Gun proposal falls and fails in student poll

President Donald Trump responded to the Florida school shooting by suggesting that teachers carry guns in at schools, but an Olympian poll shows most CVHS students oppose the idea.

“These people are cowards. They’re not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns, it may be 10 percent or may be 40 percent. What I’d recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus,” said Trump.

Although arming teachers could possibly prevent shootings, there is also the risk that sooner or later a teacher will abuse the power or a student will get his or her hands on that gun.  A teacher at Dalton High School in Georgia fired his handgun out a classroom window on Feb. 28, causing the school to go into lockdown and leading to his arrest.

An Olympian survey of more than 100 CVHS students showed nearly 87 percent opposed armed teachers and about 13 percent supported the idea. The poll showed that 50 percent of students think that having stricter gun control would be the best way to prevent school shootings, 24 percent think focusing on mental health issues would be best,  and nine percent favor police reform.

The survey found that 29 percent of students’ families have guns and 71 percent do not.

“The idea of retaliating against violence with even more violence seems problematic and threatening. I think it’ll make everyone as a whole more uncomfortable and scared than they already are to go to school every day simply to get an education. I just think fighting violence with violence isn’t going to solve anything,” said sophomore Kylie Guzman.

“I won’t be using a gun and getting a gun. My personal opinion is that if they have enough money to give to teachers to carry guns, they should have enough money to provide supplies to students, pay for tissues for the classroom, and maybe pay teachers for all of the overtime they work,” said special education teacher Mindy Castro.

Trump’s proposal is far from passing into law. Neither Congress nor California’s Legislature have acted to arm teachers, though Florida’s goverment has considered it.

“Personally I would not feel comfortable, and the community would have to be involved. It’s a larger discussion than just with the teachers,” said Assistant Principal Yvonna Rogers.