BOSTON (WHDH) - The head of Boston Public Schools says President Trump’s idea of arming teachers with guns is “utterly illogical.”
In response to the recent mass shooting in Florida that claimed 17 lives, Trump suggested the idea of arming “adept” teachers and giving them a bonus as a means of deterring school shooters.
“These would be people that actually want them. It would be a small percentage but it would be a lot of people,” Trump said.
Superintendent Tommy Chang strongly disagreed with the president’s comments. Chang issued the following statement on Thursday:
“The mere thought that teachers should be armed in order to ward off violence is utterly illogical and will only result in making our students and teachers less safe.
“The real issue at hand continues to be access to guns. In Boston, we have some of the strictest gun laws in the country. We have a Mayor and a Police Commissioner who are fighting federal proposals that threaten to move us backward, such as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Just last year, we hosted the New England Regional Gun Summit right here at the Bolling Building to work with our neighboring cities and states on preventing the illegal flow of firearms into our city.
“When it comes to school safety, we know that our focus should be on violence prevention and creating a culture of inclusion in all of our schools. We are providing regular training that’s rooted in best practices to ensure the safety of our students if a situation were to occur, not wasting our time training educators how to carry and use a firearm. Our priority in Boston will always be the well-being of our school communities, and bringing guns into schools is simply not the answer.”
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