I’m a teacher and I just want to say this because it’s bothering me..
I don’t want to be armed. I don’t WANT to be armed. I don’t want to have a gun. I don’t think I could ever pull the trigger to kill someone even if I needed to.
I did not choose this career to carry a gun and be ready to shoot someone if necessary. That did NOT cross my mind when I was a little girl dreaming about teaching English.
Please stop speaking for me when you are saying I should be armed. I should not be armed because I don’t want to be armed.
I WANT to just do my job in peace, without being in sporadic states of fear for my life. I want to feel protected and validated in what I’m doing and to feel free to teach my craft and make students better at reading and writing and thinking and trying. A gun on my person is not going to help that. It’s not going to make me better at my job.
I think you might have good intentions, but the words are not adding up right to me. I don’t want a gun. I want safety. If I were up against a shooter, I don’t think a gun in my hand would keep me or anyone else alive against an AR-15, and that is me speaking personally.
So. While you’re out here preaching on a soapbox from the comfort of your own home while you go to a job tomorrow that is probably not on a mildly open campus full of 1200 students… Please stop saying I need a gun.
I need safety. My kids don’t need me + a gun to be happy or successful or alive. They need me + safety.
Please try to get it right.
This this this. While I’m no longer teaching, I’m still working at a school. If another person tells me I should just be armed, I may scream.
I don’t want to carry a gun. I don’t want the responsibility that comes with what carrying a gun to work means.
I say this as someone who lived with a police officer. Do I know how to handle a firearm safely? Yes I do. Do I know how to shoot at a paper cutout or clay pigeon because I had weapons in my home? Yes I do.
That doesn’t mean I want to carry one at work or shoot a living being.
If this is about Florida…
There were ARMED police officers stationed there.
They were present at the time of the shooting.
Draw your own conclusions.