Columnist: Arming Teachers Will Lead Them to Murder Black Students

Elie Mystal, a lawyer, Harvard graduate, and editor at the popular “Above the Law” legal blog, has written a column suggesting that proposals to arm teachers in public schools will lead to black students being murdered.

In his post, “You Realize Arming Teachers Is Going To Lead To Black Students Getting Murdered By Their Teacher, Right?” Mystal not only dismisses the idea of arming teachers as an ineffective way to prevent mass shootings, but also argues that the inherent racial prejudices of  teachers will lead to tragic results:

[T]here’s one more problem that I’m sure most white people haven’t thought about yet: arming American teachers will directly result in students of color being shot to death at school.

I know that because the only other group of public employees that is armed at the behest of the state shoots unarmed people of color on the reg. The cops actually receive extensive training on how to use their firearms, how to asses threats, and how to deescalate situations, and yet they still murder innocent civilians all the time.

Giving a teacher a gun is ASKING them to be afraid. It makes poor judgment a homicidal offense. And that danger will be borne by black and brown students. The students who make teachers “afraid” just by their very existence.

…

America is entirely too racist to arm teachers. Our legal system is INCAPABLE of holding public employees to account for murdering minorities. Black and brown students should not have to die because disgruntled white boys are shooting up their schools.

In the wake of last week’s shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump has supported proposals to arm teachers who receive proper training and qualify for concealed carry permits.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.