Only four months into the calendar year of two-thousand-eighteen, and there have already been eighteen school shootings where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to 1.4 shootings a week. “If only educators had a gun…” Staunch gun rights advocates across America continuously promote this scenario to lobby feverishly for the training and arming of school faculty. The issue of gun violence in schools has been a pressing issue on the forefront of national politics in the past few years. Although our elected United States President, Donald Trump argues that guns in the hands of teachers could prove to be beneficial, arming educators has the potential to promote a war zone, which inevitably could stimulate more violence; and allowing teachers to carry firearms could discourage …show more content…
Schools are generally considered a safe place and have been for years. Not only safe from violence, but safe to express thoughts and opinions without fear of retaliation or ridicule. Allowing firearms into an environment such as this, will most assuredly make schools feel more like a war zone, not a safe zone. It will feel more like a prison, not a school. Students will become silent with their thoughts, ideas, and opinions and their opportunity for mindful growth will decrease. Teachers are supposed to be counselors and advisors – safe people. Allowing educators to carry guns makes them the appointed defenders of our schools. But what if the principal (or teacher) doesn't act quickly enough? What if the teacher does not believe in pulling a gun? Or couldn't find the key to the locked drawer containing the gun? Perhaps the teacher wasn't in the building when a threat presented itself? There now becomes a culpable non-defender, someone who does not do his or her duty and now another target for finger-pointing, excuse-making, lawsuits, or
Over the past several years gun violence in schools has been led into many news stories. From the 1999 Columbine Shooting in Colorado to the Sandy Hook Massacre in Massachusetts, the death of students by armed intruders has ignited a debate among many Americans. At the root of this argument is the question: Should teachers and school staff be armed? Some argue schools would be safer if this occurs. The fact of the matter is; it would make schools a more dangerous place to be. Placing untrained individuals into a stressful school environment where their decisions have life or death consequences is a horrible idea.
Numerous studies have been conducted to determine if teachers should be in possession of a firearm while on school properties and if this will decrease the number and magnitude of school shootings. Many scholars believe equipping teachers with firearms will be costly and end up unnecessarily endangering more students, but many scholars claim that a teacher should be the last line of defense against a school shooter. The question this paper hopes to answer is how can equipping teachers who teach grades K-12 help to prevent school shootings in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining the perspectives of school administration and law enforcement, the impact on student’s safety and education, the
Imagine the notion of being defenseless against an individual holding the purpose of wreaking mass devastation on the students and faculty inside of a school. In 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut endured a tragedy that carries historical significance to the notion of shielding those inside of a classroom in a worst-case situation. When twenty-six students had their life taken away during a school massacre, the thought of permitting teachers to carry handguns during class drew more consideration than ever. The safety of the students inside of a school facility may be in jeopardy as manifested in school shootings such as the ones which transpired at Sandy Hook Elementary School and Virginia Tech, where thirty-two students and teachers lost their lives (History.com). While many feel that presenting teachers with handguns may prove harmful to safety efforts, inflicting such standards would provide instructors and students equally with enhanced protection and overall security.
Then They Spoke to Lawmakers.” Talks about a possible ban on the sale of military-style firearms like the AR-15, the same gun used to kill 17 students at Stoneman Douglas High school. Now some may believe that take taking guns away is unfair and it will only make the problem worse. But only taking some guns away will still benefit the doubt of when someone thinks to go shoot up a school next. And yes, next time, because unless we do something soon, it might be our school next and who knows, maybe 18,19, or even 100 students get killed, but what if we could stop it or prevent it from happening again, the government must allow teacher and staff to have access to guns at school to protect themselves and their
As this essay has shown, it is best for teachers to carry concealed firearms. It will provide safety to all school. It will provide security to inner city schools where school gun violence occurs most often. It will also create respect, which will end many shootings before they even begin. Students have died every week this year so far due to gun violence. Let’s end the trend and push for these laws to be put in place. Contact your senators, mayors, and congressmen and tell them that you want teachers to carry concealed firearms. If we have these laws in place, we can end the plague of shootings that has come over our great nation and move forward.
Since 2013, there have been over 200 school shootings in America- an average of one a week (EverytownResearch.org). Some state Legislators are considering letting individual districts and college campus to have autonomy over the type school security that is available for the students and staff. There is a state law in Texas, called The Protection of Texas Children Act, the law essentially deputizes school officials to serve as “School Marshals” who, after obtaining proper weapons license, undergoing training and passing a mental health exam, and receive training in crisis management and hostile situation, then they can have a gun in schools (Chen). In the rural area of Harrold, Texas, in the Harrold Independent School District, in 2007, they have already made ground breaking changes, they were the first school to allow teachers and staff after following the strict set of prerequisites to carry a weapon on school property. The students in the high school say they feel much safer knowing that in a small town where there is no police station that the teachers are going to protect them if the situation should arrive (Chen). Since this first school many others across the country have also made changes to allow their staff to be armed.
The shots fired at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012 sent a clear message to all of us that something needed to change. For a while nothing changed, and since that particular shooting, the overall amount of school shootings in the United States have nearly doubled. After another recent shooting, Americans have finally decided something needs to be done about it. Although, it is unclear if the right steps to protect our schools are being taken. Should teachers be given guns? It is proven to be a horrific idea. Not all teachers can be trusted with guns, the guns would be easily accessible to students, and many teachers and students have already stepped forward agreeing it would place an unfair burden on themselves.
School safety has become a major issue around the nation. This ongoing debate revolves around the topic of gun violence and mental illness. Mentally ill persons are able to attain guns very easily and use them in dangerous ways that are harmful to other people. What can be done on school safety and gun violence in America to keep our children in a safe environment and protect the rest of the nation? In order to prevent gun deaths and increase school safety, people that are at a high risk of harming themselves or others must be checked out. Also, better background checks and procedures need to be put in place during the short process of buying a gun.
Brian Coughlin 3/21/2017 English 2 CPE School Violence Period 7 Mrs. Davidson Imagine being Cameron Porter or Carla Evans two witnesses to the Madison High School shooting. Not only were they witnesses but they personally knew the shooter themselves. Carla was the ex-girlfriend of Leonard and Cameron was best friends with him. They had to see their friend go insane and shoot up the school, and their stories were shown through the interviews and other investigations.
Upon reading the article, “What If We Treated Gun Violence Like A Public Health Crisis?” and watching the news every now and then, there are many major tragedies surrounding around us. It is absolutely scary, and only seems to be getting worse. The article starts off with the statement that, “More than 30,000 people a year are killed by gun violence,” making it clear just how serious the situation pertaining gun violence is (Kodjak, 2017, p. 1). Yet, this statistic does not even take into consideration the amount of people who are injured due to gun violence, which would sky rocket this total.
Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, there have been roughly 208 school shootings on school grounds. This series of shootings, especially after the attack in Parkland Florida, has created an outcry for stricter gun laws, higher purchasing ages and more background checks to try and make schools safer. One of the ideas on the table to reach this is to arm teachers and staff with firearms to ‘stop the threat before it happens’. But, this has received nothing but opposition from a majority of Americans, since the cost or properly arming a school is too great, arming teachers is an open invitation to unwarranted gun violence against minority students and teachers due to racial biases. The outcry of students, teachers and families is
Alyssa Alhadeff was a member of a travel soccer team, and attended a Jewish sleepaway camp during her summers. She was described as a bright, outgoing girl with a love for athletics. Alyssa was fourteen years old when she was fatally shot by an active shooter, Nikolas Cruz, at her high school. The issue of gun violence is a very controversial issue that splits our country into two opinions--those who are for stricter gun control laws and those who are against them. The conversations about this topic have increased significantly in the past year due to recent events. The 2017 Las Vegas shooting and the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting were two particular instances that shocked and outraged the nation. Gun violence is a fairly new concern as far as problems in The United States go, with seven of the eight deadliest shootings of U.S. history having occurred after 1990. This is a key piece of information, because studies have shown that while the number of shootings has not necessarily increased in recent years, the number of fatalities within each has. Therefore, the actual root of this issue is the guns being used. These weapons are continuing to become more and more advanced, yet the laws in regards to them are not being changed in order to protect the general public. The longer The United States delays attempts to fix this issue,
Have you ever wondered why someone would pick up a gun and point it at a classmate, a family member, or yet, a child's innocent face. These questions haunted me after I got a message from a friend saying there might be a school shooting tomorrow . I have always known my school to be a safe place, and such news frightened me. A few hours later I got a message from the same friend. This time, she said “the news was a rumor". Even though I was comforted by knowing it was a rumor, I wanted to have a wider understanding of such incidents. After reading a few article I saw a trend, Every Time a school shooting or any mass shooting happens in general, guns become the main topic throughout the nation, and the country gets divided into pro-guns and anti-guns. This event of polarization would continue until the next shooting where people get and more polarized rather than focusing on the issue. But we have to recognize this, what we need to solve is not just what method the shooter used, but the events leading to that decision.
Despite our whereabouts everyone main concern is gun violence; there is always an argument concerning guns. Should be mandated or not? Is it life or death situation or plain old homicide? With that question being asked by Americans nationwide, should students be allowed to carry guns or campus? Or should we fear that they all will use it for all the wrong reasons intended?
Gun violence has been a conspicuous problem in the US, especially in recent times. The problem appears to be unique to the U.S, perhaps due to the advocacy that exists for guns by the NRA (National Rifle Association), as well as its constitution that permits household gun ownership. Thus, guns have grown to become a part of U.S culture, and there is an ongoing debate about how ethical or appropriate its (guns) prevalence is. Some argue that guns are needed, since they enhance the ability of people to protect themselves, while others protest that guns are harmful to society. I for one, am a strong believer in the latter, and assert that gun violence is the highest cause of death under the age of 40 in America - basing my argument of factors, such as the pervasiveness of guns, mass shootings, and the intertwining relationship between gang violence and drug distribution.