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North Carolina Teachers Don’t Want To Carry Guns, And Churches Don’t Want To Talk About Them

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published March 6, 2018 at 1:17 PM EST
Debate is growing over the prospect of teachers carrying guns in schools.
Wikimedia Commons
Debate is growing over the prospect of teachers carrying guns in schools.
Debate is growing over the prospect of teachers carrying guns in schools.
Credit Wikimedia Commons
Debate is growing over the prospect of teachers carrying guns in schools.

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.

Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC education policy reporter Liz Schlemmer about what a recent poll revealed about how educators feel about arming teachers in the classroom. He also speaks with News and Observer reporter Martha Quillin about how churches talk or remain silent on the issue of guns.

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. 

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus