Sony Challenge

Over the past couple of decades there have been some unpleasant and dreadful episodes that have happened in schools across America. The harming of innocent children learning in school while mass murderers enter onto school property undetected is a darn shame. Since the tragic incident at Sandy Hook Elementary in New Town, Connecticut recently it has put school districts across the Country on alert to protect students. There are some states permitting teachers to carry a gun with a concealed weapons permit. This puts me in a panic and could very well create a larger scale of danger. Guns in our schools seem to invite more conflict and even more reason to take more precaution, so teachers should not be allowed to carry guns in school.
Training could be costly and would take a lot of time to be properly trained. Though some teachers may possess a concealed gun permit, but it does not mean they are on high alert all the time. When faced with a hostile individual, how fast are teachers going to react to handle a situation that does not arise on a daily basis? For example, my sister was a military police guarding terriosts and went through extensive training to ward off attackers. When she came home she was faced with an attacker on the street, but her training was soon forgotten. All she could do was scream; apparently she was off alert. A teacher may tend to sway a bully but probably not an adversary. In addition, education was one of the first items to get cut when it came to balancing the United States budget, so where is the training money going to come from? Teachers will have to be trained to handle a gun and also handle a violent situation, yet the main objective is to give an education and carrying a gun may obstruct learning. You would not have the teacher fix the plumbing, yet it is the same for a teacher carrying a gun for protection.
Due to a teacher sporting a gun or having it locked up, a student may think they have the same right. Imagine that a child thought they have the same right to bring a gun to school for protection as well. I do believe this has happened in some schools already. What if some older adolescent or a young child somehow acquired control of the teachers’ gun and made threats of their own to the students or facility? There have been incidents with police, which someone obtains control of their gun and shoots them. There are stories on the news about children obtaining guns and plays with it and is found dead or seriously injured. Is the school district ready to be accountable for something gone wrong with a gun in the wrong hands? Personally I think the schools should leave it up to highly trained professionals that are always on alert and ready. This means licensed security guards or some police presence. I know of an actual middle school that uses the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department to monitor the school.
Children impersonate and copy what they see according to their environment and will act accordingly. A teacher is supposed to be helpful and supportive, but when you know your teacher has a gun they may see a whole different image of them. The children may also be fearful or feel awkward if they carried a gun. Others may think, my teacher reminds me of James bond or the Resident Evil hero from the movies. In my opinion any teacher carrying a gun seems to promote violence. I would definitely feel scared and uncomfortable around someone that I knew had a gun. What we need to do as parents and teachers is educate our children of possible dangerous events that could take place in school. Schools should run a violence drill and have a plan in place like they do for tornados and fires, so they have some preparations and may be able to stay calm and have some type exercise in place. We ran violence drills once a month them at a place I used to work and it was all an impromptu act of a disgruntled employee. Sometimes the drill would include fatal casualties.
In conclusion, guns in our schools seem that it would take away from the teacher and student relationship. In a small child’s eyes they may think the teacher is scary with a gun. A teenager may think how powerful it would be to have a gun. It just seems to promote more violence. Who is to tell between the mentally incompetent versus the competent of teachers which carry guns? I feel distressed and opposed to teachers carrying guns and security should be left up to trained professionals. Allowing teachers to carry a gun in school invites so much controversy, liability and potential problems down the road.