Teachers Should Have The Right To Bear Arms
Typical excuses of why people do not carry their weapons all the time are just that: excuses! “My gun isn't comfortable,” “I'm not sure which round I should use,” “I'm afraid someone will notice my gun and call the cops,” “I'm not 100% sure where I can and can't carry,” “I don't know if I should I carry OWB or IWB or tuck,” “I don't know which gun is best for concealed carry,” or, “which caliber I should use?” are typical excuses that have no real argument against the idea of “everyday carry” (Owens). The idea of everyday carry is self-explanatory: carry your firearm every day. Learning a little bit about the law and learning about the associated firearm give the answers to all of these typical excuses, rendering the excuses unnecessary and a waste of breath.
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Teachers have no valid excuses as to why they should not carry guns, nor does anybody who makes school rules and regulations.
Teachers must have the right to carry concealed firearms because the safety of their students lies in their hands. How is a teacher supposed to protect his or her students from a criminal with a gun when the teacher does not have a gun? Is the teacher going to reason with the killer? No, the teacher will not successfully reason with a killer. Obviously, the teacher cannot overpower the killer, while the killer has a handgun or other type of firearm, either. To be able to effectively defend the students’ lives, the teacher needs to carry and wield a firearm: “if there were a school shooting and anyone had something to help slow down or stop the attack, I don’t see how it can be worse than letting a psychopath run loose with a gun and nothing to slow them down” (Youcancarry.com). I believe that teachers should be required to carry a concealed firearm on college campuses and/or school
grounds.
Teachers need to go be trained so that they can be prepared with firearms and other weapons which will benefit them and the students if a criminal that is wielding a gun or other type of weapon attacks them. They have to carry concealed firearms for many reasons: so that kids and students will not see them and try to take them, so a criminal will not see the firearm and will not be able to take it, and, of course, to protect their students’ lives and his or her own life.
Society expects teachers to protect students to the best of the teachers’ abilities. Even though this is widely expected, teachers cannot enforce this ideal and responsibility 100% when the teachers cannot defend against a disaster such as a criminal with a firearm that intends to kill. Youcancarry.com defends these views by using common sense, “We feel that even if just used for personal safety, a citizen should be able to defend themselves at home, work, or school. Their life doesn’t lose value just because they work in a school setting” (Youcancarry.com). Personally, I do not think that it is right to have any gun-free zones because gun-free zones create targets for criminals and gun-free zones are most likely to have the most deaths and casualties if a shooting were to occur. With a gun, a single law-abiding citizen (in this case the teacher) becomes equally as powerful as a single criminal with a gun. This system is advantageous because if one, two, or even three criminal shooters confront several law-abiding citizens or teachers that wield guns, the criminal shooters still have a great disadvantage in the situation.
Teachers need to be required to attend concealed carry classes at least once a year. In concealed carry classes, teachers are taught several essential gun facts and social facts about carrying concealed firearms: pros and cons of different holsters, places that allow concealed carry and places that do not allow concealed carry, the type of belts that make concealed carry comfortable, what to do when going into gun-free zones, the necessity of a first aid kit, various gun myths, ways to talk to the police, and much more (Owens). Other lessons include avoiding accidental discharge, how to draw a weapon correctly in different scenarios, different types of knives, firearm safety rules, close-quarter techniques, how to pie corners, and how to handle more than one assailant (Owens). These lessons, along with carrying a concealed weapon and/or firearm, allow teachers to be ready to defend themselves and their students from any kind of harm: ‘…training weekly and being checked out weekly and knowing how to use that weapon and being willing and able to do it’ (KDVR.com). *****Done up to here, fix counters***** Attempts to counter these gun rights are typically unsuccessful. One conjured counter-argument is that “People think that students will attack the teachers to get the guns,” according to Youcancarry.com (Youcancarry.com). This is not a very powerful counter-argument since the students will not have access to the teacher’s concealed firearms because the weapons are supposed to be concealed. Firearms are usually carried differently by every person due to their preference or the holder that they use, which prevents most criminals from being able to readily use the firearm if they can obtain possession of it. Plus, if students have no information about the teacher’s concealed firearm, then the students cannot use the firearm either.
To render the second counter-argument, “teachers are untrained and will shoot an innocent person if a shooting were to occur,” insignificant, teachers should be required to attend a concealed carry class at least once a year (Youcancarry.com). This ensures that the teacher keeps a basic knowledge of how to handle a firearm and know what to do in a situation where the teacher’s life and their students’ lives are at stake. Maintaining annual continuing education in the safety and use of firearms should be key and critical in retaining their teaching certificates because the teachers are ultimately responsible for the utmost safety of the students.
The last main counter argument states that, apparently, “it would detract from a learning environment” (Youcancarry.com). This notion that is against carrying a concealed firearm is ridiculous. This idea is ridiculous because the students (especially younger students) should not even be aware that there is a firearm present in the classroom. Being in college, however, I want my teachers to carry a concealed firearm at all times because I feel vulnerable to the potential threat of mass shooters and other criminals, since I cannot carry my own firearms on my college’s campus.
According to Aristotle, “In a polity , each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state,” which means that “the possession of arms is a requisite for true citizenship and participation in the polity…” which proves that the right to bear arms is more than just owning an item (Halbrook 12). This statement is still correct and should not exclude anyone, such as teachers, from their right to keep and bear arms just because they happen to be inside of a school. This right should be enforced because safety is important, regardless of location or time. The right to keep and bear arms is essential for all of the people in America to keep their liberty and freedom. Without the concealed carry right that teachers should be required to practice, every student and teacher is vulnerable and defenseless against criminal activity or an attack on the school. Without the right to keep and bear arms, other tragedies, such as the Virginia Tech shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, have the potential to become more devastating in the future. After all, “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,” which is why guns must never be outlawed or illegal to own in the first place (Davidson 128). Teachers need to be taught by experts, like E.J. Owens so that the schools all over the United States of America may be a safer place. The school system is only one big example of why concealed carry is necessary and causes further thought to ask where else would carrying concealed firearms be necessary and effective?
Teachers have no valid excuses as to why they should not carry guns, nor does anybody who makes school rules and regulations.
Teachers must have the right to carry concealed firearms because the safety of their students lies in their hands. How is a teacher supposed to protect his or her students from a criminal with a gun when the teacher does not have a gun? Is the teacher going to reason with the killer? No, the teacher will not successfully reason with a killer. Obviously, the teacher cannot overpower the killer, while the killer has a handgun or other type of firearm, either. To be able to effectively defend the students’ lives, the teacher needs to carry and wield a firearm: “if there were a school shooting and anyone had something to help slow down or stop the attack, I don’t see how it can be worse than letting a psychopath run loose with a gun and nothing to slow them down” (Youcancarry.com). I believe that teachers should be required to carry a concealed firearm on college campuses and/or school
grounds.
Teachers need to go be trained so that they can be prepared with firearms and other weapons which will benefit them and the students if a criminal that is wielding a gun or other type of weapon attacks them. They have to carry concealed firearms for many reasons: so that kids and students will not see them and try to take them, so a criminal will not see the firearm and will not be able to take it, and, of course, to protect their students’ lives and his or her own life.
Society expects teachers to protect students to the best of the teachers’ abilities. Even though this is widely expected, teachers cannot enforce this ideal and responsibility 100% when the teachers cannot defend against a disaster such as a criminal with a firearm that intends to kill. Youcancarry.com defends these views by using common sense, “We feel that even if just used for personal safety, a citizen should be able to defend themselves at home, work, or school. Their life doesn’t lose value just because they work in a school setting” (Youcancarry.com). Personally, I do not think that it is right to have any gun-free zones because gun-free zones create targets for criminals and gun-free zones are most likely to have the most deaths and casualties if a shooting were to occur. With a gun, a single law-abiding citizen (in this case the teacher) becomes equally as powerful as a single criminal with a gun. This system is advantageous because if one, two, or even three criminal shooters confront several law-abiding citizens or teachers that wield guns, the criminal shooters still have a great disadvantage in the situation.
Teachers need to be required to attend concealed carry classes at least once a year. In concealed carry classes, teachers are taught several essential gun facts and social facts about carrying concealed firearms: pros and cons of different holsters, places that allow concealed carry and places that do not allow concealed carry, the type of belts that make concealed carry comfortable, what to do when going into gun-free zones, the necessity of a first aid kit, various gun myths, ways to talk to the police, and much more (Owens). Other lessons include avoiding accidental discharge, how to draw a weapon correctly in different scenarios, different types of knives, firearm safety rules, close-quarter techniques, how to pie corners, and how to handle more than one assailant (Owens). These lessons, along with carrying a concealed weapon and/or firearm, allow teachers to be ready to defend themselves and their students from any kind of harm: ‘…training weekly and being checked out weekly and knowing how to use that weapon and being willing and able to do it’ (KDVR.com). *****Done up to here, fix counters***** Attempts to counter these gun rights are typically unsuccessful. One conjured counter-argument is that “People think that students will attack the teachers to get the guns,” according to Youcancarry.com (Youcancarry.com). This is not a very powerful counter-argument since the students will not have access to the teacher’s concealed firearms because the weapons are supposed to be concealed. Firearms are usually carried differently by every person due to their preference or the holder that they use, which prevents most criminals from being able to readily use the firearm if they can obtain possession of it. Plus, if students have no information about the teacher’s concealed firearm, then the students cannot use the firearm either.
To render the second counter-argument, “teachers are untrained and will shoot an innocent person if a shooting were to occur,” insignificant, teachers should be required to attend a concealed carry class at least once a year (Youcancarry.com). This ensures that the teacher keeps a basic knowledge of how to handle a firearm and know what to do in a situation where the teacher’s life and their students’ lives are at stake. Maintaining annual continuing education in the safety and use of firearms should be key and critical in retaining their teaching certificates because the teachers are ultimately responsible for the utmost safety of the students.
The last main counter argument states that, apparently, “it would detract from a learning environment” (Youcancarry.com). This notion that is against carrying a concealed firearm is ridiculous. This idea is ridiculous because the students (especially younger students) should not even be aware that there is a firearm present in the classroom. Being in college, however, I want my teachers to carry a concealed firearm at all times because I feel vulnerable to the potential threat of mass shooters and other criminals, since I cannot carry my own firearms on my college’s campus.
According to Aristotle, “In a polity , each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state,” which means that “the possession of arms is a requisite for true citizenship and participation in the polity…” which proves that the right to bear arms is more than just owning an item (Halbrook 12). This statement is still correct and should not exclude anyone, such as teachers, from their right to keep and bear arms just because they happen to be inside of a school. This right should be enforced because safety is important, regardless of location or time. The right to keep and bear arms is essential for all of the people in America to keep their liberty and freedom. Without the concealed carry right that teachers should be required to practice, every student and teacher is vulnerable and defenseless against criminal activity or an attack on the school. Without the right to keep and bear arms, other tragedies, such as the Virginia Tech shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, have the potential to become more devastating in the future. After all, “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,” which is why guns must never be outlawed or illegal to own in the first place (Davidson 128). Teachers need to be taught by experts, like E.J. Owens so that the schools all over the United States of America may be a safer place. The school system is only one big example of why concealed carry is necessary and causes further thought to ask where else would carrying concealed firearms be necessary and effective?