Teens 'have raging passions' and fights, so guns in schools 'not a good idea': Florida HS teacher
— -- A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher who sheltered students in her classroom during the Feb. 14 massacre that killed 17 said arming teachers with guns is "not a good idea."
Ashley Kurth, a culinary arts teacher at the high school in Parkland, Florida, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday that she’s witnessed and broken up too many fights to support having guns around teenagers.
“These are kids who have raging passions,” the teacher said. “Having something like this in their vicinity is not a good idea.”
Kurth, a lifelong Republican, said she previously opposed legislative restrictions on gun rights.
But since the Valentine's Day shooting at her school she said she now believes semi-automatic weapons have no place in civilian hands.
“I don’t understand the need to have that type of weapon,” Kurth said. “For me it’s the capacity, the rounds [the alleged shooter at her school] went through in that time is just unreal.”
Kurth drew attention last week when she questioned Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida about proposals to arm teachers during a televised town hall on CNN. Kurth said then that a situation could become confused if teachers have guns when authorities respond to a school shooting.
David Hogg, a 17-year-old senior at the school who has become a leader of the “Never Again” movement for gun control, was interviewed along with Kurth.
He told Stephanopoulos that he thinks people his age will succeed in changing gun laws.
“We have an entire generation of kids who’ve grown up around mass shootings, and can now vote,” Hogg said.
Hogg also reacted to a prior interview on "This Week" Sunday with NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch.
“She’s serving the gun manufacturers,” Hogg said. “She’s not serving the members.”
The NRA is “just disgusting,” the teen said. “They act like they don't still own these politicians but they do.”
