The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

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Teachers should not carry guns; No one should have an automatic weapon

By: Peter Howarth

In the wake of the recent school shooting on February 14 in Parkland, Florida, many are seeking ways to prevent future tragedies like the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. One controversial solution is the concept of teachers wielding firearms, so they can combat intruders if they ever attacked a school. Let me preface by stating my opinion: No. More guns are never the solution, especially in the presence of minors. The Second Amendment provides the freedom for people to bear arms, but doing so in this case would be irrational and potentially fatal.

President Trump has advocated for arming teachers, tweeting that “a ‘gun free’ school is a magnet for bad people.” Under that claim, any free space not secured with a trained armsman is not safe, and that brings into question the idea of liberty. This nation isn’t one predicated on fear; no student or teacher should even have to think about their safety when commuting to school each morning, it’s not their job. We have trained armsman, reserve police officers and security personnel for a reason: their job description includes protecting peace and preventing “bad people” from disrupting that. Putting that task onto teachers is far too much to ask as their hands are full already.  Teachers have a tough enough job already, so there is no need to distract them with a holster and looming threat at their hip. That has proved consequential as of recently.

While teaching a public safety class at Seaside High School on March 13, a California teacher “accidentally discharged a firearm,” injuring a student. This was a reserve police officer, a man who was trained for hours on how to handle a weapon that he in fact mishandled. The problem stems there – if a trained professional can’t handle the weapon, expecting that a teacher could is unreasonable. Considering that a trained armsman misfired, imagine the number of disastrous accidents that would ensue if guns were handed out to the masses of teachers across the US. Keep in mind that the shooter at Parkland didn’t require hours upon hours of training. He simply purchased the gun and fired away. That brings me to my next point–the topic of automated assault rifles.

Let me be clear: I am not against Americans owning guns for self-defense or controlled practice. There are many “bad people” that could do harm onto you, especially in this era, so having a firearm in your possession is reasonable. To a degree.  There is no reason that the average American needs to own an automated assault rifle, or even a semi-auto for that matter. Those guns are designed to kill, and aside from military personnel, this weapon does not need to be accessible to millions of Americans nationwide. There are plenty of smaller guns that can provide self-defense, and considering that the shooter at Parkland used his weapon to slaughter and not to defend himself, some concern should be taken over what type of guns can be sold.

I will end this by saying that I am not using this tragedy to vocalize my political stances. I empathize with the families of the victims at Parkland and similar tragedies in the not-too-distant past. But if these tragedies want to be prevented, as was echoed at the walkout at Westborough High School and all around the world on March 14, change is needed. And that’s not with more guns; it’s with less, safer firearms in the hands of stable-minded individuals. The walkouts were just the spark to the fire, more action needs to be taken to build a safer society.

SOURCES:

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/american-schools-vs-the-world-expensive-unequal-bad-at-math/281983/

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/14/us/california-teacher-fires-gun/index.html

 

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