Insurers Raise Red Flags Over Risks in Teacher Handgun Policies

A new paradigm for teacher training?

With many K-12 schools closed for the summer, administrators in a few states are preparing to arm elementary school teachers. The assumption is that an instructor carrying a live weapon in a room filled with young pupils will create an oasis of safety and reassurance. Apparently, a number of insurance companies have a different perspective. According to a story in today's New York Times, some states which permit teachers to carry loaded guns in school buildings are discovering their school districts can't get insured at all.

The article notes that South Dakota, one of the states which permits teachers to possess guns within a school building, has not yet approved "firearms training rules for teachers."

I'm trying to envision Teach for America conducting gun ed as part of the preparation for its well-intended acolytes. I'm imagining a host of university teacher training programs including some basics about weapons, perhaps mixed in with its student teaching opportunities. (Never too early to learn, eh?) And I can't wait for the first Board of Education meeting filled with pistol-packin' parents.

No other civilized nation, and hardly any uncivilized country, would encourage such stupidity. The notion that an armed school is a safer school is flat out bizarre. What lesson does an armed teacher communicate to a young child?