New Poll Shows Most Americans Think Arming & Training Teachers Is a Horrible Way to Stop School Shootings

A new NBC poll released Thursday morning should be a wakeup call to the NRA and its supporters in Washington, including President Trump.  Most people think that putting more guns in schools is a really bad idea.

The truth is that arming teachers is a crazy idea that could only be thought up by the pro-gun lobby as a means for gun manufacturers to make more profits.

In the NBC poll, 56% of Americans were against arming teachers and 42% supported the idea.  Trump was promoting the idea, which is not surprising. He is on record saying that arming and training teachers is the best way to defend our schools and our children from future school shootings.

Since Trump received $30 million in campaign contributions from the NRA his position on wasting taxpayer dollars to buy guns and train teachers is no surprise.

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Teachers, school administrators, and parents of school children are of course strongly against this insane idea.  They know that putting more guns in schools will lead to more shootings, not less shootings. They know that getting rid of assault rifles is a better idea than spending taxpayer money on arming and training teachers and other school employees.

At a time when many schools don’t have the money for things like supplies, repairs, raises for teachers or even paying for health insurance, only a bunch of right-wing fanatics could come up with a proposal to put more guns in schools.

Not surprisingly, 80% of Republicans support Trump’s proposal while 88% of Democrats are against it.  The majority of independents — 64% — also are against the idea.

In a divided political environment it is the independents who may have the deciding votes in elections. They will be the “swing voters” in the next election.  If two-thirds of them are opposed to Trump and his policies then that spells bad news for Republicans.

At a time when the nation is still feeling pain and grieving after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Valentine’s Day, Trump’s best idea is to help the NRA and its members sell more weapons that kill people.

According to the NBC poll, both Democrats and independents are unhappy with Trump and Congress on the gun control issue.  Nearly 72 percent of independents are very unhappy and/or mad about the way Trump has handled gun control, and 84 percent of the independent voters are very unhappy with how Congress has been handling the issue.

The NBC News poll surveyed 2,857 adults from Feb. 26-28. It has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.