MSNBC contributor Yamiche Alcindor said Thursday that allowing school teachers to be armed could lead to teachers shooting innocent minority students.
Alcindor joined an MSNC panel where she discussed a policy the Education Department is considering, one that would–according to a New York Times report–allow states to use federal funding on guns or gun safety programs. Alcindor said advocacy groups oppose the idea of teachers being armed not just because they don’t support guns in general but because it could harm students.
"Advocates are very worried about the racial impacts this will have," she said. "If you start arming teachers, there are black and brown students being—who are being disciplined more than their white counterparts, you could then start seeing statistics where potentially black students are getting shot or in accidents when their teachers are trying to shoot or do gun safety measures."
"So there's an idea that the NAACP and other advocacy groups say, not only are we looking at this as an issue, issue but it's also the idea that racially it's going to be a problem," she added.
The NAACP issued a statement earlier this year condemning Florida legislators' decision to pass a law to allow some teachers and staff to carry a gun in school.
Alcindor said the policy under consideration reflects Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ overall plans for the department.
"Secretary DeVos was very controversial coming in and someone who had a very opinionated view of how the federal education system should be run and now she's carrying this out in a very quiet way," she said. "Much like Jeff Sessions, they are doing what they said they were going to be doing."
Colorado is one state with a robust training program for teachers who seek to carry a firearm at school. It is the sort of program the Education Department could theoretically support, but the state has not requested federal funding for the program, nor has the Education Department said it would fund it.