conflict resolution and to possibly recognize children who might need some help coping with life.

Safety is the ultimate goal.  Do lawmakers really understand the dynamics of the typical classroom environment? Do they know that children run toward fights? Introducing a gun into the equation would only result in more chaos. If anyone who studies how children react to violence, they would know that the first reaction is that they want to see what’s going on.

The physical space does not lend itself to a shoot out at the OK Corral. Let’s face it. Bullets bounce around, targets move, and children want to see. Having guns inside the classroom would lead to a worse situation than not having a gun at all. Instead of using common sense, the first line of defense would be to reach for the gun. All situations may not warrant using a gun.

Have the gun advocates checked the statistics of school referrals written on students who are suspended for “threatening the classroom/school environment?” If a student is considered a “threat,” is that grounds for him to be shot?

I have witnessed students being expelled and would return on campus the very next day. Is that a case where I might need to arm myself to shoot this person? In very heated times, students strike teachers. Students push teachers and call us by horrible names. Let me tell you, if we all had guns, there might be many more fatalities. When tempers fly, logic can easily leave the building. And, children know how to push our buttons.  If you happen to know a teacher, ask them to make a list of all the students that could possibly cause them to want to use a gun on them. The numbers would be astounding. But, teachers know that these feelings are temporary and we go on. When the dust settles, students understand that we a really good people. And, we live to fight another day.

Before anyone jumps on the bandwagon to support teachers having guns in our classrooms, they should first understand that throughout any normal day, in a lot of our schools, there are plenty instances where a teachers might face situations where they could actually shoot someone else’s child and not be charged with any fault. Furthermore, we cannot use intruders who come in schools a reason for having guns in the hands of teachers. Tragic as these incidents are, they are still the exception.

The argument for having guns in the classroom is a deterrent from the root of the problem. There are thousands, if not millions, of children who are never treated (or diagnosed) for mental illnesses because of lack of funding. Additionally, guns are too available to individuals who should not have them. The National Rifle Association should recognize the depth of grief that guns cause. Mr. LaPierre should show up at every funeral of a gun victim in this nation until he “gets” it. He may start to change his tune.

I wish he was with me when I attended a funeral for one of my students who was shot in the head. The child’s mother and grandmother had to be carried in and out of the church. People were falling out all over the place. I kept starring at this handsome sixteen year old child who lay lifeless inside a coffin too soon.

 If students know that teachers have guns, they will get guns too. Sometimes I wonder if some of the people who come up with these ideas ever visit classrooms. Do they talk to children? Do they know how easy it is to buy guns on the street? These kids (or intruders) don’t care how many guns we may get. They have more than we could ever have. And, they’re trained too!

So, having a gun in my classroom solves nothing. It would make me more concerned that one day I might use the gun for the wrong reason – like that day walking home from college.

Even though those three guys walked away with a purse and a crime (that time), there were four people who walked away alive.

By the way, they only got one silver dollar that I kept tucked away in my wallet.