What is the price tag for school safety in Laguna?
It’s 4 a.m. and I should be dreaming about drinks with little umbrellas instead of writing about gun violence in our schools. I guess you could say the latest massacre that happened in Texas last week, where a teacher and nine students were gunned down, has pushed me over the edge. So much so, I’ve begun wondering in my sleep what it will take to end the carnage that has become commonplace in America’s schools today.
Vice President Mike Pence recently told the National Rifle Association, “The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Among many options, gun safety advocates believe that universal background checks and raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 will end mass shootings.
On the face of it, both plans seem mutually exclusive; however, I don’t see it that way. Let me explain.
What if all teachers in California, elementary through high school, and all 18-year-old seniors were required to carry a gun on campus? Not only that, what if the state’s more than 1,100 school districts were required to pay for said guns, instructional classes and ammunition? In round numbers, there are 250,000 teachers who work in, and 6 million students who attend, California’s 10,000-plus public schools. If you consider there are 4,500 public high schools in the state, each with an average graduating class of 500, then 2.2 million teenagers currently are of age to carry a gun according to federal law. What would the cost be if school districts had to pay for guns, classes and bullets? At an average cost of $250 each, the total cost of buying a .38 caliber revolver for every teacher and senior in high school would be $550 million. This doesn’t include the additional cost of classes or ammo. I know California is the fifth largest economy in the world, but I doubt any lawmaker would be willing to sponsor a gun bill with that kind of price tag on it.
Here in Laguna, the initial cost of arming every K-12 teacher and each senior at LBHS most likely would exceed $125,000. On top of that, if you add instructional classes and ammunition, the total cost would be $150,000 or more. When I asked several friends about this, their reactions ran the gamut from hot to cold. In general terms, I heard: “There is no quick fix to mass shootings in our schools. Many people talk about arming teachers, but no one mentions high school students” to “I really don’t like the idea of teachers or students being armed; but, if it comes down to saving the life of one Laguna Beach student or teacher, then I say the cost to the school district is worth every penny it would need to spend” to “I’m not sure who should pay for the guns but I would feel better knowing teachers had them at school. The opposite is true for high school students. My senior clearly isn’t ready for something like this.”
The idea of “not being ready for something like this” is a theme I can’t seem to shake. I’m not sure I ever will be ready to accept the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of students are being killed or wounded nationwide while attending school or that mass shootings are now the “new normal.”
As far as I am concerned, the most recent massacres in Florida and Texas should never be considered “business as usual.” If they ever do, then I wonder how much school districts, teachers and parents would be willing to pay to reverse course? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I really wish I could go back to sleep now.
Denny Freidenrich is the father of three children, now ages 38, 25 and 23. He first moved to Laguna Beach in 1970.
