The Pros And Cons Of Arming Public Schools

Throughout the United States, there has been a significant increase in gun violence in schools. More and more mentions of a school shooting appears on the news leading to more discussion about what action to take to prevent school shootings from happening. Not too long ago on February 14, 2018, a teenager shot students and teachers inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15 rifle killing fourteen students and three teachers (Jackman). After this incident, President Donald Trump suggested to arm teachers who are willing to combat a shooter if a school shooting were to occur (Jackman). This proposal has caused a debate on whether or not public school teachers should be armed in classrooms. Although opponents argue arming public school teachers has the potential to help stop an active shooter, arming public school teachers may complicate matters by creating issues with targeted teachers, accidental shootings, and poor gun security.

Introducing guns to public school teachers could put their life at risk. If a shooter were to attack a school and had knowledge of the teachers who are armed, the shooter would most likely make the armed teachers their first victim (Roston and Siebel). Not only could teachers become targets, but the fact of having armed teachers could also motivate the shooter to increase their protection such as bullet proof vests as well as utilizing deadlier weapons (Roston and Siebel). There was an instance in Los Angeles where two bank robbers had automatic weapons and were dressed in full body armor (Roston and Siebel). With their increased amount of protection and firepower, they held off almost the whole Los Angeles Police (Roston and Siebel). Teachers should not be relied on to retaliate against an attack such as police