“I would stop teaching,” said Math teacher Martha McCullagh about the new Florida gun law that allows school teachers to be armed.

The Florida Senate passed a school safety bill on May 8 that allows teachers to “voluntarily carry guns on campus if local school boards agree,” according to South Florida’s Sun Sentinel.

The bill first came into discussion after the tragedy on February 14, 2018, when 17 members of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida were shot and killed. It was passed just one day after another school shooting, this one in Douglas County, Colorado.

Following the Marjory Stoneman incident, students throughout Florida and the country protested for more gun control and gun safety to keep incidents like these from happening.  Despite their plea for fewer guns, the Florida Senate decided to write a bill to “help” the issue by allowing teachers to voluntary carry guns in the classroom.

The school I attended in Florida before Williston employed security guards who were armed, and even that worried me and many others. And while proper training would be required under this new law for Florida teachers to carry weapons, it is still concerning to be in a school where anybody is armed.

English teacher Matt Sawyer said he “would be extremely uncomfortable having a gun in school.” He said he “would be horrified if my coworkers had guns.”

Aside from the fear of teachers in possession of guns, the idea of guns being within possible reach of students is also a major cause concern.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to put kids in a position where they have the opportunity to take [a gun],” said junior Margaret Strange. “There’s a reason they don’t sell guns to teenagers.”

Though the weapons would have to be kept safely and out of reach of students, there is still worry that students will somehow find a way to get access to guns should teachers start carrying them.  This can, of course, cause the opportunity for more school shootings,  exactly what those Florida teen activists set out to prevent last year.