Julie Ellerton, The Malibu Times multimedia director, went around town and asked locals this question:
“President Trump suggested training and arming teachers with guns—what are your thoughts on that and what would make you feel safer?”
Here are their responses.
“I think it’s a ridiculous idea. I think it’s basic common sense to not arm teachers. Every statistic about this issue shows that the more guns there are, either in states or in countries, the more killings there are. To arm teachers is just to create a situation that is more dangerous, that’s going to take more lives, more innocent lives, it’s not the solution, it’s the problem. We just need to get rid of guns, that’s it.” — Rory Kennedy
“I feel very scared of the idea of teachers having weapons in the classroom. Of course all parents want their children to be protected while they are at school, however arming teachers—who became teachers to teach, not protect and serve—with weapons is not the answer, in my opinion. I do believe there should be better-trained personnel to protect our schools’ entrances.” — Robin O’Dea
“I don’t feel good about it at all. I think that when a situation like this comes to that low, that this is actually even considered as a solution, I think we’ve gone way too far. There are so many other different ways in which to control this type of violence and it isn’t by arming teachers, it’s by getting rid of the assault weapons” — Jaclyn Williams