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Dupe voters, this is not a dupe. I wish answers only about teachers, not general members of the public. Please re-open


According to the BBC,

US President Donald Trump has said arming teachers could prevent school shootings like that which left 17 people dead last week in Florida.

A staff member with a gun could end an attack "very quickly", he said.

I doubt that any other country has tried arming teachers, so it would be difficult to say definitively; but is there any analogous evidence to suggest that he might be correct? (The good guy with a gun theory)


[Update] Perhaps we could reopen, given that we now know what happens when there is an armed police presence at a school where a mass shooting takes place? (Although, admittedly, we cannot know if a teacher would have acted otherwise)

[Edit] Not one, but four armed police were present. Oh, yes, they were.

Liron Yahdav
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    [Vice.com: The Good Guy with a Gun Theory, Debunked](https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/evd4we/the-good-guy-with-a-gun-theory-debunked). –  Feb 22 '18 at 07:44
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    I do not see a _factual_ claim here, and I don't see how a "could..." or "would..." can be answered in the way of Skeptics.SE... – DevSolar Feb 22 '18 at 09:14
  • No, as I specifically want to know only about schools, not the general case – Mawg says reinstate Monica Feb 22 '18 at 09:17
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    I do not think this is a duplicate. That question is about armed bystanders, this is about armed teachers, which, I think, is a significantly different topic, especially as a teacher is not a bystander, but embedded in the situation and presents unique potential benefits and risks. – rougon Feb 22 '18 at 13:37
  • Can I get a reason why my post was deleted instead of downvoted? Sure, it did not have sources, but I think it had a significant amount of relevant details and positions. – rougon Feb 22 '18 at 14:44
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    Sometimes the StackExchange system is a bit... odd. I voted for opinion-based (as no relevant data points can possibly exist), not for duplicate. – DevSolar Feb 22 '18 at 15:21
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    Indeed, not a dupe. *armed bystanders* happen to just 'be around'. Armed teachers would be present as assigned, and with the protection in their task. (Of course, suggesting to arm teachers instead of addressing the real cause is nonsense, but that's another issue). –  Feb 23 '18 at 08:05
  • This is a hypothetical question and is therefore primarily opinion based (there's also another dupe closed for that reason). – Sklivvz Feb 23 '18 at 08:57
  • If some other country or district has armed its teachers, then this is not hypothetical. Nor if there is some analogous situation. I did ask if anyone knows of one – Mawg says reinstate Monica Feb 23 '18 at 09:00
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    Speculation, so question is off topic on skeptics. Although it seems to me that it's pretty clear it would reduce killing sprees in school by non-teachers, and increase killing sprees by armed teachers. – Peter Feb 23 '18 at 18:30
  • I question the first part of your assumption – Mawg says reinstate Monica Feb 24 '18 at 06:42
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    @Mawg But not the second part, I note. – Shadur Feb 24 '18 at 11:56
  • Do we really want "going teacher" to become "a thing"? – Mawg says reinstate Monica Feb 24 '18 at 12:49
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    I reasked this question in a way that's not opinion based here: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/40785/44006 – Liron Yahdav Feb 25 '18 at 01:53
  • The acceptable thing to do is to edit the existing question, not create a new one. You ought to know that. Sad – Mawg says reinstate Monica Feb 25 '18 at 06:58
  • @rougon do you think that this could be re-opened? Possibly before the next school mass shooting? – Mawg says reinstate Monica Nov 14 '20 at 13:37

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