The most obvious response to school shootings is to allow teachers and other employees who are licensed to carry firearms to do so. Would-be mass murderers are drawn to schools largely because they are usually “gun-free zones,” which means the shooter’s gun will be the only one on the scene. But some have questioned whether many teachers would actually be willing to arm themselves, so as to make this a practical solution.

The Rand Corporation conducted a nationwide survey of nearly 1,000 teachers, which is reported on by Catrin Wigfall. Most teachers are liberals these days–no surprise, given the far-left orientation of universities’ education programs and the teachers’ unions. So 54% of Rand’s respondents said they thought arming teachers would make schools less safe.

More to the point, however, 19% of those surveyed said that if they were authorized to bear arms at their school they would do so:

When asked whether they would choose to carry a firearm if their school implemented a program where teachers could be armed, 19 percent of teachers overall said yes. Although a clear minority, this share nevertheless translates into roughly 550,000 teachers nationally with interest in personally carrying firearms.

If a “shooter” hungry for media glory thought that one teacher in five was carrying a gun, he most likely would go somewhere other than a school to carry out his rampage. I conclude that arming teachers is an eminently practical–and virtually cost-free–way to deter school shootings.