Should Teachers Carry?
The recent killing of an ROTC instructor at Old Dominion University by an Islamic terrorist pointed to several interesting facts. First the shooter was a US citizen, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former national guardsman who had served a prison sentence for aiding ISIS. Jalloh was said to have become radicalized while in the US and not before he immigrated. Second, the victim was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah who was of Middle Eastern heritage. Third, Jalloh was killed by a student who stabbed him with a pocketknife. Fourth, guns are banned from the ODU campus (like the University of Tennessee). Fifth, since knives are also banned does this mean that the student who killed Jalloh is going to be prosecuted and/or expelled from ODU? Sixth, Norfolk’s Commonwealth attorney who proposed tighter gun restrictions in the wake of the shooting is named Ramin Fateh. One would think he would have instead proposed lifting the ban on guns on the ODU campus.
Whether teachers should have training in firearms and be allowed to carry in the classroom is a controversial subject that invariably arises from these incidents. Remember Uvalde? There even armed security was slow to act. This was in contrast to the security guards at the synagogue in Michigan where an Islamic terrorist named Ayman Ghazali drove his incendiaries-laden truck into a synagogue and got stuck in the hallway where he was confronted by security. There were over 100 people in the synagogue at the time and none were hurt. Two security guards engaged Ghazali in gunfire and he then killed himself. Interestingly, the guards at the synagogue had completed a gun training session with the FBI only weeks before. Prudence demands that synagogues must protect themselves because when help arrives, it will be too late to save lives. Putting armed security in all the public schools and universities is impractical and cost prohibitive. The question is then whether teachers and professors should be trained and allowed to carry.
Tennessee has responded in the affirmative. After the deadly shootings at the Covenant School in Nashville where three children and three adults were killed by a former student, the Tennessee legislature over the objections of the teachers’ unions, passed a bill in 2024 signed by Governor Bill Lee to allow teachers to carry firearms. The individual schools make the decision. Teachers and staff are permitted to carry concealed weapons provided they have the approval of law enforcement, undergo a background check and have gun training.
So the question for me is not whether there will be shoot-outs in the halls of our elementary schools, but whether they will be fewer shootings because the potential shooter knows that the teachers and staff are armed. Similarly, if shooters know that synagogues have armed security, will there be fewer attacks? That is the empirical question.
haroldblackphd.com 
I think the legislature needs to strengthen the bill by giving individual teachers and staff the authority to carry. The law left the decision to superintendents, and those in the urban counties foolishly immediately said, “No.” No thought given, no study, no debate, no reading “The First 30 Seconds,” just no.
The excuse in Knox County was we have RSOs who are presumed to be magical omnipresent invulnerable warrior gods. Killers will be drawn to them and die. And, as you point out, see Uvalde. The First 30 Seconds explains why even the best RSOs are mostly security theater.
“Let’s keep plodding along with reading and let’s stay vulnerable to homicidal maniacs.” That is the education establishment we keep permitting to run our schools.
Thanks for posting this warning, again. You may save lives.
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It’s likely that the only way that the decision will be taken away from the superintendents is for a tragedy to occur. At the very least the decision should be with individual principals. I would guess that a legal issue is one of liability. Can parents sue the superintendent or the principal if an incident occurs?
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D- I would be interested in what you think private schools should do- it’s not all about public schools.
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Old business: looked into what Russia did to protect the election of CAR, and Russia surrounded the Capitol city, protecting it fm militias..
And then I saw this, which smacks of colonialism:
(Vlad) ..also thanked Touadera for supporting the Russian language in the country…” trtafrika
Right now the debate is going on in the Knox County commission, to ban all “ no guns” signs, wherever govt leases space.. EXCEPT where there’s a guard and a checkpoint..
The GOVERNMENT PUSHES guns – but protects themselves..
I think Animal Control should carry and kill, for the people who abuse animals aren’t going to care much for people either..
…” And above all, we recommit to the eternal truth that our constitutional rights do not come from the hands of government, but from the hands of Almighty God…”
White House statement 8/4/25..
That means that God gives the same rights to kill govt officials and law enforcement- by Christian or not , White or not..
BTW: guns will discourage school attacks? You and drummer forget the TN legislator who wanted to make it ILLEGAL for law to investigate any death involving a gun. And a school shooter had every right to that gun…How much of gun legislation is bought by the gun lobby?..
I would like to know what constitutes a crime?
And did lynching stop people fm being black?
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I hope the comment about “God gives the same rights…” is not a serious one. As to whether guns will discourage attacks, that is an empirical question. As to the legislator, I usually don’t waste my time on someone who is obviously an idiot. BTW, I do find the last comment disturbing.
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While I appreciate your OD example of ethnic names, don’t forget that for a hardcore terrorist , dying is part of the attack. Guns won’t do it all.
The only protection should be how to keep our schools as fortress, not learning centers.
And what about private schools?
If the
“lynching” was disturbing-
maybe not what you need for a Friday.
Maybe because of the people I know, race is always an issue…
But guns won’t stop suicidals- whatever their issues. The same way the Death penalty doesn’t stop murder.
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