The Permission To School Staff, Faculty, Security To Carry Guns In College

Safety is one of the biggest factors we all look for no matter the environment in which we find ourselves in, this can drive us to want safety for others around us as well. This varies from family, to friends, coworkers, neighbors the list goes on. Due to past incidents school districts and state laws have enacted measures to provide school safety for staff, faculty, security and most importantly for students. This however has caused and continues to cause controversy in many states as only a few have enacted a state law which would allow any school staff to carry a concealed weapon during school hours. A few of these states include Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Oregon. These laws also vary depending on the kind of school. The list of states which allow staff to carry concealed guns within college and university campuses are: Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oregon. There are differences within every measure and the different campuses. However the question remains, is this the correct measure and are these laws enacting better safety or more exposure to gun incidents. President Trump and the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have now backed up the idea of arming educators as a safety precaution. Law makers and school districts therefore are now pushing for teachers and staff to be armed during school hours. School staff, faculty and or security should not be allowed to carry guns on campus during school hours as a safety precaution as it forces teachers to carry weapons, the presence of a gun enhances the likelihood of the gun being used taking focus away from providing actual qualified security and makes students feel unsafe/ uncomfortable in their learning environment. Permission of guns requires a lot of thought and proper training to be mastered in its use. Safety is the overall importance but it must also be taken into consideration in a number of districts educators will have to spend their own money and time in order to be armed during school hours.

Moreover, allowing school staff, security, and faculty to carry guns while at work in schools forces educators to carry the guns. “Teachers should be allowed to concealed carry just like they would outside of work. Exercising the Second Amendment shouldn’t be an obligation to the teacher, but an option for them personally,” news editor Noah Cager states. This forces educators to carry a gun around students which in many cases the students are minors. Rather than it be a decision that an individual can make it is instead becoming an obligation. Students may even feel more unsafe as it seems these laws and bills regarding school staffs carrying guns is an obligation and a requirement. This puts pressure on educators as they are required to do this for their job which is not at all a job within the law enforcement field. One French teacher at a high school tweeted via social media “My job is to connect with kids and teach them a language. No shooting required.” A teacher will not be properly trained no matter how much training they under go as stress can easily break the teaching of firearms. Not only this but in many districts the educator themselves will have to pay for their training and weapon. This becomes cheaper for schools and the school districts. An educator’s liability is also brought to attention in these situations, if there is an incident and a student or fellow staff gets injured the responsibility then will be on the school board and for the most part on the educator. Carrying a gun on campus during school hours will cause the individual carrying it stress, may affect their mental health and at some point even put their life on risk.

The presence of a gun on campus enhances its likelihood of it being used and takes away from providing actual qualified security. “If you have never worked in a school or qualified with a firearm please stop advocating that teachers should be armed. First, most of my colleagues have zero interest in carrying. Second, there is a much greater chance of having a negligent discharge or a misplaced weapon or a bad guy getting hold of that weapon than there is of that teacher using it to neutralize a threat.” shared Dan Staples a math teacher who had served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Even individuals who have received firearm training panic and find them self’s under pressure in high risk situations. Those within law enforcement go through active shooter exercises within local police departments and they themselves perform poorly. By lawmakers allowing and requiring school staff, faculty, and security to carry a gun during school hours this enhances the chances of a student getting the firearm either it be by force or if the authorized school staff misplaces and or accidently neglects the firearm. This increases confrontation. There are many scenarios that can develop from this outcome. A student can take hold of the gun and try to confront the shooter or conceal the firearm causing either a fatal or non-fatal incident the, there are many different scenarios besides these that can occur. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research most school incidents do not actually involve active shooters. Moreover, there is worry that having this bill allowing school staff to carry guns will take away from other factors that also require focus such as funding for books and materials. “Arming ten to twenty percent of our nation’s 3.2 million public school teachers would cost more than $650 million” (Brookings Institute). Individually however school districts believe they are wasting less money by just having educators carry guns during school hours.

Students and parents must also feel safe during these procedures and school hours as it is their learning environment and in many cases as mentioned earlier, the students are minors. Parents send their children to school to learn and interact with their classmates but having an educator carrying a concealed weapon or simply have one “safely” set in an unknown place can alarm the student and parent. Student’s may feel uncomfortable and even stressed in these cases. Stress exhibited by instructors directly increases the stress levels of students while in the classroom. Stressors may pop up at any moment to disrupt learning and concentration. Carlson, D. (2016) Having an educator carry a gun during school hours will require continuous background checks and psychological checkups. This requirement alone can alarm a student as a teacher should be focused on teaching and on the students interaction. According to the 2010 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment reported more than 25 percent of students say that stress lowered their grades or ability to finish a course. Carlson, D (2016) It is not fair to the student to interrupt both their learning and the learning environment provided by schools with stress of this sort. This could potentially affect them mentally as well causing them to miss school more frequently or see a decreasing grades as Carlson shared in his article 3 Ways Stress Negatively Affects Student Performance. If we have reached this level of concern where it is now debated if armed educators provide more safety we have reached a point where school and law measures are not safe enough and must work together to fix gun laws and proper security in schools.

Even though, school staff, faculty and security should not be allowed to carry a gun on school campuses during school hours, law makers believe they should for safety precautions. Adding the wrong safety measures takes away from the real focus on the actual threats that society has now witnessed over the past years. Some individuals disagree with this viewpoint and believe arming educators is the best way to decrease school shootings. Bright Local School District Superintendent shared “We have no local law enforcement within an 18-mile radius that we know will be on duty full-time during the school day. There are no issues that we know of, and no reason to suspect there will be, but one of our main duties besides educating children is protecting our students and staff.” The superintendent informed the Times-Gazette of Hillsboro newspaper both the school staff that decide to be armed do not disclose their names and undergo training. 'If a shooter were to come in there, the teacher would have access to a gun to eliminate the shooter, I think it's a good idea, I think it needs to be done.' Tri County Academy student Dantone collaborated. Bright Local School District superintendent and Tri County Academy Student both mention points that would ease individual’s concerns however not every school is the same and allowing school staff, faculty, and security to be armed during school hours raises risks of incidents occurring. Not only this but not all students, parents, and educators feel comfortable knowing school staff will be trained and carrying a gun on school campus at all times. By lawmakers allowing this we welcome in more incidents and a decrease in student performance.

Clearly, President Trump and the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have now backed up the idea of arming educators as a safety precaution. Law makers and school districts therefore are now pushing for teachers and staff to be armed during school hours allowing staff, faculty and security to carry a gun on school campus. This however may bring more worry and may even increase more incidents rather than decrease them. School staff, faculty and or security should not be allowed to carry guns on campus during school hours as a safety precaution as it forces teachers to carry weapons, the presence of a gun enhances its likelihood of being used taking focus away from providing actual qualified security and makes students feel unsafe/ uncomfortable in their learning environment. This topic continues to cause controversy even in the states where law makers have gain success in passing the bill that allows this. There are many factors that should and need to be considered while making this decision both from the teacher’s point of view and the student’s point of view. There is worry this topic only brings attention to the actions that will only increase incidents. It is crucial that safety is properly enhanced rather than just giving an educator or school staff a gun and minimum training. Rather than focusing on giving educators a gun and training we should focus on making students feel safe and modifying current gun laws that allow individuals with psychological issues to get access to firearms.

Works Cited

Nova, Annie (2019, September 3) 73 percent of teachers oppose guns in schools, CNBC Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/73-percent-of-teachers-oppose-guns-in-schools-gallup-finds.html

Carlson, Douglas.(2016 September 21).Re:3 Ways Stress Negatively Affect Student Performance [Blog comment] Retrieved from URL. https://fosteredu.pennfoster.edu/3-ways-stress-negatively-affects-student-performance

Long, Cindy & Walker, Tim ( 2018, March 5 ). Re: Arming Teachers is Not the Answer Retrieved from URL. http://neatoday.org/2018/03/05/arming-teachers/

Perspectives( 2019, April 26 ). Retrieved from URL. https://wchsperspectives.com