Persuasive Essay On Armed Guards In Schools

During the past few years, the number of school shootings has increased markedly. In 2013, there were 19 school shootings that occurred, taking so many innocent lives. Some may remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14th, 2013. It was the second deadliest massacre shooting in United States history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Adam Lanza shot twenty children, six staff, his mother, and himself that day. School shootings are tragic. Violence continues to increase with these shootings, as well as with violence within the schools among the students. The big question is, how do we protect ourselves from these horrible occurrences? How do teachers protect the innocent lives of their students? One common suggestion is for the teachers and administration to be armed. The premise is that if the school staff has possession of firearms this would discourage shooters, thereby making the schools much safer. However, it is my belief that teachers should not be able to have access to weapons. There should never be any type firearm on a school property, excluding trained security personnel, such as police officers and security guards.

The security during the massacre at Columbine High School was minimal. Senator Dianne Feinstein said “There were two armed law enforcement officers at that campus, and you see what happened. Fifteen dead ... 23 wounded.” There was one officer at Columbine who was a 15-year veteran of the Jefferson County, Colorado with the name of Deputy Neil Gardner and another officer, Deputy Paul Smoked, who was a patrolman, both whom were armed. This is where the debate on how to protect schools began (Terkel). “The governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, said he doesn’t think that having armed police officers at a school will make it safer or encourage learning. The NRA’s top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, said, “Having armed security on the scene is necessary so someone is there to shoot back. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun

Whether or not armed security guards should be in schools has been a debate for years but has really been brought into the limelight since the most recent tragedies of Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook. The supporters of having armed security in our school districts believe that it is a needed layer of security and helps to diminish response time if necessary while keeping children, parents and teachers feeling safer to be in school. The ones against having guns in the schools believe that we have had armed guards in schools and it did nothing to stop it. They also believe that the cost is too high while also

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.

For example, if an intruder with a gun was to come inside the school and multiple teachers were to join together to defend the school there is a good chance the intruder would have been killed or stopped dead in their tracks. In addition, if a person was to have a weapon like a knife against a person with a gun they would most likely lose the fight. Teachers should be able to defend at least until police come, and criminals that would want to shoot up a school would probably be less likely to do so with the risk of their own life as well unless they don’t care.

How would you feel if you were a teacher and a shooter killed one of your students? I can only imagine the grief and guilt you would feel. “What more could I have done do save this innocent student’s life?” you might ask. Many teachers have to face this question every year, as the number of school shootings rise. Well, I think there is a way to protect your students and keep your school from being an easy target. If select teachers were armed, than schools would become harder targets, and students would have a better chance of surviving a shooting.

Imagine yourself in school. It is your 7th period class and you are just waiting for the bell to ring to finally go home. The day has been totally ordinary until you and your classmates hear a loud gunshot coming from outside the window. Students are screaming and running frantically around the room. Teachers are rushing around doing all the procedures they learned from past drills. Except this is not a drill. This is real. You and your classmates huddle in the corner. Outside the school you hear more gunshots. Would this situation be different if teachers had guns? The answer is no. Teachers and staff at schools shouldn’t be armed with guns.

School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.

Many students in America, might consider school almost like a home because they spend about half a day in. We need students to be safe at school, so why not have an officer patrolling the hallways. To make the school much safer, the officers should have guns in case there is a threat towards the students. In the eyes of many United State citizens a gun can symbolize death; however, a gun can save several people’s lives. As U.S citizens, we have the right to keep and bear arms, so why do we not have police officers with guns patrolling schools. “Gun violence is a major social issue in America and American schools and university campuses have become targets of gun violence” (Bond). In the U.S we had several severe situations when someone comes to the school and starts to kill not only students, but teachers and staff, this could have been prevented if we were prepared and secured. Although the opposition may suggest it could be more dangerous to have an officer or guard be allowed with a gun; however, having an officer with a gun would decrease the number of shootings and other minor problems at schools.

There are alarms screaming, children crying, teachers hiding, and a masked man gunning down anyone he finds. There is nothing to protect these students and teachers in a moment like this. We need something to protect them. Arming teachers would protect students from harm.

The main purpose of armed teachers is to protect students in case of emergencies, but it makes schools become guns free zones, and it is considered as a potential danger in the educational environment. What if half of school staff carries handguns into schools, it would make school environment be more scary and pressured. As a result, the school violence might occur. For example, teachers could loss calm when getting stressed something off campus or on campus. They would abuse the guns as pressure to make students, so the idea of educators should carry guns is a school violence at some

If we look back at Sandy Hook last year, first grade teacher and hero Victoria Soto, who was shot and killed after hiding her kids in a closet and told the gunman the kids were in gym, might still be alive had she been armed and able to defend herself. (Siebold, 2013) The matter of the fact is that the location of shooter will forever be unknown and people need to be prepared to defend themselves wherever an incident takes place. It is stated that two out of ten security guards in the United States carry weapons on them. My question is what about the other eight security guards? They are made extremely vulnerable to an attacker. The controversial debate is why would teachers and faculty need to carry guns when there are enough security guards? The majority of the nation's school children attend classes in schools that are considered large. Approximately 70 percent of high-school-age children attend schools with more than 1,000 students; nearly 50 percent attend schools with more than 1,500. (Agron, 2003, p. 1) The amount of students in each school in the United States compared to the two to four security guards that work in each location is not a sufficient amount to provide adequate protection for the employees and students within the

Some are afraid that by placing guns in school zones, more deaths and homicides will occur. That by giving administrators guns the chance of a shooting will increase tremendously, but the truth is by not placing guns on school property, we are increasing the chance of having our children and loved ones being shot. By allowing our administrators to carry guns in schools, we decrease the chance of someone walking into that school and possibly injuring or killing our students and teachers. The Superintendent David Hopkins of the Arkansas district stated “ The plan we’ve been given in the past is ‘Well, lock your doors, turn off your lights and hope for the best’ That’s not a plan”(“Guns in School” #2). Locking the doors and hoping for the best is not the best way to protect the students and teachers. Arming a number of administrators and allowing them to protect themselves and students is the best way to be

Although some say armed police officers in schools may be a danger to all, armed police officers should be present in schools because their presence alone can give a sense of safety. Having armed police officers on campus can deter bad situations from happening. They can also have an impact of the number of school shootings that occur. They can also help with situations that may occur with students that may have conflict with other students that a teacher or staff member may not be able to handle. In this era that we live in having armed officers in schools is a way to insure the safety of students.

Over the past decade school violence has been on the rise. School violence has always existed in some form or another, whether it is a fight out on the play ground or a stabbing in the parking lot. However nothing got the nation's attentions like the April 20, 1999, Columbine school shooting. Ever since that day the nation wants to know what to do to protect the kids in this country. Many schools have gotten increasingly stricter on their policies, especially the schools that have more money. What about the schools that cant' afford metal detectors and security officers? American public schools are not safe, and need to have greater security measures to ensure the students' safety.