A majority of voters oppose requiring classroom teachers to carry firearms and attend gun training courses, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll released on Thursday.
Fifty-nine percent of registered voters oppose training and arming teachers, compared to 41 percent who support both actions.
Democrats and independents voiced the strongest opposition to putting more firearms in schools.
Sixty-eight percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents were against the proposals, compared to 45 percent of Republicans.
Most GOP respondents — 55 percent — were in favor of training and arming teachers.
President Trump has touted arming teachers as a solution to combating the rise of gun violence.
Last year, the president endorsed several National Rifle Association-backed proposals to give teachers guns.
However, a number of states are taking action on gun control amid congressional inaction on the issue. House Democrats have passed a number of gun-related measures, but none of these have been taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate.
Just last month, New York passed a law that bans local school districts from allowing teachers to carry guns to school.
The bill, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), signed into law last month, also establishes gun buyback programs to keep firearms off school grounds.
The Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted online among 1,000 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
—Tess Bonn
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