School Shootings

It? Violence in school’s has been a uprising problem two shootings have happened in the same month march 2018 one in florida the other in maryland.

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.

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.

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.

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

Recently there have been many school shootings throughout the United States and the world. Most of these shooting were all connected with the shooter being on anti-depressant medications. In an article called “Medicated to death: by SSRI’s and mass killings” by Lisa Arbercheski, she writes that SSRI’s are linked to the cause of most shootings. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) is one of the most popular medications taken for depression in many countries. Some are known by their popular names like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, and Paxil. These medications have many tests done and none of them prove that they cure depression or mood swings. Could these medications be connected to some of the most recent shootings like the one in Newton, Connecticut? The case is that these medications are causing adolescents to go on suicidal rampage shootings and the United States is trying to play it off like the medications have no connection.

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.

Every day parents send their children off to school with the expectation that they will be returned home safely at the end of the day. However, with an ever increasing number of school shootings some parents are pulling their children out of school because they feel as if school can no longer offer the same sense of security as they once had. Some schools are pressing for the right for school instructors to carry a loaded weapon on campus. School instructors should be allowed to carry a loaded weapon on campus because it helps prevent school shootings, it protects them during school shootings, and gives students and staff an added sense of security.

“ A 20 - year old man armed with an AK- 47- style rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition entered an elementary school in Decatur, Ga, on Aug. 20 and fired off a few rounds but surrendered before anyone was injured” (Toppo, 2013, para.2). Because of school shooting like Sandy Hook and many others, schools all around are finding ways to become more prepared in case of this kind of tragedy. Many options have been discussed but a common idea to keep students and staff safe in schools is allowing teachers and administrators to be licenced and to conceal a gun on school property. “While many national organizations have rejected the idea, it is now being seriously weighed by some school boards and state lawmakers across the nation” (Shah, 2013, para.5). Teachers and Administrators should be allowed to carry guns on school property because police stations are too far away and It will increase the amount of safety when given proper training.

So yes, legally teachers have the right to be armed if their school board agrees with it and certifies. But why would they want to arm them? Yes, to protect our students but there is just so much that would cause issues. Law enforcement only has an 18% accuracy rating when the opposite opponent is firing back according to the RAND Corporation’s evaluation of the New York Police department. It shows that even a highly trained professional law enforcement officer has trouble shooting a suspect in highly stressful

Just in recent years, the debt of whether or not teachers should carry guns has come into light. Some people believe that teachers carrying guns will protect the students, and others oppose the idea because they believe it can lead to dangerous situations. Through careful analyzing of articles, teachers should not be armed in classrooms, because students will be afraid, kids get their hands on most everything, and there has been a long history of school gun violence.

Is arming teachers the last way to stop violence? The number of school shootings is increasing rapidly in the United States. One of the ways people are thinking to solve this problem, is to arm teachers. Almost all of us understand that arming teachers will stop these school shooting from ever happening again. In this essay I will strongly argue that teachers should have guns, because a shooter can be disarmed, it may prevent the trigger from ever getting pulled, and any teacher to become, will have to prove that they are mentally stable to carry guns.

On a normal day at a normal school there it was, several loud bangs. A student with a pistol came around the corner and into a classroom. The teacher tried to go for the gun in his desk, consequently, it was in a locked drawer. By the time he reached, it it was too late, the teacher and five students were killed before the assailant was taken down. Teachers should not have guns during school hours for the following reasons, it won’t get rid of school shootings, it's uncertain if teachers can be trained on how to use them, and it won't improve school safety.

On April 20th, 1999, two students brought guns to Columbine High School in Colorado. They injured 20 people and killed 13, one being a teacher (Columbine High School Shootings). After this tragedy occurred, many people began to believe schools are unsafe, which lead to the idea that firearms should be allowed in school for teachers and students to use in case of an emergency. However, many oppose and believe allowing guns would lead to more chaos and tragedy that is unnecessary and can easily be prevented. Concealed carry of guns by students and teachers should not be allowed because students and teachers cannot be trusted, there are other ways to ensure safety, and students and teachers could feel unsafe in schools.

The big question in a lot of schools today do to several shootings and terrible incidents is whether or not a teacher should be able to be armed with a gun in case a situation of self-defense. It is a concern from regular citizens to teachers and all the way up to the government itself. Realistically, there would be a lot of problems trying to implement guns in the first place but seems reasonable in some ways as well. Teachers having or not having firearms will probably be decided soon enough, but is looking like they won’t have any in the near future. There are several reasons why a teacher should be armed in a school building.