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and U.S. Education Secretary may support arming teachers, but the majority of educators are opposed to the idea of their colleagues having guns in the classroom, saying it would make them feel less safe.

That鈥檚 according to released Friday from Gallup, which surveyed 497 K-12 educators this month about their attitudes toward guns in schools. Surveyors found that 73 percent of teachers opposed being trained to use firearms while 20 percent favored it.

Meanwhile, 58 percent said arming educators would make schools less safe, even if teachers received firearm training. But 20 percent said it would make them more safe, and 22 percent didn鈥檛 think it mattered.

Most teachers (71 percent) don鈥檛 think adding guns to classrooms would reduce the number of victims in a school shooting, while 29 percent said armed educators could help reduce casualties.

But the general public is more supportive of these ideas, with 42 percent approving of training and arming teachers, according to recent Gallup poll. The overwhelming majority of Americans approve of expanding background checks for gun buyers, more school officer training, and increased school security to help prevent gun violence.

Since the start of 2018, 27 people have been killed and 46 injured during school shootings, according to tracking from 麻豆精品.

Student activism after the February 14 Parkland shooting that killed 17 people has dramatically intensified the debate around preventing gun violence in schools. While White House and the National Rifle Association have said they would support giving guns to educators to prevent future shootings, student activists and teacher groups have made clear that they do not support these policies, instead for expanding background checks for gun buyers and banning assault rifles.

鈥淚 think the idea of arming teachers is frankly one of the dumbest policy ideas I have heard recently,鈥� said Nate Bowling, Washington State鈥檚 2016 Teacher of the Year and a gun owner, in an interview with 麻豆精品.

An armed officer did little to assist during the Parkland school shooting, as he stood outside while the massacre was taking place.

The findings of Gallup鈥檚 poll are similar to those of recently conducted by GBA Strategies for the NEA, the nation鈥檚 largest teachers union. The majority of teacher respondents (74 percent) opposed arming teachers, with 64 percent saying they would feel less safe and 23 percent saying they would feel safer if educators had guns.

The nationally representative Gallup survey was conducted online March 5鈥�12. The margin of error is 卤7 percentage points.

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