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Guns, Guns Everywhere... Even in Schools!
Well, the hot button issue everywhere right now is whether or not people should be allowed to carry a gun – even teachers in schools! I’m sorry but that sounds more than a little crazy to me. I don’t like guns. I think they are dangerous and scary - and we all know they can lead to tragedy.
I do realize that the reason behind this proposed new law is the threat of school shootings. After all, people just want to make sure that children are safe while they attend school. Kids shouldn’t have to be afraid to go to school; it should be a safe, normal part of life. But surely allowing teachers to carry a gun in school exposes students to the very thing they should be protected from - possible gun violence? Surely, seeing a teacher carrying a loaded weapon serves as a constant reminder of that violence? Maybe the reminder of the possibility would disturb students so much that they wouldn’t be able to concentrate and learn in class...
After all, I may be wrong but I don’t believe that a teacher is exactly equipped to act as a law enforcement officer even if they are allowed to carry a loaded weapon and have had some sort of gun safety training on a firing range. There is no substitute for a seasoned police officer during a violent situation whether on school grounds or elsewhere.
Maybe a teacher carrying a gun would help in the fight against an armed stranger coming onto school grounds but what about the danger that may already exist in a school?
Normally, adolescence is a time when teens experience life-changing situations. But to “add fat to the fire”, consider that many other issues may impact teen behavior and cause teens to react in a more volatile, impulsive, and sometimes dangerous manner. During adolescence some teens are known to experience aggression; conduct disorders; the effects of mind-altering ADD / ADHD prescription medications; mental illness; substance-induced rage or psychosis; gang violence; and school schooter ideation, etc. so the problem may intensify. So, who's to say that a teacher carrying a gun in school wouldn’t give a troubled student a bad and terrible idea? Who’s to say that it won’t provide the impetus for a certain kind of student to try and take the gun from the teacher and do something they might never have thought about before or have been fantasizing about for a while?
It would almost be like dangling a carrot before a horse. Allowing teachers to carry a gun would make an already tense situation worse. And some students might even see the gun as their big chance to become famous like other school shooters. Do we really want to take that chance? It has taken a while but most of us finally see youth exposure to guns and violence as detrimental to their development so why now expose them to that very thing that might hurt them - and in a classroom no less?
Don’t get me wrong, I believe that people have the right to defend themselves and bear arms in certain situations but not in the classroom. What do you think?
Published on March 27, 2013 at 4:29 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments