Matt Walsh calls for arming teachers in schools, saying there is no “magic button” to prevent mass shootings in schools
Walsh: “If there was a magical button that I could press to make school shootings just not happen in the first place, I would prefer that over the option of having armed teachers that are fighting the bad guys. But that's not a choice that exists.”
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From the April 24, 2024, edition of The Daily Wire's The Matt Walsh Show
MATT WALSH (HOST): As to the issue itself, obviously, we should let teachers carry guns if they want to and if they're trained and if they're approved. This argument that somehow a school shooting is made worse by having other armed people there is insane. It — I mean, you always hear this nonsense. You know? This, oh, you can't help the situation by adding more guns. We're gonna add more guns, you think that's gonna solve something? As if we're just dumping a box of guns into the middle of the classroom. Like, that's what — when you say add more guns, it makes — that's what it sounds like, we're just throwing guns into the room. That's not what happening. We're — what's happening — we're adding a person who is armed. That's what we're adding to the equation. So here's the question, I think this is really the only question that matters, or at least it is the first question and the most important question that we should ask, and it's this; if a bad guy with a gun comes into the school and walks into your kid's classroom, is it better — is it better — is it preferable that the bad guy, the psychopath mass murderer, is the only one armed in the room? Is that better? Is that a better situation? Will you take solace in the knowledge that at least the mass killer is the only one with a gun? Is that better than having someone else there who is also armed? Do you want all of the potential victims to be helpless and defenseless? Is helplessness and defenselessness a superior alternative? Really?
Now, if you answer yes to any of those questions, then you're just a maniac. I don't know what to say. You're insane. It's an insane position to take. Obviously, it's better if there's someone in the — if there's a bad person, if there's a crazy killer in the classroom with a gun, clearly it's better if at least someone else there also has a gun. Like, it can't be — how could it make the situation worse? This is the worst-case situation that you're facing. It can't get worse than that. And don't tell me, oh, well, because this is the other answer that I hate — when you say, well, oh, well, school shootings shouldn't happen in the first place. You know? That's what — this is a false choice. I — what I choose is that the school shootings won't happen. I choose for there to be no school shootings in the first place. You know? That's my brilliant plan. Yes. Well, I prefer that too, genius. That would very much be my own preference. If someone gave me a choice between there being school shootings and there not being school shootings, I would choose the latter very quickly. OK? If there was a magical button that I could press to make school shootings just not happen in the first place, I would prefer that over the option of having armed teachers that are fighting the bad guys. But that's not a choice that exists. That magical button doesn't exist. I don't have that choice. You don't have that choice. We prefer if school shootings don't happen, but they do. And what then? What do we do when the thing that shouldn't happen does happen?
And this is a question even if we passed every gun law, every gun control law that the left wants, which we shouldn't — we shouldn't pass any of them — but even if we did — every law they want, we pass. Let's just say that we do. School shootings can still happen. OK? Unless you confiscate and destroy every gun on planet Earth and also somehow prevent any more from being produced in the future, which is impossible, anything short of that, school shootings can still happen. And so we're still left with the same question, which is what happens if it does? What then? The guy with the gun comes into the classroom. Yeah. He shouldn't be there. It should be — it is illegal. It's already — he's already broken 50 laws just by walking in with a gun in the first place. It shouldn't happen. It's a terrible thing that it is happening, but it's happening. And so, what then? What do — what is the best way to respond in that situation? Obviously, having someone there who is prepared to defend themselves and the lives of the children is preferable. Even if it doesn't work, like, it's better than nothing. Having some ability to fight back is better than having no ability. Right?