Arming teachers is equipping teachers in preschool through secondary school with firearms with the intent to prevent casualties from school shootings. Such proposals have engendered public debate regarding with whom the responsibility for providing a safe environment lies, and whether it would reduce or escalate the risk of shootings. School shootings, and proposals to arm teachers, are most common in the United States, but proposals have also been made in countries such as Israel, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand.
In the United States, proposals to arm teachers were made following shootings at schools in Columbine, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; Newtown, Connecticut; Sidney, Ohio; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. 43 percent of Americans support arming of school personnel, with greater support among gun owners, Republicans, and White Americans. The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 allows individual states to designate who may carry guns in schools.