Since the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school, President Donald Trump says teachers should be armed. Last week North Carolina State Superintendent Mark Johnson polled teachers around the state about the matter.
He sent out an online questionnaire asking two questions: would you like to carry a gun and would you like another teacher or administrator in their school to have access to guns. Nineteen thousand people responded to the poll in the first day. Results show two-thirds of North Carolina teachers do not want to be armed. Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC education policy reporter Liz Schlemmer about this poll and what educators in the state are saying.
While Christian preachers and church members often offer “thoughts and prayers” after a shooting like the one in Florida, they rarely say more than that. Pastors often have to walk a thin line when it comes to gun control. Southerners lead the nation in church attendance and in gun ownership. Stasio talks to News and Observer reporter Martha Quillin about how churches talk or remain silent on the issue of guns.