WYOMING -- The mass shooting at a high school in Florida that killed 17 people, including students and teachers, is prompting a national debate on how to safeguard our children.
Now President Trump has added fuel to that conversation when he called for the arming of teachers who get gun training, even offering bonuses to those that do.
At Wyoming Area High School, students sounded off.
“I think it would be safer,” said junior Gianna Pallona.
“I think if they have police or military experience, they should able to do it but if not, no,” said freshman Jeremy Lavelle.
“I feel like it might be a bad thing because it'd just be easier for the kids to get guns because all they have to do is attack the teacher to get the gun, then everybody has a problem,” said junior Iyan Washington.
“I don't think it's the answer, the solution,” said Wyoming Police Chief Michael Flanagan.
Chief Flanagan hosts active shooter seminars for the public. He says if teachers are allowed to carry firearms, it needs to be taken seriously.
“They should be vetted, and they then they should go through a rigorous training,” said Flanagan. “And then practice with local law enforcement because if they are going to be armed in the school, they have to be part of our response plan.”
And Flanagan says they should only use the weapon as a defensive tactic, not to hunt down the shooter
“Deny the bad guy access to his class, the next step would be to prepare to defend themselves because if the guy breaches their location,” said Flanagan.
But the Pennsylvania State Education Association which represents teachers in several school districts says it absolutely does not want teachers carrying firearms.
“We do not support it, but we do support all the discussions that are going on now of all the other ways to keep our schools safe,” said Paul Shemansky with the PSEA.
“Police are trained to deal with this, teachers aren't,” said John Holland with the PSEA. “Police do this every day, teachers don't.”
The president did say he doesn’t want all teachers armed, just those who are highly adept people, people that understand weaponry, guns.