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Even so, do you believe that allowing teachers to have guns in schools will promote safety? Do you think that the positive effects overshadow the potential dangers? Should this idea spread throughout the country?
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Some Teachers, Staff In Keene ISD Will Be Able To Carry Guns On Campuses
This past Wednesday night, school trustees of the Keene Independent School District, located in Keene, Texas, passed the "Guardian Program" on a 6-1 vote. This program allows select teachers and administrators to carry guns on the campuses of the 3 schools within the district: Keene Elementary School, Keene Junior High School, and Keene High School. Overall, the district is home to over one thousand students, which are all paired with a police officer. Superintendent Ricky Stevens, a strong supporter of the program, commented, “all the damage is really done before the police get there. What we wanted to do is do the best thing we could to fill the gap…so they [active shooter] wouldn’t have free reign.” On the other hand, the one dissenter of the program, trustee Dan Roberts, said "we should have more police officers or some other kind of enforcement,”, and that the district was moving too fast in implementing the measure. Under the Guardian Program, the school district assured that those given firearms would undergo psychological evaluations and gun training.
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I believe that it is ridiculous for teachers to have guns at school. Although the decision was made with good intentions of eliminating the damage done by shooters, it only increases the probability of more stray bullets hitting students and faculty members. Also, even with safety precautions, what if a teacher becomes a dangerous shooter at the school? What if a student manages to steal the gun? There are so many more risks that this district is taking by having guns at their schools, real risks that overpower the potential dangers. I think that the idea that changes need to be made in order to prevent school shootings should spread around the country, but not the way that this district did it in. Arming the school teachers is not the way of fixing this problem.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that allowing teachers to carry guns will promote safety. Having guns circulating he schools will most likely to lead to many accidental deaths. Students might accidentally pick up their teachers guns, or even bring guns to school thinking it's okay, and will keep them safer. I think that this idea should be stopped here and the idea of allowing guns at school should be eliminated. There is too much risk bringing those types of weapons into a campus, especially with younger children who might accidentally get ahold on them.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, teachers should not have guns even if they are trained in diversionary tactics. If the Keene school district is really concerned about safety, then bringing in a couple of more police officers is the right choice. This is all a knee-jerk reaction to all the mass shootings that have taken place in this country. While it is admittedly a huge problem, arming teachers is not the right reaction
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, teachers should not have guns even if they are trained in diversionary tactics. If the Keene school district is really concerned about safety, then bringing in a couple of more police officers is the right choice. This is all a knee-jerk reaction to all the mass shootings that have taken place in this country. While it is admittedly a huge problem, arming teachers is not the right reaction
ReplyDeleteI believe this decision will not bring any safety. A teacher is not train to shoot down a dangerous person as police. There is a big chance that when someone start shooting in the school and kill a lot people, it will become two people shooting each other and causing more death and injuries. Two guns brings more harms than one gun. This idea should never spread out in the country because it not only increase the danger, also give a very bad influence in children's education. An armed teacher to teach student is just the same as teach student vilolence.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian Program and any form of teacher armament, in my opinion, is not effective. There is a stark difference between a body guard program and armed teachers, especially in the lack of coverage it provides, making any positives of arming teachers outbalanced by the greater possibility of the weapons being misused. Police officers undergo immense training and many of them still make the wrong decisions, how would an armed teacher fair any better? The best way to defend public areas would be to station more police officers in or around them.
ReplyDeleteI actually do think that the Guardian program would be effective in this case. When you take a state like Texas, with a very strong gun culture, it may make potential shooters hesitant when there is a very real possibility of armed resistance. However, in states were scarcely anyone owns a gun, trained professionals such as police officers should remain the primary source of protection.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that teachers who know how to use and handle guns properly should be able to have them on campus. This would be able to prevent many potential threats to schools in regards to mass shootings. Many people advocate stricter gun laws, but if a mentally ill individual has a gun and decides to shoot up a school, the stricter gun laws would not have any affect. Teachers with guns, on the other hand, will. They would be able to stop threats and even save many lives in the event a shooting occurs. I do believe that this was the right move to make and that other school districts should follow.
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ReplyDeleteI think that allowing teachers to possess firearms on campus is not the right move for the school district. I do understand that there have been recent school shootings that scare many, but I believe that having guns on campus will only result in more tragedies. This policy should not be enforced across the country because this would only feed into the rising numbers of shootings.
ReplyDeleteI think that allowing certain teachers and staff could protect the students in case of a school shooting, however, I believe that there are other, safer ways that could protect the students. Why not have more police protection? What about stricter gun control laws? I worry that the guns will be mishandled, resulting in other incidents. If this is truly the safest way of protecting the students, then, by all means, let teachers and staff carry guns.
ReplyDeleteTeachers being required to carry would just mean that guns will always be present on campus. This creates too much unnecessary and potentially dangerous situations, like a student/etc stealing the gun and misusing it. In general, issuing more guns will not solve the rise in violence. Thus, this idea should definitely not be expanded nationwide, as that would only work to encourage gun activists to increase the presence of guns/weaponry as a means of protection in daily life. I agree more with Dan Roberts, in that more officials (like police officers) with gun license would be a favorable alternative than issuing guns to teachers.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine a future where teachers must attend annual teaching and target practice conferences.
Once again America takes the absolutely idiotic idea that more guns fix the gun problem. Teachers carrying guns does NOT fix the issue. I understand the intuitions behind it, hoping that if teachers had guns they could defend themselves and their students from attackers, however this raises so many more issues. Are these teachers qualified to carry guns. What if they are not and someone does attack, and the teacher unable to handle the weapon hit many students of faculty as well as the attacker. What if a child sees the guns and steals it. I agree with some students above, and Dan Robert's when saying that hiring a professional guard with a gun license would be far better than the teachers having guns. America and there guns. We gotta stop this.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that allowing teachers to carry guns will promote school safety. I think having more guns on campus will do more harm than good. Most teachers are probably not trained as much with using guns as police officers and other professionals are. I think there could be dangerous accidents resulting in having guns on the school campuses.
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