With everything that has happened recently in society, a lot of new questions are being asked and "answers" are being suggested. One that is becoming more prominent over the rest is the statement that teachers should have guns in the classroom. I am a future educator and I do NOT want to have a gun in my classroom.
I get it, they are not just going to throw teachers a gun and expect them to be an expert. But I do not care about how much training and knowledge you want to give me, I do not want to have a gun in my classroom. Also, say if this happened, how would we pay for it? We can barely afford to pay teachers and have schools fully functioning, but we are going to give teachers a bonus, give them a gun, and pay for all the training? There are way better things that money can be allocated to.
If you make me have a gun in my classroom, you are changing the entire dynamic of it. I now have to be on my toes and have the anxiety of the fact there is a gun in my room, not to mention the fear of the students knowing that there's that one part of the classroom that is completely off limits. A classroom is meant for learning and exploration, and now we would have to put limitations on that.
As a teacher, you are not only juggling 25+ students, you are also responsible for the grades, the parents, meetings, lesson plans, and so much more. And now you want to add in the fact that I need extensive gun training and responsibility for that firearm in my classroom? It is only possible for a human being to juggle so much, we cannot do everything. That is the LAST thing I should have to worry about being responsible for.
Let us not forget about the emotional trauma this would cause if, god forbid, one day I would have to use the firearm. I don't care if it is for the greater good and all the lives I would be saving, I would still be shooting a gun. I would still be taking a life. I don't care how terrible of a human being it is, one that opens fire on a school I would still be killing someone. I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. Some may look at that as being a hero, I look at it as having to be responsible for something that I shouldn't have to be.
Yes, this is all terrible and we are often put in situations that we do not want to be in. But we are focusing on guns being the solution instead of looking at other issues regarding the topic. For instance all the mental health problems and how we are still continually cutting the funding for it. We need to look at the problem of people as a whole and our own society. Someone had to shoot the gun, it didn't just shoot all by itself.
Overall, I am someone who just doesn't like guns, and I am not for them. I don't discredit people that are pro-gun, but I am someone who chooses not to surround myself with them. So I do not want to be forced to do so in my career.
I look at school as a safe place, a place where kids can have endless opportunities. If we have guns in every classroom and other measures, it will just turn into a place of fear. Kids will be just as scared in a classroom as they would be in a terrible situation. They will have a reminder every single day in their classroom of what one day could happen.
Very soon I will be a teacher. Very soon I will be responsible for many little people and their futures regarding the classroom. I don't want to be responsible for a gun too.
Please really think about all the greater issues then decided if you think more guns are the solution.