Poll Shows Most Parents Of School Children Support Arming Teachers

Brittany M. Hughes | February 28, 2018
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While Americans in general may be divided on the prospect of allowing teachers to carry guns in schools, it looks like the majority of parents agree: more guns are a good thing.

According to a new Rasmussen poll, 48 percent of American adults -- both those who have kids and those who don't -- say they aren’t in favor of allowing trained teachers and faculty to carry guns in schools, while a slightly fewer 43 percent say they like that plan.

But among parents of school-aged kids, the majority say they support arming teachers, and nearly three-in-four parents say they’d feel a lot better sending their kids to a school that at least has armed security guards. 

Rasmussen found that:

Among adults with children of elementary or secondary school age, 59% support a proposal that incentivizes teachers to carry guns in school. Fifty-four percent (54%) of adults without children of those ages are not on board with that proposal.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of adults with school-aged children say they would feel safer if their child attended a school where no adults were allowed to own a gun. Seventy-three percent (73%) of those adults say they would feel safer if their child attended a school with an armed security guard.

Only a third of Americans (32 percent, to be exact) say it’s possible to make schools entirely safe against violence.

Given the near-complete uselessness of the Broward County Sheriff's Office to protect its own students against gun violence, perhaps the fact that many parents support armed teachers as a second line of defense shouldn't come as a shock. 

On Wednesday, CNN talked to one dad whose daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting just two weeks ago, and who now says he supports a Florida bill that would establish a statewide program for training and arming teachers who want to carry a gun in school. Here's his take:
 

(Cover Photo: aliengearholsters.com

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