U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert wants to arm teachers following a spate of school shootings in Nashville and Denver.
Two school administrators were seriously wounded when a 17-year-old student opened fire last week during a regularly scheduled pat down at East High School in Denver, the police said. In Nashville, three children and three adults died when a gunman attacked a Christian school.
Authorities in Colorado said the East High School student later killed himself. Officers who responded to the Nashville shooting killed the alleged shooter.
"I want to arm teachers," Boebert told commentator Dave Rubin at The Rubin Report podcast on Thursday. "I want to have secure schools."
The recent shootings have catapulted the question of how best to secure schools to the forefront. Boebert belongs to the camp that believes "hardening" schools by beefing up security, including arming teachers, is the answer.
Others counter that arming teachers only introduces a new risk into schools, noting that adults frequently mishandle guns. Critics of the idea also argue that teachers cannot be expected to transform into a highly-trained law enforcement officer in an extremely high-stress situation and that a more likely outcome is that the armed teacher will accidentally shoot somebody else or get caught in the crossfire of responding officers.
They also maintain that restricting access to guns is key. Democrats in Colorado, for example, introduced a slew of legislation they say would curb gun violence. The package includes legislation to establish a three-day waiting period between purchase of a firearm and delivery, expand the groups of people who can petition the court to remove a firearm from someone deemed to be a danger and permit gun victims to to sue firearms manufacturers.
While supporters say they would curb gun violence and save lives, critics call them arbitrary and argue, among other points, that they would turn law-abiding citizens into criminals.
Boebert insisted the best way to protect schools is to treat them as potential targets, such as airports and Congress, and to secure them accordingly.
"We secure airports, we secure banks, why not our most precious asset? Our children?" she said, adding she pushed for funding for school security in the last session.
Boebert argued that arming teacher can play a critical role in keeping students and staffers safe.
"I think that having some presence there (to be) able to defend the students is a really good thing," she said. "It doesn't have to be every teacher. It doesn't have to be a majority of teachers. But even knowing that there is someone there to stop an imminent threat — I think that is a large enough deterrent.
Boebert also noted that Colorado already allows teachers to be armed when their school board permits it.
"We have an organization, Faster Colorado, that trains teachers and it's a very extensive tactical training course that they're taught how to be responsible with this firearm," she said.
