Guns Should Not be Permitted in US Schools
The incidents which occurred in Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Florida high school should serve as examples of the imminent danger of allowing school communities to carry firearms. There have been recent suggestions that the teachers need to carry guns as a means of suggestions, but many people argue that the move would be counterproductive as it would only lead to more deaths and injuries as opposed to reducing their number. The paper provides research presenting why guns should not be allowed in schools be it for the teachers or the learners.
Laws and Safety Measures in Schools
The laws which restrict gun usage in schools and offer tough punishments for gun possession in schools either by students or teachers have been very crucial in maintaining safety in these institutions. There is also an argument raised that the use of guns in higher education institutions would go against the First Amendment right which provides for the academic freedom of speech, where guns would limit the free expression for the students. In the case that guns are permitted on campus, the result would be a dangerous environment for the university staff and students.
Suggestions to Enhance Security in Schools
Following the mass shootings witnessed in the US schools, many parties have come up with different suggestions to ensure that security is enhanced in these learning institutions. One of the solutions being suggested is that there ought to be a gun campaign to arm teachers and also abolish the gun laws which restrict their use in certain zones. The first challenge is that teachers do not have the law-enforcement officers training, their basic duty in schools is to educate and act as role models for the learners (Guns in Schools). The theory being advanced by supporters of this practice is that the gun-free zones tend to trigger mass shootings. However, research shows that this assertion is wrong with about 90 percent of all gun massacres which occurred since the year 1966 is in areas where the civilian guns were permitted, in places where there was armed security as well as locations which were manned by the law enforcement officers (Pah 40).
Focusing on Proper Education and Safe Gun Storage
One of the major solutions that can be applied on dealing with gun tragedies should be proper education being provided for children and parents with regards to the harmful consequences of using firearms and how these should be safely stored as opposed to the focus being on arming teachers. In a research conducted in 37 schools in over 25 states in the US, the results indicate that in 75 percent of the attacks, the offenders obtained the guns from their own homes or from their relatives (Guns in Schools). Therefore, the first concerns should be on ensuring that guns do not fall into unwanted hands (Kleck 1449).
Safety of Higher Learning Institutions
The common observation is that America’s higher learning institutions are quite safe from gun violence. The condition is due to the restriction on gun policies witnessed by most states and the governing bodies in colleges and universities (Guns in Schools). Therefore, a majority of students cannot access guns when they are on the campus which makes these institutions very safe for learning. The other observation is that college students who own guns would have a higher probability of engaging in risky behaviors such as drunk driving and vandalizing properties. Elliot (523) claims that “The notion that a student carrying a gun to school offers self-security is false.”
Negative Impacts of Guns in Schools
Carrying guns to schools would increase crime levels, intensify gun thefts as well as raise the public relations costs for higher learning institutions. The presence of guns on college campuses would also inhibit the ability for the students to freely exchange ideas as the environment would feel less safe and controversial stances would be avoided (Kirszner and Stephen 655).
Emergency Preparedness in Schools
The article on guns in schools explains that “The Departments of Education, Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services have developed model emergency management planning guides to help schools prepare for shootings(Guns in Schools).” The lockdown drill is very crucial in schools as it helps the learners prepare on how to behave if there is an intruder. Teachers and their students move to a secure location that can be locked and they move away from risky positions such as near windows or the doors (Elliott 523). The gunman would be willing to carry out the mission much faster and would not have sufficient times to start breaking doors; they only have a few minutes to carry out their operations. The drill ensures that the participants can respond immediately when focused on such a risk (Kleck 1445). The problem is that when the door is knocked, you cannot just open it because the teacher ought to save the many lives being safeguarded in the classroom as opposed to risking it all on behalf of one person knocking on the door because there are chances that it could be the criminal with the gun.
Conclusion
The paper provides research which focuses on why guns should not be allowed in schools. The first problem is that these would end up with children accessing them, and this could pose a lot of danger, especially to other children. The other consideration is that even the teachers do not want to carry firearms. In 2012, when the Michigan Republicans were in support of guns being allowed to school, however, the AFT rejected this move. There are other teachers who are absent-minded and they may end up losing these guns. The other main challenge is that students would be scared by the presence of a gun.
Works Cited
“Guns in Schools.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/guns-in-public/guns-in-schools/.
Elliott, Rebekah. "The real school safety debate: Why legislative responses should focus on schools and not on guns." Ariz. L. Rev. 57 (2015): 523.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing, Brief Edition: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. Macmillan Higher Education, 2015.
Kleck, Gary. "Mass shootings in schools: The worst possible case for gun control." American Behavioral Scientist 52.10 (2009): 1447-1464.
Pah, A. R., et al. "Economic insecurity and the rise in gun violence at US schools." Nature Human Behaviour 1.2 (2017): 0040.
