Editor, Gazette-Journal:
Arming teachers and school staff is often proposed to prevent school shootings. However, this approach is misguided and risky, even if Virginia laws permitted it.
Signs proclaiming armed staff are unlikely to stop school shooters, often current or former students. These individuals aren’t swayed by “armed staff” or “gun-free zone” signs. Their motivations override such warnings.
Some school staff may be comfortable with firearms, but few are trained to ensure bystander safety in a school shooting’s chaos. Even trained professionals can err. For example, in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in Colorado, a security guard fired at what he mistakenly believed was a threat—a responding deputy’s rifle—wounding two students. Arming teachers, with less training than security, heightens such risks.
Moreover, arming staff risks negligent gun handling. In Columbus, Ohio, a school district transportation director’s first-grade grandson found her 9mm handgun left uns...