I grew up in a small rural farm with cows in our back yards and schools had off on the first day of rifle season. I knew all the responsibilities and proper handling of a gun by the time I was thirteen. Even though the amount of death by guns continue to increase, I am pro-second amendment, except with the idea of arming teachers. With the amount of school violence related deaths occurring, the government is looking to try to aid in keeping those numbers low and their one solution is to arm teachers. I am here to tell you as a future educator and pro-second amendment civilian, this is not the answer.
Kids get into everything
Whether it is curious and adventurous elementary students of those going through puberty in middle school, kids are naturally curious.
"In an under-publicized study that appeared in the journal Pediatrics in 2001, Geoffrey Jackman and a group of his associates asked twenty-nine groups of two to three boys, most of whom were around ten-years-old, to wait for fifteen minutes in a room with a one-way mirror. Two water pistols and an actual .380 caliber handgun were partially concealed in various locations in the room. The handgun was rigged to make the sound of discharge when the trigger was pulled with sufficient force.
Forty-eight out the sixty-four boys found the handgun. Thirty boys handled the gun. Sixteen boys pulled the trigger. Approximately half of the boys who found the gun thought it was a toy, or were unsure if it was real. 90% of the boys who handled the gun or pulled the trigger had previously received some sort of gun safety education." (HuffPost)
Children know how to use guns because of the society they live in. If a student were to access the gun that the teacher is to conceal, innocent students could be injured or killed.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/arming-teachers-three-reasons_n_3053291
2. Fear
Both the students and the teachers will be surrounded by the ominous fear of handling this gun. When simply shown a gun out of nowhere or knowing that there is a gun within a room, people become afraid because society and the real world has shown us that guns are dangerous. Their sole purpose to kill. When students lives are on the line of having a stranger concealing a weapon, they are more likely to not focus well and develop anxiety. It takes months of intensive training for SWAT, security and police officers to be able to jump out into the real world with weapons, so it would make sense that arming teacher would be the same. Yet the solution has simple gun ownership and use training but that would never prepare them for a potential threat and if that threat occurs, it can't be sure that they will have the strength to follow their training. Teachers sign up to educate students and to better the future, but how can they do that when they have anxiety because of having to control and carry a weapon they are not comfortable with.
Not everyone believes in their own personal ownership of guns, forcing teachers to conceal a weapon can and may go against their own personal morals. It can drive teachers away from their job of educating the students. With the decline of respect and the lack of mental health care, many students and fellow teachers are unstable. An unstable student could easily try to force the weapon from the teacher and the unstable teacher may lash out and use the weapon in the wrong way.
3. Cost
Educators are having to turn towards a second job in order to pay their bills, simply because they do not get enough nor are they appreciated the way they should be. Often they have to put up with bratty children who sometimes do not understand the concept of body hygiene however, these people are still willing and believe in these kids to become better and be the best they can be. We develop personal bonds with our students and have to watch them grow up and move onto the next grade. Arming teachers would put more weight and pressure on a teacher and would never compensate for the cost in money, mental health and training.
While I do not support educators and teachers becoming armed I do believe that having armed security is a smart solution. Those in their positions while having restricted access to weapons. They do not implement cop like roles, instead, they are there to make sure a weapon related violence does not occur on the school grounds. Many argue that the cost would be too much but is their really a price on a child's life?
Many people believe that since I do not support teachers be armed whether it be a choice or by force, that I am against the second amendment. They are wrong. I believe that is your choice to or not to be armed outside of school. Even if we may have different opinions just remember that if you aren't going to be a teacher you should try to understand the opinions of future educators.
