Editorial: fighting guns with guns will not stop the violence

After the tragedy of the Sandy Hook Massacre, fear of child safety in schools shot up tremendously. What should America do about the increase in shootings across the country? How should we protect our kids? Several states, such as South Dakota, have considered or passed bills that allow trained staff members to secretly carry guns around school to “increase student safety.” That same type of legislation was introduced to California, and is now being reviewed by the state government.

Recalling the phrase, “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” The Olympian staff disagrees with the bill, noting that fighting a gun with a gun is not going to stop the violence.

Having anyone, whether a student or staff member, be in possession of a gun on a school campus is a direct threat to the security of the students. Who knows what kind of person that staff member may be, or what threat he or she could make if “they go crazy.”

The bill also mandates that the identities of the gun-carrying staff members be kept confidential; however, this infringes on the parents’ rights to know what kind of classroom their children are occupying. Also, if the identities of the staff members with a gun are somehow revealed, then trouble-making students could steal them. Even worse, what if students gang up on staff members and steal their weapons? That poses a huge risk to the safety of the schools, increasing trauma and stress.

At the The Olympian, we think this whole bill is just an overreaction to the Sandy Hook shooting, and does not offer a realistic or plausible solution to the rising problem of violence in our nation. Instead of encouraging the component that causes these problems, we should be focused on conducting effective solutions that target the root cause.

A majority of the mass shootings we all fear are caused by people in possession of a guns in the first place, most of whom have mental health problems or easy access to guns they should not be around.

Using education, schools should implicate more mental health programs to make sure the people who need it are guided in the right direction. In order to reduce the gun shooting problems in the country as a whole, America should have better gun protocols, and make it harder to buy guns. Using security guards at entrances of schools can also help reduce the chance of dangerous people entering our campuses.

Although it is impossible to make the world completely safe, the first step to make it better is not to encourage such a destructive weapon as a gun. We at The Olympian believe guns do not guarantee safety, especially in a school environment.