Teachers Are Overwhelmingly Opposed to Carrying Guns in Schools, Says Survey

Nearly 75% of teachers oppose the idea of being trained to carry guns in schools, a new survey finds.

According to an online Gallup survey released Friday, 63% surveyed strongly opposed the idea of arming teachers, with 10% somewhat opposing the measure. Only 11% strongly favored the idea, and 7% were neutral. Yet just 18% of the teachers surveyed said they would go through training to carry a gun if their district or administrators provided it.

Meanwhile, six in 10 teachers think schools would become less safe if educators armed themselves, though seven in 10 think it would in effective in stopping the next mass shooting.

The Gallup survey polled 497 school teachers from March 5 through 12. The margin of error for the survey is 7 percentage points.

Since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, President Trump has said that arming teachers should be a part of gun policy. “An attack has lasted, on average, about three minutes. It takes 5 to 8 minutes for responders, for police to come in. If you had a teacher who is adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” Trump said at a listening session with survivors and family members of school shootings last month after Parkland. The President’s support for the proposal echoes that of the National Rifle Association.