Is it safe to allow teachers and students to carry guns? Will it be safer to give this permission only to the one group? These are difficult questions that create controversial opinions. News show schools, universities and other educational institutions had mostly negative impact of weapons. The history has many examples of deadly shootings in educational facilities.
“23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho [killed] 32 people in two locations and [wounded] an undetermined number of others on campus” (CNN Library) in the Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia. There are other examples of students who used guns to kill or wound people in their educational institutions. Weapons were cared by other people who started massacres in schools too. They were not always guns that were used to kill and wound people, in 1964 “42-year-old Walter Seifert entered the Katholische Volksschule” (Samehrocks) and attacked people with a flamethrower made of an insecticide sprayer, a homebuilt mace and a mace.
It was more difficult to find news about teachers who were initiators of shooting or other armed conflicts at schools. There is a one example of 60-year-old “welding teacher at William H. Neff Center [who] allegedly lined up students near a garage door in the classroom, pulled a black gun out of his waistband and fired four to 10 shots at the terrified teens” (Caulfield). However, the man did not have intentions to kill his students, as he used blank ammunition.
News show students are the major source of aggression. These facts suggest they should not be allowed to carry guns. But that would not resolve the problem. Teachers and people who do not work at school will still carry a treat. I think in the discussion about weapons at schools the decision should be same for both sides. It means both teachers and students should be allowed or not allowed to carry guns.
This decision will cause a chaos and violence at first sight. But the bilateral allowance to carry weapons can make educational institutions safer after a period of adaptation. Both sides will achieve a tool to resolve a conflict with the aid of force. But they will know the opponent has the same equipment. It is likely the potential shooter will think twice before he will act, if he will know dozens of people will be ready to shoot back. The mentioned Walter Seifert could probably kill and injure less people if teachers in that school had guns.
I am not an active supporter of the Second Amendment. But, if the question was raised, the decision should be bilateral, as it was mentioned before. And it should not end on the right to carry weapons; people need to be taught how to use it. The issue includes teachers primarily. As news show they are less likely to start mass shootings, armed teachers will act as a protection against such events. Even a teenager with an unstable, developing mind should think twice in the face of such barrier. The allowance unlikely will prevent the act of revenge, but it has a potential to turn it in a less dramatic way that will focus on direct offenders, not the social group itself. If I would be a student, I would not decide to shoot classmates and other people at school, if I would know most of them have guns. But it does not mean I would abandon plans to punish people who insulted me directly or indirectly, I just would choose a less noticeable way like a knife.
Should teachers and students legally be allowed carry guns? Yes, I think, as many of them carry weapons anyway. And the legal allowance will show both sides the potential danger of opponents; it should affect their behavior and make people more deliberate. Would schools be safe if students and teachers were able to carry guns? They would be, but not totally and only with several adjustments. The legal allowance of carrying weapons will not annihilate the violence in educational institutions. People will likely give up on direct public actions, like the gun shooting, but threats of poisoning or mine-laying will still remain. Permission to carry guns will help teachers to protect students from classmates with a breakdown or an intruder. Students also would not be too exited, if all of them would have guns; it would be treated like a common tool or device such as Smartphone. The permission should include direct rules and restrictions. There should be age limits, mental examinations and other procedures that will assure the weapon will be used safely. Examples of this practice already appeared in the United States. One article mentions a story of Kasey Hansen, a young teacher from Utah, who started to carry a gun to school after she heard about the “shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 in Newtown” (Murphy). It is an example of a teacher, who got a permission to carry a weapon and learned how to use it before bringing the gun to class. Students can make same steps at the age of getting driving licenses or older.
Works Cited
Caulfield, Philip. “Virginia high school teacher fires blanks at students”. Nydailynews, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/virginia-high-school-teacher-facing-charges-firing-blanks-students-article-1.1065684. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
CNN Library. “Deadliest Mass Shootings in US History Fast Facts”. CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
Murphy, Kate. “New laws: Teachers do not have to disclose guns”. Usatoday, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/19/teachers-guns-schools-news21/14103875/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
Samehrocks. “Top 10 Worst School Massacres”. Listverse, http://listverse.com/2008/01/01/top-10-worst-school-massacres/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
