Should we arm school teachers? | The Tylt

Santa Fe High School was put on lockdown after an active shooter was reported to be on campus.

A shooting was reported at a high school near Houston on Friday morning, with local media reporting that a gunman entered Santa Fe High School and began firing. The school was put on lockdown, but the situation is now "contained," officials say.

According to CNN, there has been an average of one school shooting every week this year.

We're only 19 weeks into 2018, and there have already been 21 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to more than 1 shooting a week.

After the Parkland shooting, President Trump held a roundtable in which he suggested arming teachers would be the best way to prevent future school shootings.

Gun-control advocates were appalled at the idea of arming school teachers. Does the president really think putting the responsibility for stopping school shooters on overworked, underpaid teachers is a good idea?

Why is the answer to gun violence always more guns? 

Others say perhaps teachers should be armed, but that should not be the only reform we make.

Samantha Michaels of Mother Jones points out we already have data about concealed carry: it doesn't work to prevent mass shootings.

The primary rationale for [concealed carry] laws, according to their supporters, is safety: School shooters, they say, are less likely to succeed in their attacks if students and teachers are armed and able to fight back.

But a new study from Johns Hopkins University shows that campus carry laws are unlikely to deter rampage shooters and may in fact lead to more injuries and deaths. 

Others say teachers could be the good guys with guns that we need in order to prevent these massacres from happening in the future.

The top law enforcement official in Polk County, Florida says his department started a program that will train and arm teachers in schools.

Judd said if teachers there were armed, the incident could have had a different outcome.

"We had coaches that ran to stand in front of their students with no gun," he said. "Why not give them a fighting chance?"