Jacob Wahdan next author in 2016-2017 MLHS senior student editorial series
Teachers’ Right To Carry
According to everytownresearch.org, “Since 2013 there has been about 201 school shootings and none has done anything to fix the issue yet.” There have been so many shootings and deaths because the teachers, whose job it is to protect the kids, cannot even protect themselves. There have been programs that taught schools that in this situation they are to hide, but what happens if the threat comes into the room and the only thing you have to fight back with is a book or maybe a scissors? Politicians today keep discussing how to stop school shootings and why we should not have guns. Some might argue that schools should just get more security and have officers at the schools. The problem with that is not all schools can afford to have an officer at the school. Giving teachers the right to carry would play a big part in preventing school shootings or protecting against threats of any kind.
Let’s face it, one of the main reasons why there are moth deaths from shootings and threats is because teachers have no protection. Look at this example of a person who is planning on being a threat to a school. If a threat found out that the school they were going to attack had teachers carrying guns, but did not know who had them, would they still do it? Now, if there was a threat that came into the school, the first responders are not the police, it is the teachers because they are already there. The police will take minutes to get there when seconds matter the most. If teachers were given the right to carry, the threat would probably be the only one getting injured, versus the amount of students and teachers that could have been injured. Threats decide to go to schools because they know no one is really going to fight back. If teachers had the right to carry, there is a higher chance the threat would back down.
Now politicians want to take guns away thinking that will stop the shootings when really it will make the situation worse. Think about when the 18th Amendment was established and America decided to stop selling alcohol; people were still buying and selling alcohol illegally. The same thing will happen if our guns are taken away. If they take away guns, and someone illegally gets one and comes into a school, the threat will have a huge advantage knowing that the people there do not have guns. According to nra.org, “A person that has a gun has a higher chance to properly defend themselves versus someone who doesn’t.”
In all reality, the odds of a threat coming into a small town such as Mountain Lake are low, but it never hurts to be prepared. If we did give teachers the right to carry, it would not mean that they are being forced to have guns; it is for each teacher to decide if they would feel safer carrying a gun. The teachers that would carry would need to be trained, background-checked and tested to be mentally-stable to carry, so parents and students would feel safer. Odds are slim, but there is a possibility, and that is all it takes for people to want a change.
People saying taking away guns will stop shootings; however, it is really giving the threat an advantage. Putting officers in schools won’t work because not all schools can afford to have one around. If teachers can teach our future, then they should be allowed to properly protect our future, too.