With President Obama being re-elected, many people were already fearing that their firearms might be taken away from them. After the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, it was almost eminent that their weapons, which many believe to be secured by the 2nd amendment, would be made illegal unless having proper permits. While it may not be violating the 2nd amendment, I believe that firearms laws should not be changed.
Even though many school shootings have occurred in the past, Sandy Hook was different. Since the victims were a few adults and mainly children, the issue will be pressed harder than before. Laws about everything from possession of firearms to how much ammunition have been passed, and it has upset many people. But there is perhaps one thought that has unsettled people more than most–the idea that every teacher in the school should have a gun in the classroom.
As I stated earlier, the laws that have been in place for ages should remain. There is no need to arm a teacher that has no prior experience with a firearm. There would not even be any sense to it! If anything, more harm would come from it. Junior Jason Sterrett stated, “I feel like it’s completely wrong to give every teacher a gun in schools. I personally feel like some teachers couldn’t handle the responsibility.” When asked why he didn’t think that they could handle it, he replied with, “They might over-react and shoot someone who didn’t really do anything.” I agree that this would happen without a doubt.
Another problem with giving teachers guns is that they would all require some sort of training, resulting in more money being spent on that. Not to mention, the guns would also cost money to have. Many teachers don’t have time for the required training, nor do they even want to have the training.
Many teachers are also against it. Physical education and health teacher Mr. German said, “I don’t think there are very many teachers who would utilize the weapon in the correct way. Why even put those teachers into the situation to make a decision with a weapon? I always thought they were just supposed to teach.” Having been at Delphi for many years, German has a clear understanding of student behavior in general. “Kids just aren’t the same anymore. They push teachers to the edge, and with the teachers potentially having guns… it just wouldn’t end well.”
In the past, giving a teacher a lethal weapon was not even considered an option. While the world is changing and becoming a more dangerous place, there is no need to make every day at school a risk. Teachers lose their cool on a daily basis and always have. All it would take is one irate teacher to shoot and injure, or perhaps kill, a student. One can only imagine what new amendments and bills would be made to counter the prior laws that were passed. It would just result in a big mess that can be avoided altogether by simply not giving the teachers the weapons.
Even though it may make school shooters reconsider their actions, I still do not believe that teachers should be outfitted with a tool that has the capability to take the life of someone. Teachers jobs are to teach, not to kill people with a handgun.
