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Why teachers should not have guns
Conclusion on why teachers should be armed
Why teachers should not have guns
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The issue of school administrators and teachers carrying guns has become an actual controversial topic in our society today. School shootings similar to the ones in Sandy Hook and Florida, has also become common in our society. Arming teachers is only one of the solutions that states are considering and some have already commenced the process of proposing this to become a law. This issue needs to be thoroughly researched and all aspects need to be considered and evaluated. This controversial issue heavily depends on what changes to security measures and policies will be put in place at schools, if teachers are required to be armed will training be provided, and more importantly, will the teachers have a say in the new policies, will their voices be heard. …show more content…
The timing of this matter is important since people desire change in gun laws, as well as, school safety policies.
“School at all levels of education have sought to better prepared for, prevent, and respond to school shootings and other forms of violence.” This issue is not strictly a local matter, it is a national issue that is not solely important for one school or one state in particular. Arming teachers have come up as one of the ways to protect schools from these mass shootings. Currently there has been no major changes in this proposal nationally, however, if and when more of these school shootings occur the more this topic will be brought up and people will demand that the teachers being armed be considered more diligently. This proposal does not only call for teachers to be armed, but administrators and other school personnel, such as principals, security guards, etc., be armed as well. This is a solution that many feel will help prevent mass school shooting and also protect the
students. Arming school personnel is a proposal, however, what is believed to be needed is to strengthen school security policies, this change will not only deter school shootings but school violence as well. The state of Texas engaged in a debate regarding arming school personnel after the Sandy Hook mass shooting. The debate brought out the pros and cons to both sides of the debate. One of the changes in school security policies was to first heighten security by arming the security guards or hiring them from private companies. In addition, most of the people that took part in the debate agreed that arming the teachers and administrators was not the solution, but implementing stricter security policies was necessary. Hiring more security guards and arming them would be a step in the right direction. Arming school personnel would create safer schools and if a situation was to present itself like the one in Sandy Hook fewer lives would be lost. In addition, this change in school security policy can impact the reaction time to a mass shooting. The reaction time would be faster since school personnel, specifically, security guards would be armed to handle the situation they would not have to wait for the police officers to arrive. It was asked if they would rather have to call 911 and wait for police to arrive or have someone ready on school grounds. On the flip side of these policy changes it can be debated that carrying a firearm on school property is against the law and dangerous. The proposal to arm teachers will need to require that proper training must be provided. In Arkansas, anyone carrying a weapon on school grounds must be commissioned and must engage in a process which includes a minimum of ten hours of training in various subjects, such as, training with a licensed professional, review of rules and regulations and field duties. In addition, they must complete a four hour firearms course that goes over safety, marksmanship and range safety. These are just some of the requirements that must be fulfilled, however, the first step in completing an application and they must undergo a psychological evaluation before any training can be commenced. This is a start to the training process, however, there needs to be follow-up to the training on a regular basis. The decision on which weapons the school staff will be trained on will also come into play. In some cases, these teachers already are commissioned to carry a firearm and it brings another question into the mix. Will the teachers be trained on school issued weapons or can they use their own which they are more comfortable with. If a teacher has a license to carry a gun it is normally to protect their home or themselves, having them carry at school is putting them in the position of providing public safety and the training needs to encompass that type of training. The training is an important piece to this proposal being effective. In Michigan, some school districts have hired companies to come in and training their staff on the use of firearms. This training requires each teacher to partake in a forty hour training course, similar to what Arkansas does, but they are required to do this over the course of five days. Once they complete this training in order to maintain use of the weapon in school, they must yearly complete an additional 24 hours of training broken down into three sections spring, summer and fall. This training is more military style which if they are in a mass shooting situation is the ideal type of training they should have to handle type of scenario. Teachers across the United States are voicing their opinions every change they get about how they feel about the proposed requirement that they be armed to protect their students. In a survey conducted of teachers 14 out of 19 said that they feel safe in their schools. Many of them have other suggestions regarding school safety instead of arming them with weapons. They suggest things like surveillance equipment, secured entrances and even using the National Guard to protect schools. While most teachers in this survey did not feel confident that the procedures and precautions their school have in place are adequate should an intruder enter their school, they are even less comfortable being armed. They do not feel comfortable being put in the position of possibly having to take another person’s life. Many teachers have stated that they went into the education field to teach not to a police officer. Some even argued that they do not make enough money for this added responsibility. One teacher stated that she was not confident she could be trained properly on how to use a gun, and that her number one goal is to get her students to a safe place not to worry about getting a gun and using it. Since this proposal has been brought up recently, more and more teachers are voicing their disapproval and concern. In taking all of these concerns into consideration this matter does not seem to be one that will have an outcome that will please everyone. This controversial issue heavily depends on what changes to security measures and policies will be put in place at schools, if teachers are required to be armed will training be provided, and more importantly, will the teachers have a say in the new policies, will their voices be heard. Although progress is being made, it will not happen overnight. Compromise and communication appears to be the key to making this proposal a reality.
By appealing to several different views, Wheeler is able to grab every reader’s attention. Using schools as his focus point grabs the reader’s attention on a personal level. A school is a place where your children, your friends, your spouses all could be, and we still aren’t motivated to change our gun control laws. Tragic events do not have to happen like those that occurred at Virginia Tech, The Jewish Day care in Los Angeles, and Pearl High School. Wheeler believes concealed carry should be allowed in every school. Let’s make the students and teachers of these schools and colleges their own heroes. Wheeler says we must embrace all of the varied disciplines contributing to preparedness and response. We must become more willing to be guided and informed of empirical finding. School officials base policies on irrational fears. Wheeler states, “What is actually worse, the fear of what we think might happen, or the massacres that actually did occur?” Wheelers essay is very well thought out and uses fear, credibility, and factual evidence to support his beliefs. My belief is we should allow teachers and students to have guns at schools, as long as they have gone through training to do
Arming teachers is deranged. Many teachers or potential teachers may shy away from their dreams or future plans of being a teacher with forcing him/her to carry guns and police student’s.
One of the biggest debates in education is how to respond to gun violence in schools. According to BBC, “There were 64 school shootings in 2015” (BBC). One response to the rise in gun violence in schools is to arm teachers. Even our President has mentioned “giving a bonus” (Davis 2) to teachers that The fact that the idea of arming teachers is even being discussed is disappointing. Bringing more guns into a school is not the answer to gun violence. Most people that defend the idea that guns will “help” keep schools safe have basically three points: (1) teachers will be trained in gun safety, (2) it helps deter potential school shooters, and (3) it will make the students feel more safe. Even though there is some truth to those points, I think that the cons of arming teachers vastly outweigh the pros of arming teachers.
When I was in elementary school, I never feared of having an intruder enter my school, nor did we ever prepare for a tragedy such as that. It was not until recent years that school shootings became more of a common and feared issue. As a future educator, it is a terrifying thought that my classroom could be invaded and it would be my responsibility to protect my students. Even with the number of school shootings rising every day, our government has yet to make it legal for teachers in every state and every school to carry a gun in the classroom. This essay will review and analyze the opinions of multiple scholars and their input on the issue of teachers carrying weapons in the classroom and protecting the safety of students. It will discuss
Everyone knows that parents’ first worry is the safety of their children. With the increase of violence in schools, parents have started to wonder if their children are really safe in the school setting. Shootings like Sandy Hook and Columbine left parents, administrators, and educators feeling the need to be proactive towards children’s safety. Reacting to situations like these is not good enough when children’s lives are on the line. Administration has started to brainstorm different ways to help insure the protection of their students. 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 have started to increase or even cancel policies with schools that have armed teachers because of the high risk they are putting themselves at. Parents and administrators also worry about the idea of children getting their hands on one of the teachers’ weapons and injuring themselves or other students. Because this idea seems quite extreme, I believe there are other alternatives that are less dramatic and more positively out looked, such as having armed security guards in schools.
... a high school student, I don’t take much stock in the safety codes and drills in place to keep students safe in the event of a shooting. I would feel much safer knowing my teacher has the ability to protect the class, rather than hide and lock the door. An educator is responsible for the students in their class. They are responsible for their education and their safety while the children are in their classroom. The safety of fifteen or more students would be much more easily secured by one person if that person was armed. Promoting teachers to arm themselves also prevents school shootings; criminals don’t attack a victim that can fight back. At least 60% of school attacks would be prevented with an armed faculty warning sign. School faculty members should be armed to secure the safety of the countries students, and in hand prevent the majority of potential shootings.
Family environment and the press are two major influences resulting in the recent tragic school shootings. As much as society continues to focus the killing rampages on factors such as television and music, what children are exposed to in reality contributes to the violence. The most recent school shooting in Michigan involved a six-year-old first grader who killed a classmate with a .22 caliber pistol. The news coverage had vanished after two or three days, and I was left wondering what had happened. Considering the fact that the media wore the Columbine incident out, I wanted to know why they did not pay more attention to this school shooting. As evidence did arrive, it was discovered that the child lived in a household where cocaine, heroin, and many other illegal drugs were commonplace. Also in this “home” guns were easily accessible to the child. Children growing up in this type of environment certainly are likely to be held accountable for future violence. Even though I am against the news media presenting too much school violence, Americans should have been deeply disturbed by this shooting because of the child’s young age. The Michigan shooting should have enlightened Americans to the dilemma we face in this country. Two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting, information on the mass murder was still being broadcast on television. The press was feeding young viewers ideas on how to kill their classmates. News was reported how the teenage murderers acquired information regarding building bombs, obtaining guns, smuggling guns into the school, and proceeding to kill their classmates. A mentally unstable teenager could simply watch these news reports and write a book entitled, “How to Slay Your Classmates”. This onslaught was ridiculous and the news coverage should not have been permitted to continue for countless weeks. Society has determined three reasons on which to blame the shootings. First, the nation blamed it on television’s violent programs. Following that, Americans gave the music recording companies the evil eye as well as attacking the gun manufacturers. All of these reasons involve material objects that are unable to think for themselves. Televisions and CD players do not control themselves, people control them. Finally, boundaries controlling the television programs children view should be set by the parents. The same explanation applies to firearms. How can it be a gun’s fault that a person killed another human being?
There's a problem in America. Children, defenseless are being shot one by one. They go to their school and the schools are a gun free zone. The shooters take advantage of it and take the children's lives. Teachers should be able to carry a handgun to protect their children. This is very important, to all teachers and students for their safety. Shooters wouldn't come in the school knowing that the teacher had a gun. Students would feel way safer. There would be a lot of safety that would go into this.there are a lot of facts that can help us make the decision.
Gun control is a controversial issue already; now the question society is pondering is: should teachers be allowed to carry guns to school? Like most instances there are some pros and some cons that could occur if allowed. Although some instances occur where students need protections in schools, teachers are not the ones who need to carry weapons; however, more security and other measures need to be enforced.
In the light of the school shootings in the last few months, arming teachers is becoming more likely. In Natalie Proulx’s article Should Teachers Be Armed with Guns?, she questions if teachers should be armed with guns to protect students in the case of a school shooting. Allowing teachers to be armed could protect students from any danger and it might also deter suspects from wanting to shoot up a school. Parents send their children to school to learn and shouldn’t have to worry about if their child is going to be safe. As a parent I shouldn’t have to worry if another student is coming to school fully armed to endanger other students. Arming qualified teachers who are willing to protect students from acts of violence should be allowed.
In the past years, there have been many school shootings that have happened. People are starting to think that arming teachers will stop school shootings. Others are opposed to arming teachers for many reasons. Armed teachers could stop or create more violence in schools. Due to all the recent school shootings, many people believe school teachers should be allowed to carry weapons, others believe it would lead to more shooting incidents.
Teachers are with students at all hours of the day. Security measures on most school campuses are all with good intentions, yet could always be delayed when facing a predator. If procedures could be implemented across America years ago to arm teachers, many deaths probably could have been prevented. Teachers would not have had to sacrifice their life for their students, and the victims could have lived a successful life. Students, parents, educators, and entire communities need to voice their fear of public schools security. Solving America’s problems, starts with the citizens. This has become a problem and there has been too much time wasted on debating. If educators were armed, there could be one more hero in America and one less victim. Arming teachers could make students and families feel safe in their environment. The risks of suffering losses from an intrusion are minimalized the second educators become more powerful than an attacker. If security is not the top priority of America’s schools, then what does come first in
What do you think that the rising controversy of teachers being armed in schools. Many people think that teachers being armed in schools is a terrific idea while others believe it is a terrible idea. There are many ideas about what is going to happen once teachers are armed. Many fear that arming teachers is the right step to securing the safety of students at school, though they fear that the teachers won’t be trained as well as other law enforcement. In some cases teachers already bring guns to school.
Arming teachers in selected states will continue to provide the necessary protection students need. Some teachers have already been armed with the help of the Law Enforcement. Some schools, especially with bigger campuses need the protection because they do have a lot more students than most other states. In the state of Florida, there has been more than a few school shootings. Tess Owen, writer for VICE News, states that “Rick Scott the principal signed a bill stating that their school is allowing school staff to train with the law enforcement to carry guns on school grounds”. It might seem scary to think of having guns in the schools but the law enforcement are trying to improve the schools protection of security. Tess Owen believes “that
Whenever a mass shooting occurs, people ask if tighter gun-control measures could have prevented the slaughter. In my opinion, restricting gun sales to anyone found guilty of a violent crime would be the most effective. Enforcing background checks in gun sales could prevent any potential threat to our society. Another method would be strengthening sentences for illegal gun possession. The fear of punishment is something our criminal justice system implemented for a long time.