Research Paper
Carol Blanks
Prof. Shari McGriff
ENC 1102
19 July 2014
Teachers Should be Trained to Carry Firearms
School shootings are nothing new and have been occurring for many years. Some of the earliest- recorded shootings date back to the 1800’s according to Infoplease’s “Timeline of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings.” However, there is no doubt that America has seen an increase in school shootings in the past few years. According to the Analysis of School Shootings compiled by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, in the last two years alone there have been at least 74 school shootings in the United States. Mayors Against Illegal Guns claim as a result of these shootings, approximately 28 people have died and 37 people have been injured. Something has to be done to stop the school shootings and prevent more students and staff from being killed and injured. The answer is simply really. America should train their teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms to help protect students against the growing problem of school shootings.
There is no clear motive behind why there has been such an influx of school shootings recently. In the case of Sandy Hook shooter, Audrey Ronningen, Author of “In the Mind of a Killer:The Psychology Behind School Shootings.” writes that Adam Lanza was said to have suffered from Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by a lack of empathy towards others (Ronningen.) Lanza’s disorder may have played a hand in why he opened fire in his school day in Newtown, Connecticut, but the actual motive behind the shooting that killed 26 people remains a mystery. Fox News journalist Maxim Lott reports that Dylan and Eric Harris killed 13 people and seriously injured 24 people before killing themselves at Columbine High School. Lott says, there have been many theories, hate seeming to be the main one, made as to why Klebold and Harris opened fire on their classmates that day in April, but no one really knows the truth behind why they did it. Not far from Columbine High School, another shooting occurred at Arapahoe High School. Lott states that James Pierson killed one student and set off a bomb in the school library on December 13, 2013. The motive: some say Pierson sought revenge, others say the fact that the shooting happened on the same day as the Newtown school shooting held some significance. The bottom line is no one knows for certain the reason Pierson opened fire that day. According to Audrey Ronningen, most school shootings are”seemingly unprovoked” and “especially terrifying” because there are no clear motives. Ronningen gives us some statistics to consider, 98 percent of the shooters had recently suffered some sort of significant loss, 81 percent of the shooters tried to warn an outside party of the action that they planned to take, and 100 percent of the shooters were male. Are these statistics significant or just coincidence?
The devastating effects a tragedy such as a school shooting leaves behind are long- lasting. Everyone tends to deal with such emotional laden events differently and schools are no exception. Some schools completely dismantle and reconstruct the building in which the shooting occurred; some build memorials for the victims; while others go so far as to demolish the entire school. Winnie Hu, author of “Varied Paths Toward Healing For Sites Of Terrorized Schools.” points out that psychologists changes in a school after a tragedy such as a shooting. Most people believe that it is best for all involved that a daily reminder of such a tragedy is a bad idea; reconstructing the site of the crime is a good idea. Ultimately, the changes made to these schools are part of a healing process. There are many steps being taken to prevent school shootings. In the article “Milestones in Federal Gun Control Legislation.” John Getting and Catherine McNiff write that President Obama is starting by devising a four- step plan that includes more rigorous background checks when purchasing guns, putting a ban on military- style weaponry, making safer schools, and providing better mental health coverage. Getting and McNiff say that the President claims he is going to change the face of gun control in America. The folly of this plan is the fact that many of the school shooters are minors that are obtaining guns illegally. He believes stricter gun laws will be the answer. News journalist Katie Pavlich, author of “Gun Crime Soars in England Where Guns Are Banned.” points out that Great Britain can prove this theory wrong; in 1997 Great Britain banned handguns; homicide rates jumped by 50% and armed robbery increased by 53%. Pavlich points out another example is in 1996 when Australia employed a “buy back” program which was able to take 660,000 guns of the streets; murder increased by 10% and armed robbery increased by 73%! Criminals behind the school shootings would not be going through background checks to obtain guns; they will be getting their weapons by any means necessary. The mental health coverage idea seems to have some merit because many of the shooters were said to have been diagnosed with disorders such as Asperger Syndrome and were reported to have been on prescription medication, mainly antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs such as Risperdal and Prozac (Ronningen.) Maybe if counseling or therapy had been readily accessible before the shooters took action, there would have been a different outcome. Also, since many of the shooters tried to tell others of their plans before they took action, they may have been crying out for help and hoping someone would take the steps to stop them from going through with their plans.
Some schools are hiring armed security guards or resource officers, but many schools do not have the funds to provide extra security. Donald Bradley writes that there are some school districts in Missouri that are adopting a program called ALICE (Bradley.) ALICE stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. Bradley says that another option to protect schools is a fingerprint response system that gives teachers access to pepper spray and batons, the activation also notifies police and triggers a school lockdown. It would be great if we could put armed guards and resource officers at every school, but the reality is most schools cannot afford to afford to put the extra security in place. Maybe President Obama should look into allowing schools to have more funding for things such as this such as security measures.
The most promising and perhaps the most controversial strategy of all is to train teachers to carry concealed firearms on school grounds. Kathleen McGrory points out that currently, federal law forbids carrying a firearm onto school property. However, many states are now passing bills that are exempt from those federal laws. Greg Tepper author of “Armed Teachers, Guards Bolster School Security in Israel.” writes that Israel and Thailand not only allow their teachers to carry firearms, they actually encourage them to do so. Israel and Thailand have allowed their teachers to carry firearms in school for some time now. In fact, in Israel teachers have been allowed to carry firearms for twenty- five years now (Tepper.) In those twenty- five years, not one child has been harmed by gunfire on school grounds when there was a teacher around carrying a gun (Tepper.) Thailand has also had less violence in their schools since teachers have been allowed to carry guns. Hundreds of lives have been saved because teachers in these countries are allowed to carry firearms. Israel and Thailand do not take teachers carrying firearms lightly; they have to go through serious military training to be allowed to pack heat.
Many states in the United States are passing laws that allow teachers and staff to carry concealed weapons on school grounds. Journalist J.B. Wogan writes that the first state to pass a bill allowing teachers to carry firearms is South Dakota. Wogan also states that Governor Dennis Daugaard signed the bill March of 2013. The law allows school districts to decide if they would like to allow teachers, staff, and volunteers to carry firearms. There are currently 18 states that allow school districts to choose whether or not they would like their teachers and staff to carry firearms. Among the states that are allowing teachers to carry guns are Missouri, Arkansas, Utah, Texas, and California while many other states are still in the process of passing bills(Wogan.) Some people are taking the school shootings personally. According to Fox News journalist Maxim Lott, Colorado State Senator Ted Harvey decided to introduce a bill that will allow teachers to carry guns when the school his son attends was attacked by James Pierson. He claims that he has always supported the idea, but when the school shootings got that close to home, he decided to take action, writes Lott. So far, the majority of America supports the decision for teachers to be trained and allowed to carry firearms at school. In the school districts that allowing the training, the parents are very supportive, and some have even volunteer as “school sentinels” as well.
Teachers have to go through military- like training, have a concealed weapons license, and they must fit a certain criteria to be allowed to carry a firearm. Some schools are only allowing teachers and staff to carry concealed if they have prior military or law enforcement training. Many states are requiring different types and different amounts of training. All teachers and staff that are training to carry firearms are volunteers; no one is made to train. Not all state laws that allow teachers to carry firearms are requiring that the weapons be concealed, but most teachers and staff take that as a given. In the majority of states allowing teachers to carry guns, no one actually knows who is carrying a firearm except for school officials and local law enforcement.
In Missouri teachers are put through a rigorous five day training course led by law enforcement officers. During training, teachers must shoot at metal targets with faces painted on them, run through courses, fire under pressure, and are put through simulated exercises. They are also required to play out “active shooter” drills led by law enforcement officers (Bradley.) In Nebraska teachers have to go through 24 hours of training in addition to the standard training required to carry a concealed weapon. In Arkansas, school districts require their teachers to have at least 53 hours of firearms training. According to Superintendent David Hopkins from the Clarksville school district in Arkansas, “Lock your doors, turn off your lights, and hope for the best.” is just not an option anymore (Weber.) It takes at least 25 minutes for law enforcement to respond to a call at many schools located in rural or remote areas (Lott.) By the time 25 minutes has passed students and teachers could be dead. If there are teachers, staff, or volunteers nearby when a shooter threatens to strike, they will be able to respond in minutes or even seconds. Those few moments are precious when there are student’s lives in jeopardy. Just knowing that a school is armed with teachers carrying guns may be a deterrent for someone that would be apt to open fire on a school. Even if a teacher is not able to open fire on a shooter, they may be able to detain a shooter for those few extra moments that it will take for law enforcement to arrive. It took a total of just fifteen minutes for Adam Lanza to gun down at Sandy Hook Elementary School (Ronningen.) That is more than 1 person a minute being killed, most of them children. What if we as a community can do something to keep our students safer? We owe it to ourselves and our children to try.
Not everyone believes that having a school full of armed teacher is a good idea. Some say that solving a gun problem with guns is not the solution; others believe bringing more guns into schools will further jeopardize students. Noland Beitstein argues that training teachers to carry firearms will not keep school shootings from occurring. He thinks that teachers carrying firearms may give students another opportunity to obtain a gun. There are many arguments and reasons why some people oppose teachers carrying firearms in schools; accidental shootings, a staff member freezing up when confronted with an assailant, and students getting their hands on firearms, just to name a few.
Training teachers to carry firearms is clearly the answer we have been looking for to combat the rising epidemic of school shootings. With the proper training and precautions, teachers being allowed to carry concealed firearms on school campuses across America will certainly make the occurrence of school shooting decline. Just the community knowing that there are teachers packing heat at the schools nearby is going to be quite a deterrent to those that may have the inclination to open fire on a school. It is also very important that students feel safe at school and for parents to feel safe sending their children to school; knowing that there is someone on campus that can help protect students from an assailant will bring great relief to many people and set a better learning environment. The first person that most shooters target is law enforcement or resource officers. The only people that will be aware of which teachers are carrying firearms will be administration and local law enforcement.
Being a teacher myself, I would gladly volunteer to train to carry a firearm and to actually carry a firearm if our school district were to allow it. I have four children of my own, but when I am in the classroom, those students are also my children, and I will without hesitation do anything to protect them. I think the majority of teachers feel the same way. I agree that we do need other safeguards in place to protect our schools. In Putnam County, the school district’s “Code Red” basically consists of covering all windows, locking doors, gathering children quietly in one area, preferably a closet or bathroom, and waiting for the all clear from administration or law enforcement. If an assailant were to come to the classroom, even if the door was locked, he could shoot the lock to get the door open. There has to be a better way to protect our children. Teachers that volunteer and are approved to carry firearms should have to go to monthly training and simulation exercises. The guns that they are allowed to carry should be kept on safety at all times except in the event of an attack, they should be maintained and checked regularly, and when they are worn they should be undetectable. It should also be required that schools hold mandatory monthly drills to practice a plan that would take place in the event of an attack.
Being a parent, knowing my child has extra protection would make me feel more secure. I know that if I have the option of having more protection for my child or to let them be sitting ducks while a madman terrorizes their school, I am going to choose the extra protection every time. What would you choose for your child?
Works Cited
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