Local educator opposed to President's proposal to arm certain teachers

A Guilford County educator and teacher advocate is speaking out against President Trump’s proposal to have certain teachers be armed in order to keep students safe.

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Updated: 4:04 PM EST Feb 23, 2018

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WEBVTT >> SCHOOLS SAY -->> I DON’T WANT TEACHERS TO HAVEI WANT CERTAIN HIGHLY ADEPTNOT EVERYBODY HAS THE APTITUDEWITH A GUN, YOU WILL HAVE IN MY>> PRESIDENT TRUMP ALSOA GUILFORD COUNTY EDUCATOR SAYSOUR STEVE KING JOINS US LIVE>> TODD WARREN, A SPANISHWARREN SAYS TEACHERS ALREADYHE ALSO SAYS THERE ISN’T ENOUGH WE ARE ALREADY DOING TRAININGWE ARE VERY MUCH PREPARED INTHE THING THAT IS NOT KEEPINGI WANT TO SEE SOME ACTION>> FOUR AND ALSO SAY -- WARREN

A Guilford County educator and teacher advocate is speaking out against President Trump’s proposal to have certain teachers be armed in order to keep students safe. Meanwhile, local lawmakers are sharing their reactions to the proposal as well.President Trump recently discussed this proposal with members of the media and on Twitter. "You have teachers that are Marines. 20 years and they return and become a teacher. They are Army, Navy, Air Force, they're Coast Guard, they're people who have won shooting contests, this is what they do. They know guns, they understand guns. I frankly have been reading a lot about it, and I think when you allow someone who has been in the Marines for 20 years and done nothing but handle guns, and handle it well, because you can't just give a teacher a gun. One of the fake news networks, CNN, was saying last night, I want teachers to have guns. I don't want teachers to have guns. I want highly adept people, that understand weaponry...guns...if they have that aptitude, because not everyone has an aptitude for a gun, but if they have the aptitude, I think a concealed permit for having teachers, and letting people know there are people in the building with a gun, you won't have, in my opinion you won't have these shootings... because these people are cowards. They aren't going to walk into a school if 20% of the teachers have guns, or 10%, or maybe 40%. And what I would suggest doing is the people who do carry, we give them a bonus, we give them a little bit of a bonus. Frankly they would feel more comfortable having the gun anyway. Give them a little bit of a bonus. So, now practically for free you have now made the school into a hardened target. For example, if the coaches who I guarantee have experience with weapons, with gun, you need a hard. Because no matter what you do to make it gun free, they will be able to get in there. They will crawl through the back window or something, and you are going to have everyone again without any protection. So I know where you stand on it, you want a hardened school. And I want a hardened school, too. I want to know that if they get in there, they are not going to be long, because it is going to take ten minutes for the police to get there. The police do an incredible job, but I guess it averages about eight minutes. But the shootings average last 3 minutes, and that is tremendous destruction and death. So, I would like to see true people with great talent at guns, being adept at guns, of which there are only a percentage of people, but whatever that percentage is, it is a substantial number, because you cannot hire enough security guards,” said President Trump. "We have to harden our schools not soften them up. A gun free zone to a killer or somebody that wants to be a killer that's like going in for the ice cream. That's like here I am, take me. We have to get smarter in gun free zones. When they see it says this is a gun free zone. That means that nobody has a gun except them. Nobody's going to be shooting bullets in the other direction. And they see that as such a beautiful target. They live for gun free zones." The President of the Guilford County Association of Educators, who is also a Spanish teacher with Guilford County Schools, says the President’s proposal is not a good idea. “The idea that we are going to solve gun violence in this country with more guns to me is preposterous. We live in a country where we have access to more guns and ease of access to guns more than any other country on Earth,” said Todd Warren. “I really want to see some increased regulation around semi-automatic weapons. I want to see our politicians be able to stand up to gun manufacturers and the NRA and say, ‘We need less guns, not more guns.’ The idea that we are going to ask teachers who are already tasked with preparing our next generation for high tech jobs, preparing our students to deal with emotional trauma… The idea that we would be now asking them to fight on the front lines of this war to combat mass shootings, to me, is preposterous. This is at a time where we do not even have money for the basics in our schools…The idea that we now have the money to arm our teachers to me is absolutely ridiculous.” “The idea that we now have the ability to train and arm school teachers to deal with gun violence is ridiculous. I mean really where does it stop? The only thing that is not been addressed in this discussion is the regulation of semi-automatic weapons and that is the biggest issue that we are dealing with. We have politicians who are taking money from the NRA and the gun lobby… So we are going to be 43rd in the nation for per pupil funding but all of the sudden have the ability to arm and train teachers? This will cost money, even if we are proposing that we would allow volunteers to bring guns into the schools, which to me is another insane idea that we should not entertain, it is still going to cost money along the lines of training and that kind of thing.” “I do not think that we solve the problem of gun violence by introducing more guns. We are already doing training and preparedness for a lockdown drills to deal with active shooters on campus. We are very much prepared in public schools to keep our children safe. The thing that is not keeping our children safe is the access and ease of access to guns in this country. I want to see some action on that. I want to see a reduction in regulation of the numbers and ease of access to guns at people have in this country. There is no reason that anybody needs a semi-automatic rifle. You cannot explain that to me and that is not going to keep our children safe.”Congressman Mark Walker of Greensboro, a Republican, provided the following statement to WXII 12 News about this proposal:“We should ensure safety at our schools so that no teacher feels compelled to carry a gun. However, local school districts or jurisdictions should have the ability to allow educators who are properly trained and permitted to carry a licensed firearm for security.”Congressman Alma Adams of Charlotte, a Democrat, provided the following statement to WXII 12 News:“As an educator of over forty years, I know that a ‘well-armed teacher’ should have new text books, a decent salary, and access to technology for every student in the classroom, not a weapon. Arming teachers increases the likelihood of fatal accidents in classrooms and more loss of life during crisis situations. As lawmakers, we must seek greater protections for our students and commit to passing real commonsense gun reform, not absurd propaganda from politicians more concerned about campaign contributions than public safety.”

GREENSBORO, N.C. —

A Guilford County educator and teacher advocate is speaking out against President Trump’s proposal to have certain teachers be armed in order to keep students safe. Meanwhile, local lawmakers are sharing their reactions to the proposal as well.

President Trump recently discussed this proposal with members of the media and on Twitter.

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"You have teachers that are Marines. 20 years and they return and become a teacher. They are Army, Navy, Air Force, they're Coast Guard, they're people who have won shooting contests, this is what they do. They know guns, they understand guns. I frankly have been reading a lot about it, and I think when you allow someone who has been in the Marines for 20 years and done nothing but handle guns, and handle it well, because you can't just give a teacher a gun. One of the fake news networks, CNN, was saying last night, I want teachers to have guns. I don't want teachers to have guns. I want highly adept people, that understand weaponry...guns...if they have that aptitude, because not everyone has an aptitude for a gun, but if they have the aptitude, I think a concealed permit for having teachers, and letting people know there are people in the building with a gun, you won't have, in my opinion you won't have these shootings... because these people are cowards. They aren't going to walk into a school if 20% of the teachers have guns, or 10%, or maybe 40%. And what I would suggest doing is the people who do carry, we give them a bonus, we give them a little bit of a bonus. Frankly they would feel more comfortable having the gun anyway. Give them a little bit of a bonus. So, now practically for free you have now made the school into a hardened target. For example, if the coaches who I guarantee have experience with weapons, with gun, you need a hard. Because no matter what you do to make it gun free, they will be able to get in there. They will crawl through the back window or something, and you are going to have everyone again without any protection. So I know where you stand on it, you want a hardened school. And I want a hardened school, too. I want to know that if they get in there, they are not going to be long, because it is going to take ten minutes for the police to get there. The police do an incredible job, but I guess it averages about eight minutes. But the shootings average last 3 minutes, and that is tremendous destruction and death. So, I would like to see true people with great talent at guns, being adept at guns, of which there are only a percentage of people, but whatever that percentage is, it is a substantial number, because you cannot hire enough security guards,” said President Trump.

"We have to harden our schools not soften them up. A gun free zone to a killer or somebody that wants to be a killer that's like going in for the ice cream. That's like here I am, take me. We have to get smarter in gun free zones. When they see it says this is a gun free zone. That means that nobody has a gun except them. Nobody's going to be shooting bullets in the other direction. And they see that as such a beautiful target. They live for gun free zones."

The President of the Guilford County Association of Educators, who is also a Spanish teacher with Guilford County Schools, says the President’s proposal is not a good idea.

“The idea that we are going to solve gun violence in this country with more guns to me is preposterous. We live in a country where we have access to more guns and ease of access to guns more than any other country on Earth,” said Todd Warren.

“I really want to see some increased regulation around semi-automatic weapons. I want to see our politicians be able to stand up to gun manufacturers and the NRA and say, ‘We need less guns, not more guns.’ The idea that we are going to ask teachers who are already tasked with preparing our next generation for high tech jobs, preparing our students to deal with emotional trauma… The idea that we would be now asking them to fight on the front lines of this war to combat mass shootings, to me, is preposterous. This is at a time where we do not even have money for the basics in our schools…The idea that we now have the money to arm our teachers to me is absolutely ridiculous.”

“The idea that we now have the ability to train and arm school teachers to deal with gun violence is ridiculous. I mean really where does it stop? The only thing that is not been addressed in this discussion is the regulation of semi-automatic weapons and that is the biggest issue that we are dealing with. We have politicians who are taking money from the NRA and the gun lobby… So we are going to be 43rd in the nation for per pupil funding but all of the sudden have the ability to arm and train teachers? This will cost money, even if we are proposing that we would allow [teacher] volunteers to bring guns into the schools, which to me is another insane idea that we should not entertain, it is still going to cost money along the lines of training and that kind of thing.”

“I do not think that we solve the problem of gun violence by introducing more guns. We are already doing training and preparedness for a lockdown drills to deal with active shooters on campus. We are very much prepared in public schools to keep our children safe. The thing that is not keeping our children safe is the access and ease of access to guns in this country. I want to see some action on that. I want to see a reduction in regulation of the numbers and ease of access to guns at people have in this country. There is no reason that anybody needs a semi-automatic rifle. You cannot explain that to me and that is not going to keep our children safe.”

Congressman Mark Walker of Greensboro, a Republican, provided the following statement to WXII 12 News about this proposal:

“We should ensure safety at our schools so that no teacher feels compelled to carry a gun. However, local school districts or jurisdictions should have the ability to allow educators who are properly trained and permitted to carry a licensed firearm for security.”

Congressman Alma Adams of Charlotte, a Democrat, provided the following statement to WXII 12 News:

“As an educator of over forty years, I know that a ‘well-armed teacher’ should have new text books, a decent salary, and access to technology for every student in the classroom, not a weapon. Arming teachers increases the likelihood of fatal accidents in classrooms and more loss of life during crisis situations. As lawmakers, we must seek greater protections for our students and commit to passing real commonsense gun reform, not absurd propaganda from politicians more concerned about campaign contributions than public safety.”