Should armed guard be patrolling schools?
There were over 200 school shootings in America from 2013 to 2015 — an average of nearly one a week. In all, these incidents resulted in 59 deaths and 124 non-fatal gunshot injuries. A staggering statistic considering that protecting children at schools has been and will be one of the top priorities for all Americans. Americans disagree on many topics and have diverse social and economic beliefs , but we all agree on providing safe and secure learning environments for our students. Government officials and school administrators face substantial altercations balancing parents’ expectations on keeping the students safe, and understanding the best available solutions with limited funding. These
…show more content…
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School incident in 2012, there have been heated debates about whether or not if schools should have armed guard to patrol schools to deter the potential active shooter and to protect the students if the unthinkable takes place.
Many believe that just the presence of an armed guard will prevent any potential of shooting at schools. In reviewing past major school shooting incidents, the intrepid shooter planned ahead. They were not expecting anyone at schools would protect the students and staff by shooting back at them. It is safe to assume, the shooters would have had some hesitations, if they knew they were expect to confront an armed guard at the schools. If there is a shooting incident, an armed guard can take immediate action unlike the emergency responders who would have to get to the school and assess the situation before taking any actions. Even a five to ten minute reprieve could mean life or death to many students and school staff.
Professionally trained guards can also could play a role in addressing some of the core issues before they even turn into school shootings. In most cases, the shooters are victims of bullying or have been depressed for a period of time. In addition to patrolling, the armed guards can watch for student on student bullying and can observe and report any students that are acting out their depression in
First and foremost, guns do not belong in the classroom. It is not the teacher's responsibility to be a security guard. Even if they have a permit to carry a gun, it does not necessarily give them the qualification to defend in the case of an attack. Operating a firearm takes a lot of training, and using it in the event of an emergency takes skill, reflexes, and training. Most teachers likely do not have this training and probably do not have time to obtain it because of their responsibilities as teachers. When a teacher is in possession of a gun, it can take away from their most important
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.
There have been 205 school shootings in America since 2013. This is a fact that has many people worried, and many people have tried coming up with ways to prevent these school shootings, or to at least defend themselves. Many say that people should be allowed to carry a gun with them, and in some states, there are laws that let them do this called open carry laws where they can carry a gun in public. But is this the right solution to gun violence? Many people ask this question and try to come up with other solutions. Students should not be allowed to carry guns for three reasons. The first being that it could make it easier for real shooters to have a gun, the second reason is that these people who have guns looking to defend themselves could
Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.
School shootings are a common occurrence on daily news. Students shouldn’t terrify going to school with the mindset that a shooter will show up with intention of killing people. Ideally, students leave home for school to learn, and not worried someone will come in and shoot everyone. When I was younger I would go to the bathroom worried a shooter would enter my school leaving me alone in a life or death situation. School security improvement is extremely important because children should feel safe and never in danger. Also, schools need better ways of helping children feel safe when they come for six hours everyday. More could be done for students, not only as prevention from shootings occurring but from relieving young children of unnecessary anxiety.
To summarize, school shootings shouldn’t be taken lightly. One quick threat can lead to a nationwide memorial day. We can learn from our past with Columbine to treat all of our peers with respect if not kindness and from Sandy Hook to learn how to better protect our children. Columbine, 1999, 24 survivors . Sandy Hook, 2012, 12 survivors.
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.
The intention of this paper is to look at and present some issues and strategies that members of a school community think about when trying to create safer schools. Particularly when addressing an active shooter in a school setting. A major issue to consider when trying to keep all schools safe, is the simple fact that no two schools are the same. Understanding this can lead us to the conclusion that it is impossible to have one global plan or program that can be 100% effective in all schools. “Violence prevention programs work best when they incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and
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.
School shootings are terrifying and a big problem in today’s society. Schools have added lockdown drills, bullet proof glass and metal detectors. School should be a safe area for children to learn instead of fearing for their life. Instead of buying metal detectors and hiring more officers, there is a much easier solution in order to decrease and prevent school shootings. We have to be more alert about securing weapons at home and being aware of suspicious behavior at school in order to keep children and faculty safe.
Teaching at a typical small town school in rural America one day, shots ring out. Active shooter drills come to mind, but what do we do, where do we go, how many students are present? Panic sets in. Thoughts of hiding, running, calling out for help and screaming all flash across the forefront of the mind when a person can be seen walking down the hall with a large gun in hand. No one ever thinks it could happen in a town, school, or church like ours but when the act is committed everyone feels the betrayal. Although schools from elementary to universities have adopted drills for active shooters and have routes with plans drawn up we never know how we will truly react until the time comes. Armed guards stand at the ready at most entryway doors but they are only one person and can not be everywhere always. In a recent study of active shooters for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, J.Pete Blair and Katherine W. Schweit have said, “The second most common incident locations were in educational environments…and the study results established that …these incidents involved some of the highest casualty numbers” (20). Crime is always a threat to education and defending our students nationwide should be a priority. The trouble begins with the fact that the school shootings are becoming more regular. Allowing teachers to be armed gives administration, faculty and students a more successful chance at survival against an active shooter in our education systems.
“That could never happen in my school.” This is one of the first thoughts that goes through a students mind when they hear about a school shooting. The fact is though, it can. School shootings can happen at any school at any time. Lack of security is only a small part of the problem. The major issue lies in the low morality of students and warning signs overlooked by administration.
Every human makes mistakes, and an armed guard could make a mistake by misreading a student’s behavior. If an innocent student is put in a position where they are targeted by an armed guard, this can create a great deal of fear for other surrounding students. When a school goes on lock down or secure mode, there is normally a dangerous situation that the staff will try to protect the students by keeping them in one spot. This is a good way of keeping them safe, until there is a situation that can put more lives in danger while having an armed guard. There are many cases where students have been killed or critically injured from a cross fire by accident from an armed guard. According to a 2006 study of New York City police officers showed that, in situations when they were firing at a person, they hit their marks only 28.3% of the time. Los Angeles police fared only slightly better that year, hitting their marks 40% of the time. Imagine if a stray bullet from a police officer hit an unintended target rather than a violent intruder. Armed police officers do not necessarily make schools safer when they would be making any situation more deadly (Samsa, 2013). In some cases there have been psychotic guards that have attacked their own school they are supposed to guard from harm. As some of the many possibilities that could go wrong, some worry that a guard could be distracted and a young student could grab the gun or weapon and cause
School shootings have altered American history greatly over the past two decades. From 1997 to 2007, there have been more than 40 school shootings, resulting in over 70 deaths and many more injuries. School shoot-outs have been increasing in number dramatically in the past 20 years. There are no boundaries as to how old the child would be, or how many people they may kill or injure. At Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29th, 2000, there was a 6 year old boy who shot and killed another 6 year old girl at the Buell Elementary School with a .32 caliber pistol. And although many shootings have occurred at High Schools or Middle Schools, having more guns on those campuses would not be a good environment for children to grow up in.
There have been many school tragedies in the past couple of years in which a gun was involved. It seems that in every incident, the person had real problems and was most likely never taught the right and wrongs of a gun. So therefore, I believe in the society we live in today, we should have some kind of protection in our schools. Metal detectors, locker checks, or any other rules should be in every school and public places where felt necessary. It's just like a roadblock, if you don't have anything to hide, you shouldn’t mind if they stop you. They may just protect us from the next bad person who may have nothing but killing on their