On April 18, the Douglas County School District situated in the quiet suburbs south of Denver announced that it has bought 10 semi-automatic rifles to supply security officers in the case of a security threat. The Bushmaster long rifles cost the district $12,000 and were justified as a “proactive” approach to school shootings and other extreme circumstances. The school board itself did not know of this effort until the announcement was released, passing through the authorization from the district’s superintendent and the director of security. The rifles are to be used at the discretion of the eight security officers trained to use them, though no clear definition of what situation would warrant the need for the rifles has been given. (Huffington Post)
Overall, the addition of these weapons has generated mixed reactions. Mostly, it is one of confusion, as multiple articles and tweets in response to the announcement deem this action as extremely unusual. Most school districts nearby and around the country either arm security officers with handguns or not at all, so this increase in arms has struck most as out of the ordinary.
As a former student of the district, I was completely caught off guard by this announcement, and I would argue that this move is completely unfounded and irresponsible. Not only is this misappropriation of tax dollars that the district should allocate to the various and very serious problems they face, but the increase in firepower among school security officers adds variables that could have deep unforeseen consequences.
Just earlier this year Mountain Vista High School in Douglas County received a tip on two students planning a shooting, which was luckily handled before any action took place. After this scare, the superintendent of the district promised further safety measures, the effort seeming to culminate into introducing long range rifles. It seems valid to say that guns at the sight of the event would help to ultimately reduce or eliminate school shootings, but are long range weapons the correct response?
Most evidence seems to refute the idea that this kind of firepower would do anything to reduce gun violence within schools. After massacres such as Sandy Hook, the rush to increase security sweeps the nation into a sort of frenzy. The answer has always been to add security and firearms into schools in an attempt to deter shooters from violence. But school shootings have not stopped. There were 64 school shootings in 2015 alone (BBC News). There are so many statistics that point to the fact that whatever we are doing now is simply not working. Civilians are getting guns too easily and whatever arms that officers hold within schools are generally obtaining no results.
I believe the district should spend more time and money treating students and the community in a way that actually is proactive. Mental health is a severe epidemic facing our nation in a particularly acute way and it is no surprise that a lot of the perpetrators of violence we see in these situations have or continue to struggle with mental illness. It is not to say that mental illness causes violence (that is a whole different issue in itself), but violent people are often not given the treatment they need to be successful. Through my first-hand experience at my high school, I was always aware of the lack of available counselors, there being about six counselors for roughly 2,000 students and for the most part only provided guidance for college applications, showing a real lack of resources when it came to mental health. If the district had spent that $12,000 on mental health services it is possible distraught individuals could find help instead of violence.
I am no expert by any means; I do not know what will stop school shootings and I don’t know if anyone will. However, adding guns into the hands of officers in our schools creates a culture of violence and fear in itself. The fact that they invested in such lethal weapons-- assault rifles are meant to kill, not subdue-- shows that the district is much more comfortable putting its students or staff in dangerous situations rather than helping troubled individuals from the start. If they believe guns are the answer, what is to stop distraught adolescents from thinking the same? As a former student of Douglas County School District, I fear for the culture the district is representing and for the lives of students that must learn under the threat of high powered bullets tearing through their classrooms. I hope that the school board may reevaluate this decision and that we may take steps to be proactive about violence from the start.
For a video outlining gun control issues in America, I highly suggest this one from Vox.
