Guns in Schools?!

There were lots of unbelievable if not unhinged assertions made in last week’s op-ed pages, but the most surprising was one in support of arming teachers (“Arm teachers for school safety” by Ed Nemecheck).

This idea sounds crazy even when coming from the head of the National Rifle Association, although from him it could be understood as an attempt to access a large new market. But coming from a neighbor who I assume is an ordinary citizen, it’s shocking. Adults are supposed to keep guns away from children and failure to do so results in tragic, accidental deaths. Didn’t get the memo?

In any event, I find it depressing that schools around the nation are now obsessed with “beefing up security,” as if a lack of security were the cause of increasing rampages by armed and deranged people. I clearly felt the difference of post-9/11, and I now feel the beginnings of the post-Sandy Hook-shooting. Combined with the devastating hurricane, I think of it as the post-Sandy era.

And like post-9/11, we will probably attack symptoms rather than the source of the problems, since they may seem difficult to even identify. For example, at the time, President Bush said we were attacked because “they hate our freedom.” A decade later I wonder if we have at all deepened our understanding.

Now, instead of enacting wide-ranging and sane gun legislation, and ensuring treatment for the insane, it seems we will simply wind up with more security measures in schools, more bureaucracy, more guards and even “lockdown drills,” which sound more appropriate for prisons than for schools. And we will have more paranoia. None of these things will effectively attack the problem.
Beyond that, to suggest that we should arm teachers in schools is obscenely twisted.  Many people are now realizing that what this nation needs, for starters, is FEWER guns, coupled with a health care system that recognizes and treats mental illness. Then maybe we wouldn’t even have school shootings, much less the presumed need for increased security. Speaking of which, now is a very good time to urge your representatives to support sensible gun laws.

Nicky Enright has taught at Horace Mann, Fieldston School and currently teaches at Riverdale Country School. He is a multi-media artist.