Arming Teachers Won’t Make Schools Safer

Florida this month became the latest state to allow teachers to carry guns at school — even though there is no evidence to suggest this can reduce school violence, and ample reason to fear the unintended consequences.

The new law coincides with the release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most recent report on active shooters — the armed and violent who have terrorized so many American schools. The bureau documented 27 incidents in 2018 in which one or more shooters attempted to kill people in a “populated area,” such as a place of business or a school. (Gang- and drug-related shootings aren’t included.) Not counting the shooters themselves, there were 213 casualties, including 85 deaths.