Dear citizens of the USA who worry about the safety of their children,
Just imagine. Parkland High school, February 14, 3:18 pm. The sound of gunshots echoed down the hallways, closer and closer, louder and louder. The glass in the door shatters, and into the room comes Nicholas Cruz wielding an AR-15 and shooting maniacally. That day, 17 innocent lives of children were lost, all in vain . Now we talk about it, later, when it is too late, what could have been done? How do we stop this from happening again? I’m here to say, gun control is not the solution.
The scenario described above is one of many that have occurred in the US, in just 2018 alone, 36 school shootings have occurred and a total of 42 lives have been lost in the process (“List of School Shootings in the US”, 2018). This pattern of school shootings, death, and then no change, needs to end. I propose we implement a few changes. We need to make guns a school necessity.
Schools are institutions that parents send their children to become successful people in the world. Parents send their children to school with the mindset that their child will be returning home to them just mere hours later and will be kept in a safe environment with nothing to fear. With all these school shootings taking place, the lives of the children are at stake. The simple and easy to implement solution would be to have guns accessible around the school for teachers to use when danger is present. These guns would be kept in multiple areas around the school, preferably at the end of each hallway in some sort of safe with a highly secured pass code which only top officials of the school know. Teachers will also have no knowledge of the password, in case they may hypothetically misuse the weapon. When the shooting has started, someone will come onto the school’s built in intercom and announce the password. Students and the shooter will not know what these anonymous numbers mean, but the teacher will. The teachers will, to the best of their ability, gain access to these guns as a form of defense for the innocent lives they are responsible for in their classroom. The availability of guns will allow many lives to be saved. Some may argue that resource officers are prevalent in the school, but another look at Parkland goes to show that officers cannot be trusted. Reports later show that the resource officer on duty did not even enter the school building until the firing had stopped. The officer, whose duty it was to keep the children safe, was not responsible, he can not be trusted to protect children, teachers need to take the safety of the students and themselves into their own hands. A teacher would be more likely to make an effort to defend him or herself versus an officer who would have to put their life at risk. Furthermore, in order to ensure that teachers know how to operate a gun, the state should implement a program or make it a teacher school graduation requirement for teachers to know how to operate a gun. The state should take money out of its security funds to finance giving teachers gun operating lessons and have them pass a basic skills test. In the future, all teachers will be able to operate guns and be fully prepared for any danger that comes their way.
Also, most gun shootings occur in gun-free zones, and schools, for that matter, are also gun-free zones. According to statistics, 98% of shootings in general occur in gun-free zones(“What Percent of Mass Shootings Occur in ‘Gun Free Zones?’”,2018). That means, only 2% of shootings occur in areas with gun zones. Reason being is that gun zones means that civilians have guns in their possession and are able to shoot back at the criminal who has brought danger in the situation. There are many instances where civilians have saved lives by shooting back at criminals in gun zones. For instance, First Baptist Church, Sutherland, Texas. A gunman open fired on the church, killing 26 people. A nearby neighbor heard gunshots and came to the church followed by a chase after the shooter, finally capturing and killing him through the use of his gun (“Texas Church Shooting: How It Happened”, 2017). This is a great instance in which gun zones saved the day. The owner of the gun was allowed to have a gun in his possession, resulting in him saving the day, or at least stopping the shooter from killing more people. This shows that schools are a part of the 98% of areas where shootings occur since they are gun free zones. Simply making them gun zones eliminates the possibility of having no defense against a gun wielding shooter.
In conclusion, guns in a school setting are a great idea for the protection of students and faculty. These tools can be used to protect one self and cause mayhem. It is better to use them to our own advantage as a defense mechanism instead of looking at them as a weapon.
With best regards, Emmy A
Work Cited
Grinberg, Emanuella. “Texas Church Shooting: How It Happened.” CNN, Cable News Network,
6 Nov. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/11/05/us/timeline-texas-church-shooting/index.html.
“List of School Shootings in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Sept. 2018,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-562.
Prestigiacomo, Amanda. “What Percentage Of Mass Shootings Happen In 'Gun Free Zones'? The
Number Is Stunning.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 22 Feb. 2018,
www.dailywire.com/news/27440/what-percentage-mass-shootings-happen-gun-f...
A-prestigiacomo.
