Teachers carrying guns do not guarantee student safety
Imagine if we gave every teacher access to firearms on campus. Think of that one teacher you had who frequently lashed out at the class. Now, imagine him or her having a loaded weapon in their classroom within easy access. Many believe that arming teachers is a solution to gun violence in schools, but that idea could have terrible consequences.
In the past few weeks after the deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Florida which claimed 17 lives, the debate on what to do concerning student safety at school has been everywhere. It seems as if everyone has a different solution and course of action, but in the center of all the debate is whether or not teachers should be trained and given guns to fight back against a school shooter, as President Trump suggested.
We at The Olympian see several glaring problems in this plan to turn the workforce full of teachers into gun-wielding guards expected to fire back. Castro Valley Unified School District is already underfunded, and teachers’ salaries are paying the price. There is no definitive suggestion as to where to find the funds for training each and every teacher how to operate a firearm and safely shoot at a shooter, but this could possibly lead to a tax raise for most citizens.
Financial issues aside, we believe bringing guns into the classrooms would not increase safety and instead do quite the opposite. Teachers shooting back at an alleged gunman in the midst of panicking and dying children would be dangerous and a recipe for disaster. Introducing more guns into the situation will only increase problems, as opposed to alleviating fears and worries.
We favor stricter gun conrol measures instead. Banning assault weapons and semi-automatics combined with tougher and more stringent background checks is the only way to make progress.
I think that you need to take a step back and realize that no one is talking about arming all teachers with guns, which would just be insane and unrealistic. The debate is about if teachers who are already certified to carry a concealed weapon should be able to. I think that this is a positive step in the right direction, getting a concealed carry license is difficult and requires renewal anyway so what’s the harm in allowing them to bring the weapon on school grounds? They are already trained and concealing the weapon so no one will know if they have one or not.
Teachers having a gun in the classroom is honestly so unrealistic. It wouldn’t help any situation whatsoever. If anything it’s just going to make things a lot worse. Teachers don’t want to have guns in the classroom and they don’t want to be spending time learning how to use them. At least from what I’ve heard most say. But it’s just not a good idea and I believe it’s going to cause a great number of conflicts.
i don’t think letting teachers have guns would prevent school shootings but it would make kids feel unsafe
I don’t like guns
More guns is bad
We can’t control any human mind we may think these teachers mean well. Which I’m sure they do but we have no control over them. A teacher could get mad at a student one day and lose his/her (not assuming any gender) ability to control and pull out the gun as a threat.
It frustrates me that people are brainwashed into thinking that giving all teachers guns was an option or even a thought. The topic was for teachers who already have gun certifications to carry them, which clearly is not even 1/4 of the teacher population. I am sad that the newspaper is spreading false information to the school and that people believe all of this instead of doing their own research.
It is unreasonable to give guns to teachers in order to “protect” their students. The most logical solution would be stricter gun control in the nation. By giving teachers the power to have a gun, it would only stress some students out even more. Teachers are not experienced in these type of situations and it would only lead to increased chaos and fear in school.
I don’t think that arming teachers is really the answer. I feel like some teachers might abuse their power. I think that having a loaded weapon in the classroom isn’t going to solve the problem.