#ArmMeWith ____________
Tell Trump and the NRA What You Really Need to Keep Your School Safe
You’ve probably seen the #ArmMeWith hashtag spreading throughout Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram today in response to President Trump’s outrageous suggestion that we arm 20% of America’s teachers with guns in school buildings.
It’s no surprise that he’s speaking from the NRA playbook instead of listening to educators, parents, and students.
“This is bar none, the worst theory of action I’ve ever heard.” — Shanna Peeples, 2015 National Teacher of the Year
In Maryland, we’ve unfortunately heard this idea come up this legislative session. A Republican legislator — Harford County Del. Rick Impallaria — has introduced a bill that would authorize any teacher with a handgun permit to carry a gun in school.
“It’s a bad idea, because we don’t want guns at our schools. If we want to arm teachers and educators, we should be arming them with school psychologists. We should be arming them with social workers.” — Sean Johnson, MSEA Director of Legislative Affairs
MSEA plans to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 6 in opposition to this horribly misguided legislation.
Educators Respond With #ArmMeWith Movement
Since Trump’s words from the White House went viral last night, educators have been speaking out to stop this terrible policy idea from gaining any sort of traction.
MSEA President Betty Weller told a Washington Post columnist today:
“When hearing the idea of arming as many as 20% of teachers with guns, the overwhelming reaction of Maryland educators is total disbelief. How could any elected official really believe that putting so many more guns in schools could make them safer?
It’s why you’re seeing educators across the state take to social media to talk about arming us with more school counselors and psychologists, more time to work on social and emotional learning and less time testing, and smaller class sizes so we can devote more attention to each and every student.”
