Educator: ‘Allow Teachers More than a Soup Can to Protect Themselves’

Idaho educator McKay Gardner pressed the Preston School District to allow teachers “more than a soup can to defend themselves.”

The Idaho State Journal reports that Gardner also took a preemptive jab at the same old points levied against any suggestion to arm teachers, saying, “One of the common arguments regarding concealed carry at my school is that a teacher’s gun might be used against teachers and students. … [But] perpetrators carry enough ammo for themselves.”

McKay’s points are self-evident. First, an unarmed teacher has but a few options when an armed attacker enters the room. The options are to throw something, perhaps an eraser, a pencil, a book, or, if there is a food drive, the teacher could throw a can of soup. None of these options are lifesavers.

Secondly, teachers are armed in numerous states, and there has never been a report of a student taking a teacher’s gun. That is a scenario often used to blunt any discussion of arming teachers, but as a practical matter, it is not a scenario that translates into reality. On the other hand, perpetrators are armed, and they do arrive at the school with the intent of taking innocent, defenseless lives:

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