UNMasking DeSantis

School prison camps not the answer

St Augustine The Record

EDITOR: As the one-year mark of the mass shooting tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High approaches, some state lawmakers are pursuing legislation to expand the Guardian Program to include the arming of teachers. While our children are growing up in a country where no place feels safe — movie theaters, classrooms, nightclubs and concerts — turning our schools into prison camps is not the answer.

I oppose any measures that would expand the Guardian program to include the arming of teachers. Teachers should focus on what they do best, and our law enforcement should focus on it does best. St. Johns, like the majority of counties in Florida, did not join the Guardian Program, but instead took more common sense and responsible approaches through better technology, improving the physical security of school buildings and hiring of additional law enforcement professionals as school resource officers.

Arming teachers ignores research proving that the presence of a gun increases risk to children. Armed citizens put law enforcement in danger, delay effective response and risk the safety of innocent bystanders — our kids. Arming teachers is dangerous and there is no evidence that it protects students or school personnel.

We should be pushing for reasonable and effective measures to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people — including criminals, the mentally unstable and domestic abusers. This includes closing the background check loophole by requiring background checks on all gun sales and expanding the red flag laws, as well as increasing funding for mental health programs.

Parents just want to see their child come home safe. School safety should not be about politics — it’s about what makes sense. Putting a gun in teachers’ hands makes no sense. Our underpaid teachers are already under enough stress and pressure in doing one of the most important jobs in this country — teaching our kids.

Join me in contacting our state Reps. Cyndi Stevenson and Paul Renner; and Sen. Travis Hutson.

Mike Spaid, St. Augustine