This needs to happen because too much isn't funny. I'm going to break the 4th wall because I need to be open and honest. I'm not a hat. We are two real people who started this account because of a moron's silly hats, but the truth is we're two teachers who have something to say:
THREAD:
Guns. We're not anti-guns. Like most Americans we support an individual's right to responsibly own, and even in some contexts carry, reasonable arms. The 2nd Amendment is in the Bill of Rights, but like the other Amendments it isn't absolute under ANY interpretation. /1
Guns. We're not anti-guns. Like most Americans we support an individual's right to responsibly own, and even in some contexts carry, reasonable arms. The 2nd Amendment is in the Bill of Rights, but like the other Amendments it isn't absolute under ANY interpretation. /1
We also, however, support practical and meaningful laws that better ensure the safety that is guaranteed under each person's natural right to life, liberty, and property. By our Constitution and our social contract, our government is tasked with protecting those rights. /2
In particular, we are begging for measures that greater ensure the safety of children, and that protect schools and other public spaces from the harms and horrors that weapons of war can wreak upon innocent people and communities. /3
We teach because we love to learn and to help others learn. That does not happen unless campuses and school spaces are bound by trust and mutual expectations of safety. We have seen what happens when those expectations break down. /4
We teach history and civics. We have advanced degrees. And so we feel uniquely qualified to speak out on issues like this. But more importantly, we're teachers, and we are coaches, and we are mentors and caretakers to America's youth. /5
We know what it feels like to love a bunch of strangers' kids. We know how seriously teachers & coaches take their students safety and well-being. We know with utmost certainty that we would put our lives before that of our kids (and yes, that's what we call them). Full stop. /6
We are also proud as hell of these patriots/activists/role models from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and we know that if the same happened at one of our schools, our kids would fight back the same way. We know these things because we live and feel them every damn day. /7
But here's what we won't do. WE WILL NOT ARM OURSELVES. We will not be pressured into arming ourselves or training ourselves in combat or law enforcement. And we know what it feels like to be threatened in the classroom. /8
We know what it's like for there to be a gun at school and to feel powerless to stop the outside world's evil from descending into our spaces. We've been there. It's terrifying, and it makes it nearly impossible to wake up and march right back into the classroom the next day. /9
But that changes nothing. Neither of us would have followed our hearts and entered into this vocation if guns were a part of the equation. The day that one civilian is armed in our school or on our campus is the day that we walk away. /10
Arming teachers will result in driving good teachers away, and/or in convincing others to enter the profession based on an attraction to guns and conceal/carry at work. That's a lose-lose scenario. We need the best teachers in our classrooms, not the best security personnel. /11
U.S. schools are woefully shorthanded and underfunded. Teachers are expected to have a graduate-level (or equivalent) education, undergo regular professional development and recertification, work for salaries incommensurate with their education or the difficulty of the job... /12
...work after-hours for no extra pay, ensure the safety of YOUR CHILDREN whom you place in their care, and at the same time perform the actual classroom duties required by the job. Teachers don't need more risk and more responsibility. /13
They need everyone else's goddamn help. That help means reducing the number of automatic weapons in the hands of civilians. It means creating a comprehensive, thorough, and connected background check system that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous people. /14
It means that domestic abusers lose the right and privilege of owning a firearm. IT MEANS THAT THE BEST MINDS IN OUR COUNTRY NEED TO BE ABLE TO STUDY THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF GUN VIOLENCE AND THEN RECOMMEND POLICY. And if it means more, then so be it. /15
And so, before we go back to playing the part of a snarky, anthropomorphic hat(mic), please know that on this issue, we have an enormous stake in these outcomes--as do our families, our friends, and our kids. With this, we cannot joke around. /16
And if nothing is done, and if we move onto the next shooting with the same rote platitudes and short memories that we have in the past, know that we and those whom we work with (and for) will arm ourselves not with guns, but with votes. /17
We will give the little money that we make to candidates who care about our safety. We will knock on doors, we will walk the streets, we will fight alongside these beautiful young people from Florida, and we will make sure that our government protects OUR rights. /18
We will ensure that our government represents us. And if it doesn't, we will vote in a new one. Your ideology will not make us safer. Our advocacy will. Your spin and guilt and promises won't dictate our future, our actions will. /19
Your misrepresentation of the Bill of Rights will not supplant our protections. Your false promises and B.S. solutions won't placate us this time. And we sure as hell will not take up arms to correct for your failures. The work we are doing will change this and stop this. /20
We are genuinely sorry for those of you who follow us for the levity, whimsy, and (admittedly) trite commentary befitting a bucket hat's Twitter account. We don't want to that to change, but to maintain our collective sanity, something had to be said. /21
If you have more questions or want more perspective, DM us, and we'll talk candidly. We're not hiding, but we do have a profound respect for the need to protect oneself, and we value the freedom that online anonymity affords. /22
We also appreciate that openness and honesty improve conversations in a era of online courage and unproductive discourse. We're now caught horribly in-between, but oh well...we'll do our best to navigate this gray area. /23
Until then have your politics and your disagreements, but please don't think for a second that semi-automatic weapons in the hands of the general public is going to make us safer, nor is an armed-and-ready corps of teachers. That isn't who we are nor who we should aspire to be.🛑
