>> sunday night on q and a, duke school professor kate bowler discusses her memoir "everything happens for a reason and other lies i've loved" in which she reflects on being diagnosed on stage for -- with stage four: cancer at the age of 35. >> it's gone, right? there is no pain in your stomach, right? ok. then that's real. >> you can see how quickly you moved from praying for her. he had lost his confidence. the idea that because she didn't have pain, she definitely healed. it's a dramatic approach, one i often found to be somewhat manipulative. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q and a. beckyble,

pringle, vice president of the national education association here to talk about school safety. the president over the last couple days suggesting we should arm teachers, those teachers who want to take training, want to be in the classroom and have a gun, also adding perhaps those teachers would get a bonus. greta, i have been teaching for over 30 years, science, middle school, the wonder years. when the president said that i just try to imagine my classroom as i talk about the wonders of science, trying to instill in them the excitement of the natural world, and i am trying to imagine on top of that having the responsibility of carrying a loaded weapon and making a split-second decision about whether or not to use it. that is not the responsibility we want to lay on educators

across this country, and it is serving not what i was trained to do. host: in wall street journal, some teachers are already arms. allow teachers to carry guns on campus is. so far, six states have introduced legislation that would make it easier to have school personnel carry firearms on the property. several school districts in ohio and texas with armed staff say on thursday the have not had any incidents involving guns going up or being shot unnecessarily. we know that there are teachers that have a license to carry guns, and their states allow them to do that. what the president is proposing is putting that possibility on teachers throughout -- responsibility on teachers throughout this country. what we have learned since the horrific shooting last week, and

we are still mourning the loss of so many innocent lives, is we want to listen to our students and educators. amazing. been we are so incredibly proud that through their grief they are speaking up. what are teachers are saying is don't army with guns. -- arm me with guns. me with resources, nurses and counselors, pencils and computers. that is what is going to make the difference in the lives of students. host: we have divided our lines, parents (202) 748-8000. teachers and administrators, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-8002. i know teachers are saying arm me with the things you outlined, to havingachers open

schools hardened, metal detectors, security guards, those types of security added to the environment? guest: again, i am going to say, we need to ask them. each school community needs to come together with parents and students, and please don't leave the students out. they need to come together and talk about what is going to be the best strategy to protect them. but we cannot change this conversation from how we are going to prevent it. there is no excuse for anyone having military grade weapons that are designed to kill as many people as possible in a very short amount of time. that is what our students are demanding of us, the adults in the system. they are demanding change, and they want it right now. are there state, local, or national requirements of schools

to have active shooter drills, lockdown drills? guest: it varies from state to state and community to community. those are the things we're talking about, of course. once you have an active shooter, we want to respond in a way that saves as many lives as possible. that is a conversation for that community to come together and decide what is best for their students. one of the things we want to be careful of is make those decisions, we don't want to turn our schools into prisons and our teachers into armed prison guards and our students into prisoners. that is not the kind of learning environment where we can have the kind of access to quality discussions and resources, and the kids wilfeel free to learn d grow. host: let's hear what our viewers have to say.

we will go to mike in california. welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning, greta. you are the most attractive journalist on air. america.ing, i met -- who is the guest? i missed it. pringle, vice president of the national education association. caller: becky, thank you so much for coming on. i have just two or three things, greta. we had a shooting in louisiana. . thank god they were not killed. host: ok. caller: i think we need to immediately employed five to 10 highly trained national guards in every school, six foot chain-link fence. i am a contractor here as greta knows. it is $35 a foot installed.

with nationalm up guard drones. they are experts at it. isis is toast. thank god to president trump. he is so great. linkedy the kids will be every one of them in the schools, immediately, and they will be able to react immediately. host: do you have any thoughts on that? guest: i worry about the image that just created for me that we turn our schools into battlegrounds. if that is the direction we are going in, then we are not hearing what our students are saying to us. host: what are the students saying? what do you make of the movement of the high school students in florida and around the country? guest: exactly, and around the world. i am incredibly proud of them.

they are standing up and speaking out and not sitting down. , they have been accused of being a front for someone. they have not been taken at their word, or they have mental they could not possibly be that told they could not possibly be this articulate. of course they are. we have talked and well. they are asking for common sense gun laws, gun reform in this country. all of this conversation has been diverted away from that, what our students are demanding. host: we will be talking to a parkland, florida, student on "washington journal." us onhall will be joining "washington journal," that set iphone 15, 1 of the students accused of being activist that is on 9:15.

one of the students accused of being an activist. caller: the nra seems to be the biggest obstacle to getting anything done. members.as many i know with the school districts saying we don't have the money for everything, no money to put into schools. the nra has retired people, trained people. say justd step up and like the safety people for the crosswalks, we will go to the , protect the, protect the schoe people there that are retired. it would not cost anything because they are part of the nra , and they could get through severe background checks. i think that the nra wants to do something, step up, do it. you could solve this problem. it would not cost anybody

any money. host: ok. ms. pringle. prevention, wes are talking about universal background checks. we have been talking about that so long. democrats, republicans, gun owners, non-donors, they all agree with that. -gun owners,s, non they all agree with that. it is shocking we haven't been able to the congress that. the pressure our students are , andng on our lawmakers what they are seeing in our democracy, their voice being heard, it is incredible. i believe they mean it when they say never again. host: i want to follow up on the previous caller the mentioned the shooting in louisiana. this was hammond, louisiana, two

people injured on southeastern reason it never see campus overnight. louisianastern university campus overnight. the incident involved several people on the north campus leading to a shooting according to the school's official twitter account. randall in minnesota, you're next. caller: i want to commend your guests, even though i agree that whatever works works. we are going around it wrong if we suggest people already overwhelmed with the situation be asked to do more. i commend people that are for law and order. here's what we have to understand is our adversary. they are only going into the school because they feel that is there retribution or whatever

reason in their head. we have to pardon the target, -- harden the target, and we can do that through existing infrastructure and law enforcement. when people are trained to be a police officer, that can be there apprentice service. on the outgoing and, those transitioning to retirement can use the last several years to train incoming trainees. we have a failure to communicate. we have been mistaking motion for progress. we have been going around this mountain 40 years. i am sick of it. i was around and aware austin, texas, i believe the first random shooting by a perpetrator. scouts, be like boy prepared. we can do this with existing infrastructure and expenses already being wasted, like that fbi fiasco.

they should all be fired. whoever took the call and did not respond should be fired. host: ok. becky pringle. best: we absolutely need to taking a look at those folks. we need to be talking about prevention, and we need to talk about preparedness as well. that is where our communities and schools and parents and administrators and law enforcement come in to talk about what is best for their community, what is needed for their community. we need to look at both sides of that, prevention and being prepared. host: another headline i want to share with our viewers and have you respond to. here is the new york times, supreme court that will over pple labor cri stronghold. whetherl decide employees must pay the union of

fee for representing them in collective bargaining. conservatives argue the first amendment bars workers from having to pay anything. the supreme court has sent the most they agree with that argument. would bar the union from collecting fees from anyone who benefits from their collective bargaining. guest: we are talking with our members about the impact and the public. unions are the backbone of this country. wagesot only secured the and working conditions for mostly middle-class working people, but they also were instrumental in changing things .ike safety in the workplace in our case, making sure our student's learning conditions are conducive to them actually being able to meet the needs of

every individual student. that was cannot be silenced -- voice cannot be silenced because this case is about our ability to lift up our voices, or in this case our students about safety, and we have the power to do that. we want to make sure we are not stripped of that power. it is essential. host: if the court were to rule against unions, what are you talking about for losses for the nea? guest: we are talking about organizing our members, having conversations with them about what the union is, what it has done not only for them, but what does for society in the future. what it does for us as an education union, we are instrumental in taking on issues, for example racial justice in education, making sure we have equity and access

for all of our students regardless of their zip code, regardless of their race, regardless of their abilities. those are the issues we are focused on. we are talking with our members about advocating for those things because that is what our members tell us is important to them, that they have that voice to speak up for their students and earn a living to take care of their family. we are having that conversation. we are not looking at this as a loss. we are looking at this as an opportunity to build our power. host: apologies for coughing while you were talking. let's listen to what the president had to say when he met with local and state officials about gun free zones. [video clip] president trump: i would like to see true people with great talent with guns and being adept at guns, of which

there is only a percentage, and that will be a substantial number. you cannot hire a security guard. your school, you would need 150 security guards. that is a big school with a tremendous permanent. who wants that many security guards standing all over with guns? you could have been concealed on teachers. people would not know who they are. it is a tremendous threat. advertising -- instead of advertising this school discovery, you let the people know the opposite. nobody is going to attack at school. they are cowards. they don't want to be shot at. they will be shot at. not a lot of people agree with us, but a lot of people do agree with us. you come into our schools, you are going to be dead. it is going to be fast. unless you do that, you are going to always have this problem. guest: the president in that

clip is making the case for how impractical that idea is. that we have armed educators or others that are going to be on every place on the campus. it is not possible. what we are not hearing from him is what he is going to change in law, what he is going to do to make sure we don't have guns coming in our schools for military purposes. there is no excuse for them to come into our schools and be it did take the lives of that many students in that short a period of time. host: darlene is next in nevada. caller: good morning. i don't hear the conversation about this being a student, and he got expelled from school with no resources.

i don't know what we expect as a nation when we put people on the street who are hurting, who are in need of support, and somehow the special education system did not address his issues, but every adult who ever worked with him new he had issues. this is not an issue of we need to our adult in the public school system. what is that going to look like? that is a child, to. are you saying you are willing to put your own child at risk because they have a health issue, mental health issue? this is a nation that should be looking at the safety net. host: let's take that point. what resources does a teacher have, and what is the protocol when they have a student they believe is troubled and poses a threat? guest: it is essential that we provide our schools and teachers

with the tools they need to address the needs of every single student. educators always amazed me. they immediately came out with this #armme. they know if they don't have social workers to address the needs that are coming into our schools, if they don't have these resources, we will have trouble ticket who are not getting the support -- troubled kids who are not getting the support they need. that is what they are saying. if you listen to them, it is pretty amazing how that has actually blown up in the twittersphere. educators know they need those resources to assist all of our kids, every single one of them. on in virginia, good morning. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. one subject about this i want to discuss, let's say i have a daughter who is a kindergarten teacher. she has been training for guns. theis fingerpainting with children. in of a sudden a guy comes and fires some shots. she doesn't have time to go get her gun. blamingnra be that teacher because she doesn't have time to do two jobs instead of her main job, teaching? if she doesn't protect, you can just imagine what the media would be screaming about how she was a loser, and she shouldn't. it would just be awful. i think the whole idea of arming teachers is absurd.

host: let's take that point. guest: i cannot agree more with your caller. i was listening to how one of the students who survived the shooting in florida described thehorrific scene where frightened students were running at the teacher, and they were looking at her to protect them. imagine having the responsibility of having a gun. where is that got? -- gun? firearms should be locked away for safekeeping. how do you get access to that? imagine, it was so vivid. they were rushing at her. imagine having the responsibility to get a gun out at that moment. the caller is exactly right.

how would she feel at that moment she has that responsibility? whether or not the president is proposing initially training once a year or twice a year, we all know when we are in those situations, unless you are constantly training, you are not ready to make that decision in an instant whether you are going to use that gun or not. host: quickly, what is the nea planning to do on this issue in the coming weeks? guest: guest: we are working with our partners and students in supporting and lifting up their voices. we are also partnering with other organizations for a date of action on april 20, live for your listeners and viewers to talk about, go to our website to get more information about what they can do to bring about change.

♪ >> c-span's washington journal, live every day, with news and policy issues that impact you. next, founder and president -- james o'keefe discusses his new book. ceo of apresident and company -- on the pentagon's church policy. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. ♪ , more about a safety proposal with the president of the american federation of teachers command our guest on newsmakers. let's followed by