On July 1, Wyoming joined the handful of states that have abolished “gun-free zones” in public schools, making it legal for individuals to bring a gun onto school grounds as long as they have a concealed carry permit. Districts can establish additional training requirements for their staff or for school volunteers.
The revision in rules has yet again sparked debates about school safety and whether arming educators acts as a deterrent for anyone intending to carry out gun violence. More than two-thirds of states allow teachers to carry guns.
Teachers themselves aren’t united on the issue—in a 2023 survey of 1,000 teachers, conducted by the RAND Corp., more than half said educators carrying firearms would make schools less safe, while 20% said it would make schools safer. The remaining 26% said it would neither make schools safer nor more dangerous.
Abbey Clements, a teacher turned advocate against gun violence, falls squarely in the half that don’t believe more guns in school would make them any safer.
Clements was in her second year of teaching at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., when a gunman killed 20 students and six adults in 2012. She continued to teach at the school, and eventually co-founded a nonprofit called Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence in 2021. The group focuses on amplifying teacher voices in support of policies like safe gun storage.
Clements, who left teaching last year to become the group’s full-time executive director, relies on her own experience as a gun violence survivor and an educator to co-create peer networks and resources for other teachers who have experienced gun violence in their schools.
The nonprofit is also trying to start chapters or clubs in teacher-preparation programs, to create spaces for aspiring teachers to talk about the threat of gun violence in schools they’ll teach in and connect to resources that can help them stay resilient and stay in the profession, Clements said.
Education Week caught up with Clements recently to talk about the expansion of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence in teacher-preparation programs, and how teachers can have a seat at the table when discussing measures to reduce gun violence in K-12 schools.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When gun violence happens in a school, what are teachers going through?
When you go through a traumatic event, it literally changes what your brain looks like. It changes who you are, and you’re expected to keep your emotions in check, to be there for the kids. The messaging for teachers is that kids need routine, so somehow you’re supposed to pick yourself up from witnessing the things you did.
We know [many] folks ... are expected to just turn around and keep teaching. There also tends to be a feeling that you’re being watched, and you’re being judged at how your teaching is after something like this. Are you connecting with your children? Some people have a difficult time with that. Are you sticking with the curriculum? Some people have trouble with that.
There’s a lot of pressure to go back to normal. And there are a lot of other layers that are even more complicated—like you might have survivor guilt if something happens to a colleague of yours, or you survived and [your] children are OK, but your friends’ kids didn’t make it out.
There also hyper-vigilance. We went to a satellite campus after Sandy Hook, and the bathrooms were on the other side of the building. I didn’t want my kids going by themselves, so every time somebody had to go to the bathroom, I took the whole class for just a little while. It’s the fear. I just wanted everybody together with me in one place.
When we ask for help [after an incident], we are told if you don’t like teaching anymore, just go do something else. But it’s a little bit of a cliche that teachers are born to teach. It’s what we’ve been trained in, and it’s the only thing [we] ever wanted to do. The message that you could just turn around and go get another job, that’s a hard message to take.
Why do you think teachers haven’t had a stronger voice in gun violence prevention in schools?
We are experts on this issue, but we don’t see ourselves that way. Because we don’t have a seat at the table, we’re not invited to help make the policies and the plans that we’re ultimately responsible for in terms of taking care of our kids.
We must also recognize the position teachers are in. They are extremely micromanaged. That fear of speaking out might be even more stark now, but teachers’ voices matter on this issue.
As a teacher, you wear many hats. The teacher is the surrogate parent for a while [after an incident], counselor, therapists—and then you’re also expected to continue teaching as if nothing happened. Like we haven’t skipped a beat.
Our [organization’s] model is about support before a tragedy happens, whether it’s in the school or a community, and then after. Our resources are such that teachers feel like they have somewhere to go when they’re frustrated, when something happens, when there’s a threat, and when their kids are impacted.
Is secure gun storage part of these resources?
Secure storage is really our main policy, both as an opportunity for cultural change, and, we hope eventually, legislatively. Two-thirds of school shooters get their guns from home or a relative or a friend’s house. These unintentional shootings and suicides by gun are preventable deaths and injuries. With a strong public message coming from trusted voices, our teachers can make a difference. But we need support from school and district leaders, and we’re just going to keep trying.
Unfortunately, safe gun storage is looked upon as a political issue. So, school leaders tend to be hands off because they don’t want their parents coming and saying, “This is an infringement on my rights. Why are you telling me to lock up my guns? It’s none of your business.”
Because [teachers are] quiet about the issue or afraid to address it, we do nothing. If we could have bipartisan support on this issue, on a way to save lives that we know works, then we can chip away at the problem.
What kind of training or resources do future teachers need to advocate for safety-related policies?
We are evolving … trying to figure out what the best way is to reach future teachers.
When you first become a student teacher, [you hear], “Make sure you have a key, make sure you’re trained on how to open and lock the door, make sure you know what exit to go to.” But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
These young teachers came to us and said, “We’re going to be teachers, but we’re afraid of [gun violence], and we want to know how we can amplify our voices. How can we have our own community of aspiring teachers so that we can support each other when we move into being teachers?”
The chapter [of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence] at Penn State was more of a club, but what was interesting about it is that they focused a lot on self-care for teachers, which is overlooked.
Aspiring teachers [should] learn to take care of themselves along the way, so that if something happens, they have something to fall back on. It’s about building resilience.
We’ve had conversations with them after they graduated and became teachers, and they’ve expressed that they didn’t talk much about gun violence in their education. That’s a problem. If you’re an education major, there should be some built-in space for students to be able to talk and express what it is like being a kid from lockdown nation. Now it’s the same kids becoming teachers and they want to know how to handle that.
What impact do you think the Trump administration’s cancellation of mental health grants will have on school safety?
This is what keeps me up at night. We already have schools sharing one counselor, kids who don’t have a parent at home, and they need programming and support. … To not have that, what are the kids supposed to do?
The fear is that they’re further at risk to pick up a gun or to get looped into some trouble. They need someone to say, “We’re going to do homework for 30 minutes, and then you’re going to play on a safe playground for 30 minutes. I’m going to watch you.” That’s what they need.
[Editor’s note: After abruptly canceling $1 billion in school mental health funding, the Trump administration has released its own priorities for new grant applications.]
