1. Teachers say NO.

All major teacher, principal, school employee and security organizations in our country oppose guns in schools, except when carried by a police or security officer. The National Education Association polled thousands of American teachers and found an overwhelming majority of educators (78%) do not support the idea of arming educators in the classroom.

2. Armed teachers are a poor match for school shooters.

Research shows that even highly trained officers frequently don’t hit their targets in a crisis situation. Armed citizens are unlikely to prevent or stop a shooter once their weapon is drawn and active. Consider Chris Kyle, the Navy Seal whose life was portrayed in the film American Sniper and considered one of the most skilled shooters in the world. Despite his unparalleled training and suspicion of danger, he and a friend were killed, their .45-caliber 1911-style pistols never unholstered or fired, safety catches still on.

3. Guns don’t make people safer.

Data analyzed from 1977 to 2014 indicates crime levels are not lower in areas where more Americans carry guns. In contrary, states that have enacted right-to-carry (RTC) concealed handgun laws have experienced higher rates of violent crime than states that did not; data shows a 13 to 15% increase in violent crime in the 10 years after enacting RTC. A 2015 Harvard study using data from the FBI and the CDC reported that firearm assaults were 6.8 times more common in the states with the most guns versus those with the least guns.

4. Guns make classrooms more dangerous.

The presence of guns in any environment is the single biggest risk for harm due to guns, including intentional harm, accidental harm, or self-inflicted harm. One study found that homes with guns were four times more likely to cause an accidental shooting, seven times more likely to be used in assault or homicide, and 11 times more likely to be used in a suicide than they were to be used for self-defense. In 2015, a combined analysis of 15 different studies found that people who had access to firearms at home were nearly twice as likely to be murdered as people who did not.

5. Real life is not a movie script.

John Moffatt, a high school principal was shot twice by a student and though Moffatt had been shooting since he was 12 years old, he shared his experience didn’t prepare him for the scene’s reality- terrified students, crying and screaming, and storming out of the building. “It was absolute chaos, absolute pandemonium. Imagine what would happen if you introduce into that scene somebody on staff carrying a weapon and running adrenaline-charged into that scene. It’s impossible for me to imagine that it wouldn’t have been worse.”