BY SABRINA VICTOR
We all have that one teacher we don’t care for, you know, the ones with dramatic mood swings. One moment they are perfectly fine and the next they are screaming their heads off at how lazy and unappreciative their students are. I’ve even had one teacher who had the audacity to call all of her students “trash.” Now imagine providing that teacher with a gun. If they can’t control their words, they may not be able to control their actions. School would no longer be a place of learning, but a place of terror. Arming teachers with guns is an absurd idea the National Rifle Association (NRA) has come up with in order to save their billion-dollar industry. Although many gun-loving Republicans have embraced the proposal, it is obviously for the wrong reason, namely continued funding from the NRA. More guns, in the hands of more people, in more places, especially school, is exactly what we don’t need. Teachers are here to educate our children, not protect them, that is the duty of School Resource officers that we train and pay. There is no reason to burden teachers with the idea of carrying guns and possibly making a fatal mistake.
Placing guns in the classroom will, no doubt, result in weapons getting in the hands of students. The fact is, kids like to touch everything in their path and teachers could accidently leave a gun laying around in their desk or purse, which could have a deadly result. According to the FBI Homicide Data, 1448 children died as a result of gun violence in 2010 and 165 of those deaths were at the hands of other children. Since we don’t want another tragedy like Columbine, or worse, Sandy Hook, we must put our foot down and make sure lives aren’t put at risk for the benefit of the NRA.
Let’s be real here, teachers are people too, and people tend to act out of rage. There are teachers who wouldn’t trust themselves with a gun, so why should we? These educators have enough stress as it is, with demanding student behavior and constant lack of funding, they could snap at any given day and time. A sudden flare of temper can cause some teacher, who has just had enough, to open fire, and it would be in part due to the government’s ignorance for not recognizing the dangers of giving them guns. We must put the worst scenarios into consideration as to why firearms in the classroom will do nothing but increase hazard.
Putting firearms in the classrooms will be too much of a liability for school districts. Not only would the districts have to fund the proper training of these teachers, but they also have to purchase and maintain the guns. As we know, public education has experienced cuts in funding and there is no reason to be wasting even more money on such a ridiculous idea. Money should be put towards new textbooks and useful technology in the classroom.
Forcing teachers to carry guns, in the end, will certainly not benefit the cause of decreasing gun violence. It will only put even more unnecessary pressure on them and pose as a danger to students. The biggest advocates of putting weapons in school are only concerned with political gains and not the potential threats this could cause. If we want to effectively decrease gun violence in America, the solution is to ban assault weapons and carry out extensive background checks to make it more difficult to buy them.
