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After Thursday鈥檚 massacre at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, the , Donald Trump told supporters聽in Franklin, Tenn. Saturday聽that more guns, not fewer, :

It was a gun-free zone.... I鈥檒l tell you, if you had a couple of the teachers or聽someone with guns in that room, you would have been a hell of a lot better off ...

The presidential hopeful is hardly the first to suggest that "good" guns in schools are the answer to "bad" ones.听Shortly after the deaths of 20 first-graders and six staff at a school Sandy Hook, Conn., devastated the nation in 2012, the National Rifle Association at all public schools.听

鈥淗ow have our nation鈥檚 priorities gotten so far out of order?鈥� asked NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, pointing out that banks, sports events, and power plants are typically protected by armed guards. Keeping schools gun-free 鈥渢ell[s] every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.鈥�

Many Americans appear to agree with Mr. LaPierre鈥檚 conclusion that 鈥渢he only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.鈥� In a , 38 percent favored letting teachers and school officials carry guns, while 40 percent opposed the idea.听

Although gun control advocates had hoped Sandy Hook would prove a turning point, 28 states currently allow adults who own legal guns to . Increasingly, it seems, the those carrying guns are the teachers themselves.听

The debate swirls around teachers and principals should, could, would, and won鈥檛 do. Yet their voices can seem drowned by the back-and-forth of politicians and pro- or anti-gun organizations. So what do teachers say?

鈥淚 think ,鈥� Utah special education teacher Kasey Hansen told NBC. 鈥淲e are the first line of defense.鈥�

Hansen, who brings a handgun to school with her each day, lives in one of seven states where teachers who carry are not obliged to inform their principals, coworkers, or students鈥� families.

Gun-toting teachers may not be outliers. According to the , a non-union professional organization, 61 percent of their members would support concealed carry for teachers who received specialized training. However, only 26 percent said they themselves would consider bringing a gun into school.听

Yet another poll from the , the country鈥檚 largest teacher union, finds starkly different results. Just 22 percent agreed that teachers who received firearms training should be able to bring guns to school, while 68 percent opposed, with 61 percent saying they 鈥渟trongly oppose鈥� the idea.听

Several educators have penned columns and op-eds voicing their concerns that, no matter how effectively classroom guns might prevent a tragedy 鈥� itself a debated idea 鈥� the risks outweigh the benefits. concludes hunter, gun-owner, and New York principal Russ Moore.

Others are even blunter. 鈥淎s a child psychologist, I find myself thinking, ?鈥� Ken Corbett asked in a piece for Slate. 鈥淜ids get their hands on most everything.鈥澛�

Others point out that, despite the horror of school violence, schools actually remain one of the safest places for children. 鈥淐hildren spend more than a third of their waking hours on campus, but less than 2 percent of youth homicides occur at school,鈥� educational experts Deborah Gorman-Smith and Michele McLaughlin .听

How best to prevent the shootings that do occur? Guns may or may not have a role, but perhaps educators can agree on a second option: prevention. While the NEA , it recommends that such policies be accompanied by anti-bullying and mental-health services.