Police arrested a Georgia teacher for firing a gun at school, just days after President Donald Trump ignited a national debate over whether some teachers should carry weapons to protect their students.
No one was injured at Dalton High School except for a student who injured an ankle while running, police spokesman Bruce Frazier told CNN. Police identified the shooter as social studies teacher Randal Davidson, 53, who surrendered at the scene.
One Dalton student tweeted to the National Rifle Association: “my favorite teacher at Dalton high school just blockaded his door and proceeded to shoot. We had to run out. The back of the school in the rain. Students were being trampled and screaming. I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe.”
@nra my favorite teacher at Dalton high school just blockaded his door and proceeded to shoot. We had to run out The back of the school in the rain. Students were being trampled and screaming. I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe.
— Chondi🌙 (@_omg_chondi_) February 28, 2018
The north Georgia shooting occurred about 85 miles north of Atlanta — and 700 miles north of Parkland, Florida, site of the school mass-shooting that killed 17 two weeks ago.
Trump said in response to that shooting that perhaps some specially trained teachers should be armed, and paid a little extra for carrying a weapon to school.
“These people are cowards. They’re not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns — it may be 10 percent or may be 40 percent. And what I’d recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. We give them a little bit of a bonus,” Trump said. “They’ll frankly feel more comfortable having the gun anyway. But you give them a little bit of a bonus.”
The NRA has also supported the idea of arming teachers.
High school students have become some of the country’s most visible gun-control advocates since the Parkland shooting. One student, 17-year-old David Hogg, has feuded with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over Jones’ claim that school shootings are routinely faked to drum up support for gun control.