What is someone’s first thought when they hear the word firearm? Fear, safety, pride, unfairness, or other conflicting emotions. The topic of firearms not only in Colorado, but also in the United States has always been a controversial problem. People want safety; it is when fear overrides this instinct that problems arise. A current problem that is presenting itself in the United States is whether or not firearms safety should be taught in school. A firearm is a pistol, rifle, or any other portable gun. This proclamation would teach kids as young as elementary schools how to properly handle and fire a firearm; however, not everyone is for this ruling.
Those who oppose the teaching of firearms in schools believe that the introduction of firearms
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at such a young age could leave a dangerous impression on the children causing them to go down a unforgiving path later in life. In the article “Young armed, and dangerous”,studies were conducted in proving that young people with firearms are more likely to use illegal drugs, get involved in serious fight and present an aggressive attitudes. Thirty-seven percent stated they had a gun primarily for protection, yet a majority believed revenge is also acceptable ( Young, armed, and dangerous). They believe that if firearms classes were taught in school, even for safety, the knowledge of knowing how to properly fire a gun could corrupt good judgement. Furthermore, those who oppose firearm safety classes in school are concerned for the safety of the school. There have been countless school shootings involving teenagers or adults who went to a school and wanted revenge. One that hits home for the state for Colorado is the Columbine High School massacre from 1999. Walker describes students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold both brutally murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School (Walker). While the thought of putting firearm safety classes in schools back then was minimal, if there had been a class present, it would have been the main reason for the killing. The presents of the class would be used as evidence for the killing because it could have triggered the thoughts for violence. On the contrary, from those who are against firearms in school, are those who are supportive of firearm safety classes in schools.
They believe that gun violence will go down if the classes are present and taken in school. As introduced by Snyder. it is said that sex education in schools has been shown to reduce sex crimes. Therefore by association, students should receive mandatory firearms training in order to reduce gun violence. Studies have been presented to show that when gun ownership increases, the rates of violent crime decline (Snyder). A possible explanation for this decrease of violence would be citizens feel more confident when they have a weapon for protection. Those who want the classes in school could believe that the more people know about an object, the less they would want or feel the need to use it for violent acts. For example, owning a gun could height the levels of protection making gun owners and users more aware of difficult situations, thus trying to avoid using the weapon for anything other than a dire circumstance. Moreover in Krey’s article, a school in Virginia did pass a law on April 24, 2006 stating, the education department in the state was going to develop a gun-safety curriculum for public elementary schools that incorporates guidelines from the National Rifle Association (NRA). This law was flexible and allowed each school board the ability to decide whether or not they wanted to include firearm safety into their curriculum. If they were …show more content…
to use the classes, schools would have to use the rules from the NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program (Krey). The Eddie Eagle GunSafe program is not to teach whether guns are good or bad, but rather to promote the protection and safety of children (Krey). Those for classes are willing to go against the status quo to promote the safety or possible safety of children. Firearms ,when presented with schools especially, are a very controversial because there have been so many terrible incidences associated with guns.
People discuss school shootings, misfires, cop shootings, and so many more scaring events and not one of them good. Putting schools and firearms together has led to nothing except tragedy in the past. Can we stop the past from repeating itself? On the other hand, while people do feud over the topic of gun safety classes in school, each group’s main concern is the safety of children and the public. No one wants a child to hurt themselves or someone else, they want to know children can be protected no matter what any situation might bring. Schools are all about education as well as parents and other citizens, but there are other ways to obtain a firearms education without the conflict of
school. In light of these two conflicting sides, a compromise that would help solve this disagreement would be to offer firearm safety classes in school, but not force children to attend them. They would only come by free-will or at their parents permission. This would allow the class to be present for parents who believe firearm safety should be a precaution for children, and this would also allow those against firearms in school to oppose the class knowing their child is safe from any firearm harm. The class would be offered for one year, every quarter as a test trial to see how many kids, if any, would attend the firearms class. Depending on the size of the school, there would only be one or two periods the class would be provided. In elementary school, the class would be taught to only 5th graders. While other grades are capable of following directions, a 5th grader, usually the highest level in elementary school, would have the best understanding of the directions and ability to remember them. In other grade levels such as 6th-12th, kids choose their classes, thus they would choose the firearms class if it interested them or their parents. The class would be taught using visual aids, videos, guest speakers, and different kinds of firearms. Children would be taught content form safety techniques, to firearm type, to shell type, to when the first gun was made, all in an effort to make that child more safe and knowledgeable about firearms. Though I concede that the non- firearms in school have a valid explanation, I still insist that there be some type of firearms class in school. I shoot a firearm. I know how to properly handle this weapon with care and responsibility. I do not used it for violent acts, but a sport known as skeet and trap shooting(clay targets). Although I may own a gun, I am not a bad kid. People make misconceptions off of what they do not know or fear; a firearms class in school would solve this problem. The world would understand not all gun owners are as rotten as they seem.
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
As the generations of America’s youth continue to grow, so does the increase in violent crimes associated with each generation. Over the last decade, studies have shown that school shootings have increased by an astonishing 13%. Although this figure as a percentage does not seem like much, it makes one stop and think. Parents blame the video games and their violent behaviors for the influence on their children’s daily lives. Grandparents blame the child’s parents for not showing them the right way to grow up in the world. And then we have that child’s friends who say that this child just was not respected by their classmates, or perhaps even bullied into this violent nature. Regardless of the cause to this violent increase, many Americans do believe in a solution: gun control. Gun control is the situation in which the federal government would put a ban on owning firearms. Contrary to what many “hard-core” Americans believe, gun control would not necessarily ban them from owning hunting rifles or even personal handguns. It would simply limit the ownership of semi-automatic assault rifles, and other rifles of this nature. This does not contradict the Second Amendment of the Constitution which states that American citizens have the Right to Bear Arms. I believe in the constitutional Right to Bear Arms, and I am against any attempt to eradicate that right for any American citizen: however, I am for gun control in the sense of lowering the possession of semi-automatic and fully-automatic rifles.
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.
This article gives a good understanding from a teacher’s standpoint, which most other articles just focus on the government. Obeng focuses on students who may bring a gun into the school and kids who have access to weapons at home rather than just criminals, which is also a good point of view for readers to understand. The authors focus is to show that most teachers are for the students being taught gun safety because they believe it will help the safety of students and the community (p.398). A problem I saw with this study is that was done in 2010, which was before the Sandy Hook incident that took place in 2012 that would probably influence some teachers decision. The Sandy Hook shooting was a focus point in other articles and makes this research study by Obeng a little outdated for this topic. Although I am interested in the teachers view for gun safety, I also believe Obeng would have a stronger case with a larger group of teachers and maybe a separate study with the parents’ opinion on teaching children about gun
In this article Emmett Tyrell informs us about gun violence in schools and what the NRA has proposed to stop the gun violence, and mass shootings across America. While the gun control debate rages, many schools have become war zones, and all school zones are vulnerable. The National Rifle Association's has come up with a 225-page report contains dozens of recommendations to improve safety in our nation’s schools. The NRA’s National School Shield program will train and enable school personnel to carry firearms to protect our nation’s children.
School shootings have the ability to be stopped. They are largely one of the worst repeated tragedies our great nation has endured, and they should be stopped today! No terrorist wants to go out in his/her infamous blaze of “glory” by failing in their attempt. Arming educators has the capability to end school shootings in this decade. “And I haven’t even touched upon the pure deterrent effect of a potential mass murderer having to worry one of his targets might be armed” (Concealed Weapons). This quote presents the very real possibility that just if teachers are armed, future shooters will reconsider and possibly not attempt it at all. Providing this overwhelming deterrent in the foremost thoughts of a would be murderer emphasizes the positive effect concealed weapons operated by teachers could
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. However, on a college campus, the pupils attending are not children anymore; the age range is from 17 to mid 20’s. Therefore they understand the consequences associated to the use of weapons and have gained more maturity. In April 16th, 2007, at Blacksburg, Virginia, there was a shooting rampage enacted by Sung-Hui Cho (23 years, from Centreville, VA) who fired over 170 rounds, killing 32 victims, before taking his own life at the Virginia Tech campus. Colleges and Universities would be a much safer place, for student and teacher, if guns were permitted on campus for self-defense purposes.
The shootings that have happened in the schools throughout the Unites States over the past few months have created a great divide among Americans on what we should do as a nation to prevent further shootings from happening. Many people believe that imposing new laws on purchasing weapons by requiring background checks, holding adults responsible for the actions of their children and requiring gun locks on weapons to prevent children will stop these massacres in our school from happening. There are many issues that need to be looked at in order to decide which laws are necessary.
“For schools in rural areas like Harrold High School in north Texas, the right for teachers to carry guns is a comfort to staff and students alike” (Christian Should Teachers Carry Guns). “After 20 children and six adults were fatally shot by a gunman armed with assault weapons at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, gun advocates, and even some government officials, claimed the massacre could have been prevented if the school personnel inside had been carrying guns” (Mettler Washington Post). “The administration states that they feel safer knowing that, should an intruder enter the school, teachers are ready to jump into action”(Christian Should Teachers Carry Guns). “They also explain because of their rural location, by the time the rescue squads would reach the school, it could be too late”(Christian Should Teacher Carry Guns).
They don’t think it is the guns that are the problem but believe that it depends on the type of college ones attends. They argued against the topic that students feel uncomfortable in college with their peers carrying a gun. They say that there is much more pressure outside of college with tons of people with a gun, so college should be no different. College, as well as anywhere, is supposed to be an environment where students express themselves without the fear of being shot (paragraph
Gun Safety Taught In Schools Should gun safety be taught in schools? This is a question that should be considered in view of the recent events happening in our world today. Children in this generation fall into one of two categories: scared of guns or curious about them. In one of ABC’s news reports the Center Of Disease Control released a statement “While fewer kids are bringing guns to school, the rate of firearm deaths among children younger than thirteen years of age remains twenty five times that of the other top twenty five industrialized nations combined.” I am going to persuade the reader of this essay to see the three main benefits of educating American youth about gun and firearm safety while in school.
George Washington once said, “Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people 's liberty teeth and keystone under independence …”. In the United States, Gun violence has become a reoccurring issue impacting the nation immensely. As we look into the past ten years, school shooting and public shootings have played out in the media stirring up a debate on gun violence. Because of these ongoing evil attacks, firearms are seen as the killer rather than the person who is firing the gun. Many are fighting for gun rights by using the points of the Second Amendment, the government’s control, and stricter gun laws.
Children are our future but yet many have died as a result of gun violence. The debate on gun control, gun violence and the second amendment are of popular interest to the general American public. The country has suffered so many tragedies such as Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School. The commonality among all these incidents is that they involve school shootings and gun violence. In their everyday lives, Americans are constantly bombarded by the rhetoric concerning the advocates for gun control or opponents for gun rights and second amendment. The group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots campaign of mothers promoting an end to the epidemic of gun violence that affects every neighborhood. The organization released a video on YouTube named “Gun Violence-Is this the #NewSchoolUniform?” that portrays a routine morning for a typical American family with Kindergarten-aged children with an interesting point: a little boy puts on his bulletproof vest before he goes to school. The overall idea is that this psa does an effective job in campaigning gun control and offers insight into American future if gun control laws are not enacted.
According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, all but three public mass shootings from 1950 to February of 2016 have occurred in areas where citizens were not permitted to carry guns. Despite what gun-control supporters say, this statistic clearly displays that shooters specifically target locations that they know will be easy to attack and that gunmen are deterred from attacking an area which is armed. In another report written by the Crime Prevention Research Center, they outlined numerous cases in which public shootings have been stopped by citizens with a concealed firearm. This implies that not only would schools be less likely to be the site of mass shootings if their students were armed but that there would also be a better chance for the gunman to be brought down earlier in his attack. Gun-control supporters must look at the facts, and they must acknowledge that if schools are made to be gun-free, as is their wish, students would be easier targets for a
Gun safety is a subject that has been a main topic in the past few years among many, especially within politics. It is something that has become a substantial topic in the past few years due to many shootings and accidents that have occurred with today’s youth. It is a topic that needs to be addressed.