Can Arming Teachers Curb School Violence?
US Study from 2019 Comes to Unexpected Conclusions – A Contribution to the Discussion
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Media reports on the amok run at Uvalde Primary School in the state of Texas and the delayed intervention of police forces, such as “Parents criticise US police deployment as too hesitant” or “Why didn’t they save us?”(1) prompted me to cite the results of a three-year-old US study pointed out to me by a US expert as a basis for discussion without further political submissions.
On 17 June 2019, John R. Lott Jr, President of the Crime Prevention Research Centre published a 37-page study and concluded the following:
“Schools that allow teachers to carry guns are extremely safe” (2).
The study goes on to say:
“Twenty states currently allow teachers and staff to carry weapons to varying degrees on school grounds, (…). There has yet to be a single case of anyone being wounded or killed in a shooting, let alone a mass shooting between 6 a.m. and midnight in a school that allows teachers to carry guns, since at least January 2000.
Fears by teachers that a student might take a firearm from a teacher and use it to commit gun violence are also unfounded. (…). While there have been no problems at schools with armed teachers, the number of people killed at other schools has increased significantly – doubling from 2001 and 2008 to 2009 and 2018.”
Back in 1998, John R. Lott Jr. wrote in his book “More Guns, Less Crime”:
“The mere presence of a firearm, or even the threat that a potential victim might be armed, has prevented gun violence.”
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Dr. Rudolf Lothar Hänsel is a teacher (retired headmaster), doctor of education (Dr. paed.) and graduate psychologist (specialising in clinical, educational and media psychology). As a retiree, he worked for many years as a psychotherapist in his own practice. In his books and educational-psychological articles, he calls for a conscious ethical-moral education in values and an education for public spirit and peace.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Notes
(1) https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/uvalde-us-polizei-nach-massaker-unter-druck-a-8c34594e-ea02-41d6-a65c-5f775ae8503c; https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/uvalde-elfjaehrige-beschmierte-sich-mit-blut-und-stellte-sich-tot-a-e2984645-0373-41ad-8358-4a476b5c2ee5
(2) https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/32193-john-lott-s-latest-study-refutes-claims-that-schools-with-armed-teachers-are-dangerous
Featured image: Mass shooting at a Florida High School (Source: Countercurrents)
