Guns in Schools
“We can’t stop an active shooter, but we can minimize the carnage,” said John Scheu, the superintendent of Sidney City Schools. In any problem that presents itself in society today and ultimately in the past there is never one solution or even a solution. What we today need to do is start the protection. Just because there isn’t one solution it does not mean we shouldn’t try. If we apply that idea to anything in life our world will halt in its movement. For this alone, I believe we must begin our focus on this issue. When we start a conversation about guns in schools everyone automatically cringes. This is exactly what we need to discuss though. There are many pro’s to guns in schools but also many cons, so that today is what we will be looking at.
First off let’s look at the pros.
#1 It costs less than adding extra security members. “· Clarksville school district in Arkansas spent $68,000 training 13 teachers in how to handle guns properly versus $50,000 cost to hire full-time security guard.-from CNN. This is a school that has already implemented teachers carrying guns and have had 0 problems. A big problem in every school across the states essentially is lack of funding. We see that in many states like Utah and Arkansas, schools funding is the first to go. When kids need vital essentials to their curriculum like arts and extracurricular activities, adding a couple more security guards will completely decimate the budget for those two activities. When arming teachers (that want to be armed), it's ultimately cheaper and more cost-efficient.
#2 Adds Sense of security for teachers and students as most teachers have students safety deeply embedded in their hearts. “ while no teacher in Callisburg, Texas, has been called on yet to fire a weapon in defense of a classroom, students in the Callisburg Independent School District say they feel safer knowing their teachers can protect them if the unthinkable happens.”-Fox4News. As of now many kids of America attending school are afraid of the unthinkable. With more and more school shootings happening no one can really blame them either. If kids feel safer with teachers who are armed that's very important. Implementing a plan like this, of course, wouldn't be just handing some teachers guns but those that are trained and confident with the gun. This would be great in the soothing vast majority of the school's communities mind.
#3 It allows for the fastest response time. “The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in December 2012, was reported to police at 9.35am. Officers arrived less than four minutes later; within a minute, they heard the gunman shoot himself”. -BBC news Washington DC. Cops aren’t always located close to the schools. This causes longer wait time and can result in more lives risked. The teachers will be there. Most teachers also have the kids best interest at heart, of course not that security officers do but as in the case of Florida school shooting the security officer WAITED OUTSIDE. Yet when we look at other cases we hear of fearless teachers that did everything they could to protect their students even often putting themselves in front of gunfire in order to save the students. Teachers #1 priority is almost always to better their students. It’s simple to believe this would extend to wanting to be the ones to protect especially since they are there.
Although there are pros, there are also cons. In order to make this a fair article we must also discuss the cons.
#1 Armed teachers are not a deterrent to suicidal mass shooters. · nearly 90% — of all high-fatality gun massacres since 1966 have occurred wholly or partly in locations where civilian guns were allowed or there was armed security or law enforcement present. -According to Giffords law center to prevent gun violence. In the past, nothing deters a shooter who wants to kill mass amounts of people. there is no real reason to believe arming our teachers will deter them any further and even may put teachers at risk more than anything. It’s not the teacher's job and often may not have full confidence in themselves to do that. The teachers that are armed could be well known and in most school shootings the perpetrator has gone to the school or actively goes, so likely they will know those exact teachers and can narrow them down. By teachers having guns it puts them also at greater risks for false claims and potentially overreacting and getting fired. Although it could be beneficial it could also put teachers at more harm and potentially even students.
#2 Teachers want to teach not worry about whether or not they will be the ones carrying guns. Nearly three quarters — 73 percent — of teachers said they oppose school staff carrying guns,-found by Gallup. The #armmewith movement was presented shortly after Trump announced we should start arming teachers and there was some kickback to this thought. Teachers want more funding and not guns is often the consensus and believe better funding can expand helping the kids. Teachers want to teach not fight.
Guns in schools is a double-edged sword. There are goods and there are bads. Schools that have already implemented this have found 0 negatives but at most, they have only been implemented for a year or so. By trying new things like this we risk putting more lives in danger. Also, it may save more. What I premised this article with is there need to be discussions and we do need to try new ideas as what we have been doing has not worked.
Works Cited:
“Poll: Most Teachers Don’t Want Guns in Class.” POLITICO, 16 Mar. 2018, www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/03/16/poll-most-teachers-dont-want-guns-in-class-137653.
“Guns in Schools.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/guns-in-public/guns-in-schools/.
Amos, Owen. “Six Radical Ways to Tackle US School Shootings.” BBC News, BBC, 20 Feb. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43118865.
“Step inside the Texas School District That Already Arms Its Teachers.” FOX2now.Com, 23 Feb. 2018, fox2now.com/2018/02/23/step-inside-the-texas-school-district-that-already-arms-its-teachers/.
Chavez, Nicole. “These Schools Say Arming Teachers ‘Can Be Done Right’.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Feb. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/02/24/us/armed-teachers-states-trnd/index.html.
