- Of all the ideas that have been discussed to improve school safety following the latest mass shooting, arming teachers—which seems to be President Trump’s favored solution—is probably the worst. During a telephone town hall earlier this week with 60,000 AFT members, there was universal opposition to the idea, including from gun owners. “Teachers don’t want to be armed, we want to teach. We don’t want to be— and would never have the expertise needed to be—sharp shooters; no amount of training can prepare an armed teacher to go up against an AR-15,” AFT President Randi Weingarten says. “Anyone who pushes arming teachers doesn’t understand teachers and doesn’t understand our schools. Adding more guns to schools may create an illusion of safety, but in reality it would make our classrooms less safe.”