On Wednesday, I addressed a teacher in Tennessee who said that she didn't want to carry a firearm while performing her job. My take was that if she didn't want to, she shouldn't. It's a pretty simple concept. It's something each person should decide for themselves and they should be able to decide for themselves.

That's where my goal is been on the entire subject of armed teachers.

After all, if teachers can have firearms, would-be mass murderers may well decide it's not worth the risk to target schools.

But an op-ed out of Tennessee written by a student teacher appears to argue that her profession just can't be trusted with guns. Let's start with the headline that reads: "Teachers like me are trained to educate kids. Arming us will make everyone less safe."

Now, to start with, arming teachers in Tennessee, under the proposal currently being considered, requires approval from the school board and a very extensive training course. I fail to see how it'll make everyone less safe unless there's something inherently unsafe about teachers.

But let's look at her arguments. Maybe she can make the case.

My lifelong passion for education has led me straight to Nashville, Tennessee, where I now major in elementary education at Vanderbilt.

Part of my studies requires me to complete countless hours of elementary education curricula, including tutoring, practicum, and student teaching, all to ensure I’m well trained for the many challenges of the job. Managing a classroom is taxing, it takes an incredible amount of focus and dedication for not only students, but also teachers, to get through a single lesson.

And these difficulties are all without deadly weapons in the mix. Our attention should be on students, not firearms. Guns are already the leading cause of death for my generation – and my students’ generation –  and this would only increase the risk for me and my students.

Teachers overwhelmingly agree that guns do not belong in schools

More guns in more places do not make us safer, especially schools. The risk of a shooting increases when we bring guns into the classroom. There have already been several incidents of guns unintentionally or intentionally discharged on school grounds by school staff. Not only that but research also strongly suggests that children will access guns when they are present. There have been multiple situations where guns carried into schools were misplaced and several more where they were outright stolen by students.

Nope. She's still making the argument that teachers can't be trusted with guns.

First, let's talk about that "research." The link takes you to a page for Students Demand Action, a gun control subgroup affiliated with Moms Demand Action. They're not exactly an unbiased source of information.

Yet even they don't produce a single study that shows arming teachers creates negative outcomes. The closest they come is to note that most school shooters are "affiliated" with the school, most being current or former students. Well, we know this. Yet none of those students obtained their guns from an armed teacher in any way, shape, or form.

The other is the long-debunked claim that the presence of a firearm increases the risk of someone dying due to a gunshot. That particular bit, however, includes suicides by gun owners and doesn't focus on firearms possessed by teachers.

So yeah, I'm unconvinced by the "research" that seemingly doesn't exist. At all.

If there were actual research at that link, it likely would find that many states already allow armed teachers and so far, there have been no real problems resulting from it. None. 

But you know what? If she's going to say the profession she's pursuing is full of people who can't be trusted with guns, I'm more than willing to take her word for it.

If that's the case, though, then why should they be trusted with our children?

She says they're trained to educate, but this proposal requires them to be trained in carrying and using a firearm as well. If they're untrainable or something, then why should we trust that their training as teachers "took" when they can't be trusted to retain the extensive firearms training being demanded?

Hell, I sincerely hope someone remembers this when the subject of teacher pay comes before the legislature in Tennessee. If they can't be trusted, why should they get paid even more?

Frankly, this op-ed makes me just that much happier that we ended up homeschooling my daughter. At least I can trust her teacher with a gun.