When are teachers permitted to shoot students?
That question may seem absurd to parents sending kids back to school. But America suffers from an expanding gun crisis. Shootings have become routine.
And in Utah, with local NRA proxies promoting more armed teachers and the Legislature having made our “stand your ground” law more permissive, it’s not far-fetched to imagine situations where an armed Utah teacher might feel justified shooting an “aggressive” student in her classroom.
This year’s Utah House Bill 114, titled “Self-Defense Amendments,” was disingenuously pitched as the last line of defense in one’s home. In fact, HB 114 holds that an individual can threaten or use force if the individual “reasonably believes that force or a threat of force is necessary” and is “in a place where that individual has lawfully entered or remained.” An armed teacher in her classroom, for example.
As school year 2019-20 begins, parents should be asking school administrators some questions. Does your school have armed teachers? Who are they? Have they been drilled how to deal with unruly students before firing their gun? How do I transfer my child out of an armed teacher’s class?
Will a teacher’s gun save or kill my child?
Stanley Holmes, Salt Lake City