Flooding every major media outlet making headlines across the country are school shootings, it shook the nation when twenty, first graders and six adults were killed by Adam Lanza, a twenty year old man who shot his mother in the head before taking her car and driving to Sandy Hook Elementary. Other school shooting have occurred since then and it brought up the issue of gun control, some politicians even supported the idea of giving teachers guns to have in the classroom. I am against allowing teachers to have guns in the classroom in the name of protection and security.
What is your initial point of view?
My initial point of view is adding more guns to a hostile situation by giving teachers guns does not solve schools security issues in trying to keep children safe. Spending valuable money should not go into training teachers on how to use a gun, it should go into educating all staff members and students on emergency drills and lock downs in case of a school shooting. Even upgrading security systems would be more helpful in a hostile situation rather than depending on one person killing another to save everyone.
How can you define your point of view more clearly?
I can define my point of view more clearly by asking questions that maybe many people have not wanted to ask for the fear of receiving a selfish answer. For example has anyone asked a teacher, even with the training and the gun in your hand are you really ready to kill someone? The state and the school are
If a student was injured by a gun that was in possession of their teacher, even if it was a complete accident, the entire school board would be liable and face lawsuits. Carrying guns would also cause a school’s insurance rate to rise. The idea of having teachers carry concealed weapons has been on the front burner for quite some time. As a result of this extreme idea, insurance companies may begin to increase or even cancel policies with schools that have armed teachers due to the high risk that they are putting themselves at. The schools would also have to pay for the guns themselves as well as proper training for the teachers carrying them. Public schools often face budget cuts already and these unnecessary cost would only take away more from new books, technology, and arts
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
Every time I ask parents what they think about arming teachers they have a bunch of what if’s! What if the teacher goes crazy and shoots the kids? But statistically there are more students shooting the school then teachers! They say “fighting fire with fire” and by putting guns in the hands of teachers isn’t the answer. I believe the case right now is only the attacker has the fire at this point, and I think we need to put the fire in the hands of the good guys like the teachers and give them a way to protect themselves and their students. I have spoken to teachers and they say if any gun man that goes into their class room wanting to hurt anyone of their students, “they have to go through me first” so most people don’t think but teachers will lay down their lives to protect their students like if they were their own children so we should give them a way to do so.
We expect teachers to shape our future generations and teach students how they’re supposed to act in the real world, why not expect them to protect students from delirious shooters as well. The United States are not even top 10 best school systems in the world but let's worry about our education later. Teachers must now learn how to safely use a weapon and not only protect their students but themselves. Teachers are ALWAYS good people, who are ALWAYS in a good mood. The following article “4 reasons arming teachers is the worst idea when it comes to ending gun violence,” states, “Arming teachers is the same thing as arming any civilian – those guns could easily be used for anything but defense and defeats the purpose of creating a safe space in school” (Fratti, 2018). This article Mr. President shows that giving teachers guns would be like giving anyone guns. But how could this be? Teachers are not human they do not get mad from time to time and snap at students for talking over them multiple times. Imagine a teacher having a firearm in the same drawer they used to have the confiscated cell phones from students… not scary at all right? No need for parents to worry with guns in school
You go to school to be educated by your teachers and peers. It brings unnecessary tensions and can cause problems. Students, teachers, and other staffs shouldn’t be able to bring guns to school. Who’s to say that person carrying around an assault weapon doesn’t have an unstable problem? We don’t know what is on someone’s mind or what they are capable of. Anyone could be having a bad day and decide to threaten someone with a gun. These kinds of circumstances should be made clear to the public and be banned from educational schools. Guns are used as protection, but they may be misapplied to be used as violence. There are more rational ways we could go about this such as; investing in more security guards or police enforcement. Needless to say, guns are dangerous especially when in the hands of a deadly person. What's more important, the second amendment or the lives of our teachers and students? Ultimately guns have no place to be in or around a school
The less people injured during school shootings the better it is. The idea of teachers and administrators carrying guns would then be a success.
An evolving and highly debated problem that continues to grow in our society, is the gun control epidemic. Gun violence in America is a national epidemic. Many people carelessly take advantage of Gun use and manipulate the tool without much thought to any repercussions. Many lives have been loss due to people legally or illegally obtaining guns and taking matters upon themselves to be executioners in holding other people's lives in their hands. Specifically, ongoing gun violence in schools have become a horrific catastrophe. It is putting student lives at risk, in a place that is supposed to facilitate a certain level of safety for the students. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, there was 558 gun incidents in schools
There are two main opinions on equipping teachers with firearms. The problem is not with the polarization of these views, but the lack of willingness to compromise. Polarization of two ideas creates an inability to solve the problem. The National Rifle Association’s National School Shield is an uncompromising policy requiring a teacher to carry or possess a firearm (Pérez, 2017). The other side though is
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.
he first main idea, that has been argued much more then needed, is that teachers will be trained to not shoot kids that are acting up. The teachers would be attending a gun safety class. Many (as in people against this argument) say that the teachers wouldn’t attend this class, but a recent survey, conducted by the NRA, shows us that 40 million teachers would like to be armed and would take the Gun Safety Test. The course, that which is mandatory, would likely e sponsored by the NRA. The course that the teachers would be attending, is a 40-60 hours a week course (in the summer time), and the course doesn’t stop until the teacher can pass the exam. The exam is simply being able to hold a gun, reaction time, and being able to know when and when not to shoot. Just recently, 04/10/2017, a school shooting killed two teachers, and injured two students, both kids being injured severely. If those teachers in San Bernardio where armed, they could have saved their lives and those children’s futures. Also in 2013 teacher aids, the principal, the school psychologist, teachers, and 20 children ranging from 6-7 were killed in Sandy Hook, making a death total of 26 people, plus one. That plus one should not be accounted for, that plus one was the
Allowing teachers to carry guns will allow teachers to prevent school shootings on the grounds of preschool through college campuses. Everyone has their own opinion about teachers being able to carry guns including other teachers, parents, and government officials. Depending on what state the teacher is teaching in determines if they can carry their gun now, if they are in the process of being able to, or if their state is not passing a law to allow them to carry their gun while at school. Teachers would not stand out like police officers or security officers would while in the school which would allow for other teachers and all of the students to have normal days if schools did not have officers before. Research shows that allowing some teachers to carry guns in their school promotes school safety, protects the teachers and students, and promotes gun safety while still teaching their students.
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.
A school's staff are our children's first and foremost defense against violent attacks. Posting "Gun Free Zone" signs has proven time and time again, that it will not stop a criminal from leaving a trail of victims. Leaving our staff untrained and unarmed ultimatley leaves all those in the school vulnerable, defenseless, and in the position to potentially be harmed, or worse, killed. Arming our teachers, prinicipals, and staff will give our children and all else in the school a chance to fight for their lives, if ever threatned.
Schools are being targeted by those with an intent to kill. A school should be a place that parents and the community feel is safe for kids. It is turning into the opposite, gunman are targeting schools because they are easy to attack and have a large amount of people. The best way to prevent attacks on schools is to scare the attackers away before they ever even show up. To scare away the attackers schools need to improve security and defense measures, in case of an attack. Arming teachers with guns would be a great way to improve security in schools. Arming teachers would help to prevent attacks from ever happening because attackers would be scared away, attackers would be more easily taken down, and the schools would feel safer.
School shootings are becoming more common in the United States. People may say that these shootings are making our gun control more strict. From my point of view there will be stricter gun control. If we are going to have stricter gun control, then there needs to be background checks for people that are going to buy guns or ammunition. There have been shootings all over the U.S, including Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine High School, Umpqua Community College in Oregon, and Virginia Tech College.