By Josef Montejano
Firearms are used for hunting and self defense. As of now, you may have heard of the Parkland Douglas High School shooting and its impact. Because of this event, some of society wants schools to have teachers to be armed with firearms. I feel that society is making a wrong move trying to pass this because having a teacher armed could lead to potential risks for the students.
According to an article on The New York Times by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, in a meeting, Donald Trump suggested that teachers who are armed should get a bonus in their pay. Trump also included that he wanted to harden schools by having teachers who have high experience with firearms to have one wield at all times. He said, “You give them a little bit of a bonus, so practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target“
Trump is also supporting to change the age requirement to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, which is something the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) is trying to resist changing. Trump wishes to strengthen background checks of people who try to purchase weapons, but according to the White House, ‘the President is no position to propose that demand.’
In another article from The New York Times, Christina Caron discusses a recent accident that happened at Seaside high school. A teacher, who ironically was a police officer, Dennis Alexander, brought in a firearm to school to demonstrate gun safety to his students.
It was described that Dennis’s teaching was fine until he went to check if his firearm was loaded or not. Alexander fired his gun and little did he know, a bullet blasted and hit the ceiling destroying some debri, injuring 2 students and another with a bullet fragment that ricocheted into the neck of one student.
The students are reported to be fine in the condition that they’re in. Alexander has been put on a temporary suspension from both his job as a teacher at Seaside High School and officer at Sand City Police Department. I find it reasonable that they punished him for his action, not drastically at least. It was clearly a mistake that he brought a gun into school grounds. Alexander wanted to give a lesson, but his accident should not be taken to harsh.
Did you also know that there are already some states that have a law that allow teachers to be armed? According to a source from Vice News by Tess Owen, there are 14 states in the U.S. that have teachers carrying firearms. These states happen to be: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Fernando Amaya, a junior at Yerba Buena gladly wanted to share his voice and opinion about this national topic. Fernando says “I kinda see where this would go if teachers were armed, if it were possible, a teacher could be stressed out and may take their anger out on a student and point a gun at them or the other way around a student could easily snatch the firearm if they could.”
He also says that if we ever wanted to prevent a crisis where a teacher had to use necessary action against a shooter, then every student should be checked up for any cases of depression, bullying, mental illness, etc.
“It surprises me that Florida had decided to spend millions of dollars on a firearms training program for teachers when all of that money could’ve gone to something else like charities or schools, that just shows how underwhelming society really is.” He says.
“I understand society wants to keep schools and students safe, but I don’t think a program would do much but make teachers a first target if another shooting ever occurred. I may be speaking bias here, but if another shooting happens, it would be much worse because not only would a shooter(s) prioritize teachers first, they would have more resources (weapons) from them which would lead to a bigger toll.”
I myself agree with Fernando as well. I don’t think a training program is not going to do anything, but cause worse. Considering that there are cases where teachers do attack their students. Adding a gun will make things worse for kids, or vice versa make it worse for the teacher. Millions of dollars on something that is unavailing? - The way I see it is that you’ll be hearing more about teachers on the news than students.
It’s unlikely that guns will be given to teachers across the nation, but we still need to put a stop against the N.R.A. Their gun laws are the reason why these shooting happen. They need to set stricter gun laws, or even better restrict all use of firearms. It only takes a couple of minutes to buy a gun in America. And it only takes one bullet to kill someone. The last thing we want is for teachers to be issued firearms.
According to an article on The New York Times by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, in a meeting, Donald Trump suggested that teachers who are armed should get a bonus in their pay. Trump also included that he wanted to harden schools by having teachers who have high experience with firearms to have one wield at all times. He said, “You give them a little bit of a bonus, so practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target“
Trump is also supporting to change the age requirement to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, which is something the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) is trying to resist changing. Trump wishes to strengthen background checks of people who try to purchase weapons, but according to the White House, ‘the President is no position to propose that demand.’
In another article from The New York Times, Christina Caron discusses a recent accident that happened at Seaside high school. A teacher, who ironically was a police officer, Dennis Alexander, brought in a firearm to school to demonstrate gun safety to his students.
It was described that Dennis’s teaching was fine until he went to check if his firearm was loaded or not. Alexander fired his gun and little did he know, a bullet blasted and hit the ceiling destroying some debri, injuring 2 students and another with a bullet fragment that ricocheted into the neck of one student.
The students are reported to be fine in the condition that they’re in. Alexander has been put on a temporary suspension from both his job as a teacher at Seaside High School and officer at Sand City Police Department. I find it reasonable that they punished him for his action, not drastically at least. It was clearly a mistake that he brought a gun into school grounds. Alexander wanted to give a lesson, but his accident should not be taken to harsh.
Did you also know that there are already some states that have a law that allow teachers to be armed? According to a source from Vice News by Tess Owen, there are 14 states in the U.S. that have teachers carrying firearms. These states happen to be: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Fernando Amaya, a junior at Yerba Buena gladly wanted to share his voice and opinion about this national topic. Fernando says “I kinda see where this would go if teachers were armed, if it were possible, a teacher could be stressed out and may take their anger out on a student and point a gun at them or the other way around a student could easily snatch the firearm if they could.”
He also says that if we ever wanted to prevent a crisis where a teacher had to use necessary action against a shooter, then every student should be checked up for any cases of depression, bullying, mental illness, etc.
“It surprises me that Florida had decided to spend millions of dollars on a firearms training program for teachers when all of that money could’ve gone to something else like charities or schools, that just shows how underwhelming society really is.” He says.
“I understand society wants to keep schools and students safe, but I don’t think a program would do much but make teachers a first target if another shooting ever occurred. I may be speaking bias here, but if another shooting happens, it would be much worse because not only would a shooter(s) prioritize teachers first, they would have more resources (weapons) from them which would lead to a bigger toll.”
I myself agree with Fernando as well. I don’t think a training program is not going to do anything, but cause worse. Considering that there are cases where teachers do attack their students. Adding a gun will make things worse for kids, or vice versa make it worse for the teacher. Millions of dollars on something that is unavailing? - The way I see it is that you’ll be hearing more about teachers on the news than students.
It’s unlikely that guns will be given to teachers across the nation, but we still need to put a stop against the N.R.A. Their gun laws are the reason why these shooting happen. They need to set stricter gun laws, or even better restrict all use of firearms. It only takes a couple of minutes to buy a gun in America. And it only takes one bullet to kill someone. The last thing we want is for teachers to be issued firearms.