Like the titular character in “Hamilton: An American Musical,” Jay Inslee did not throw away his shot. When given an opportunity to speak publicly with President Trump on Monday, Washington’s governor made clear his feelings about proposals to have schoolteachers carry guns.
“Speaking as a grandfather, speaking as a governor of the state of Washington, I have listened to the people who would be affected by that,” Inslee said as Trump met with the nation’s governors in Washington, D.C. “I have listened to the biology teachers, and they don’t want to do that at any percentage. I have listened to the first-grade teachers, who don’t want to be pistol-packing first-grade teachers. I have listened to law enforcement, who have said they don’t want to have to train teachers as law enforcement agents, which takes about six months.”
Inslee added: “I just think this is a circumstance where we need to listen — that educators should educate, and they should not be foisted upon this responsibility of packing heat in first-grade classes. Now, I understand you have suggested this, and we suggest things and sometimes then we listen to people about it, and maybe they don’t look so good a little later. So I just suggest we need a little less tweeting, a little more listening.”
Trump has proposed encouraging teachers to carry guns in order to help prevent mass shootings in schools. He has recommended that teachers who are willing to receive training and carry concealed weapons could be paid “a little bit of a bonus.”
Clearly, action is necessary to quell this nation’s spate of school shootings. A Feb. 14 massacre at a Florida high school resulted in 17 deaths and has triggered a national discussion about our abhorrent level of gun violence. Through the first two months of this year, there have been seven shootings inside buildings or in parking lots at American schools.
In the wake of that, Trump has avoided raising the specter of guns as the cause while grasping at any other possible factors. The causes of mass shootings are, indeed, complex; they require multilevel solutions rather than a belief that a cure-all exists.
In that regard, the suggestion that teachers should be armed to present a deterrent for would-be shooters deserves discussion. But it is clear that any honest discussion will lead to a quick dismissal of the proposal. As Vox.com wrote: “There is no good research on the effect of arming teachers or the effect of putting more armed police or security in schools — which by itself should raise red flags, given that policy should be evidence-based.”
That creates a problem for gun-rights advocates who reject restrictions upon weapons. It is a fact that the United States has the highest rate of gun violence among developed nations; it also is a fact that this country has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership. It is not difficult to link those two in pondering why mass shootings are most common here.
Suggestions to the contrary are little more than ploys to distract Americans from the discussion that needs to be had. As Dave Krapf, a political communications professor at George Washington University, said: “The strategic logic of the gun lobby’s response to these massacres is generally to deflect, delay, and wait for public attention to turn elsewhere.”
Allowing that to work again would represent a moral failing, and Gov. Inslee was wise to express those sentiments. All of which calls to mind another “Hamilton” reference as we try to create a proud legacy for future generations: “History has its eyes on you.”
