The Pros And Cons Of Arming Teachers

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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. …show more content…

Not only will it be expensive, but it will be time consuming. The average gun safety class offered by the National Rifle Association is “six hours long, with 11 students, and costs $130” (Yamane 5). Using President Trump’s data-less statistic, let’s say that 10% of teachers in a particular district are eligible to receive gun safety training. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, on average, “there are 254 teachers in a district in Texas” (NCES). Rounding down, that means that 25 teachers in a district would receive the training. About $3250 of money would be spent on gun safety. That is money that could be used in other ways. Another aspect of gun safety training is the time commitment. As stated above, the typical gun safety course is six hours long. Personally, I would not be comfortable with only six hours of gun safety. I do not think that six hours is enough time to train teachers how to defend

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