Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Finalpaper
Finalpaper
Finalpaper
Mrs. Ashworth
English IV
April 4, 2017
Seventeen years ago, two students walked into Columbine High School and
murdered twelve students and one teacher while injuring twenty-one additional people.
At the time, this was considered one of the worst incidents of school violence that had
ever taken place in the United States. It occurred to me that many teachers and
students are at risk in today's schools because our schools are becoming unsafe places
Should teachers be allowed to have guns while on school campus? How are our school
History and data shows us that school crime occurs more often that one might
imagine. There are more students who experience violence or theft at school than away
from school during their lifetime. (Bidwell, Allie) Actual school shootings make up a
small amount of crimes that are committed by youths but those crimes are increasing
dramatically. (Vossekuil, B) Authors state that there have been 387 school shootings
out of 99,000 United States Public schools since 1992. (Sheriff, Natasja.) Most of the
school shootings happen during the day time and typically the crimes are committed by
males and many of the attacks that occurred involved more than one person committing
Bryson 2
the crime while on campus. Most of the attackers had access to weapons at home or
from friends and family and had the know how on how to use the weapons. ( Vossekuil,
B)
One of the main theories that gets constantly floated around after every school
shooting is if teachers should be armed with a gun while on the school grounds. Many
people believe that calling 911 during an emergency situation and waiting for
responders to arrive isnt the best option when it comes to protecting our students and
teachers. Some argue that they believe that by having teachers carrying a concealed
weapon we are positioning our teachers with the best chance at helping our students
and teachers survive should a school shooting happen at their school. (Siebold, Steve)
Siebold believes that very shortly, carrying a firearm will become a requirement for
teachers and school administrators and that teachers who dont want to carry a
concealed weapon probably will have to find a different career choice. (Siebold,
Steve)While the debate continues around the country, Arkansas Christian Academy
became the first school in the United States to allow teachers to have a gun inside the
school building. (Siebold, Steve) Some believe that arming our teachers will create a
less intense environment for all involved as opposed to having another Columbine or
Sandy Hook shooting. Some believe that if teachers are armed and take responsibility
for the situation then no gunman will target a school that has teachers armed. (Siebold,
Steve) While many share this point of view, other people feel like that having teachers
Bryson 3
problem of school violence.(Newspaper Source Plus) Administrators are worried how
armed teachers might react in a bad situations and where the firearms should be kept in
the building before they crime occurs while other officials are worried about the level of
training that teachers would have to complete in order to be able to bring their weapons
on campus. They also worry about what training that they would receive to be able to
Police officials worry that teachers carrying a weapon during an active shooting
situation, law officials might have trouble determining which person with a gun was the
actual shooter and who might the teacher be, which could have a negative impact on
the situation. (Clinton, Thomas)Officials worry that most teachers would not receive
enough training to handle a hostile act. This type of training would also add more to the
daily lives of teachers who are already overloaded.Without proper training some people
feel like it's just adding more guns to the bad situation. (Newspaper Source
Plus)Teachers are not sure that the right way to protect students is by having teachers
carry weapons on campus. (Clinton, Thomas) Some officials believe that others in the
school should be armed. Some say that support staff members such as custodians
might be a better person to have a concealed weapon because most shooter focus on
students and teachers first as targets. (Clinton, Thomas) Most school systems say they
have a security guards who is armed while on school campus and that this is sufficient
Bryson 4
While school officials and law enforcement agencies work efficiently to keep all students
and teachers safe, schools have to go the extra step to offer preventive measures to
such as threat assessments can have a positive impact on stopping violent incidents at
school and elsewhere; Sheriff says preventing school violence depends on a team of
school professionals, including counselors and other mental health experts, who are
violence.Students that are victimized at school or are being bullied or threatened need
to be pulled in by the counselor or any adult that can make a connection to.(Sheriff,
Natasja.) A number of the people committing these types of violent crimes have been
bullied themselves. Most of the attackers had many motivations such as revenge and
someone who is wanting revenge against people. ( Vossekuil, B)Most people believe
that if troubled students are helped early, this can stop violence that may have occurred
later.
One of the ways that schools help troubled students is by offering a threat
assessment on students at school. Studies have shown that schools can use threat
assessments successfully to help deter crime and this can be an good alternative to
zero tolerance policies schools have in place. (Sheriff, Natasja.) Most of the school
shooters in the past havent acted on impulse, they have a plan and usually tells friends
or siblings about it before the event actually happens. Counselors have to decide
whether a threat is out of anger or a student is really going to go through with it.(Sheriff,
Bryson 5
Natasja.) As part of assessment, adults need to rely on behaviors of the students to be
include a rise in out of school suspensions and in school suspensions. Authors say that
that the results of these policies show no evidence that those harsh punishments
Throughout this research paper, I discussed students how our schools are
becoming unsafe for teachers and for students to be at and wanted to have a better
data on school shootings and why the public should be concerned about violence
happening in our school systems. I also looked at the need for teachers to be armed
while at school to protect themselves and other students during an emergency situation.
Finally, I looked at the importance of helping students who might have been traumatized
happened.
Bryson 6
Works Cited
Bidwell, Allie. "School Crime and Violence on the Rise for Students and Teachers." (n.d.): n.
pag. Web.
Clinton, Thomas. "Guns in Class:do Teachers Want Them?" Newspaper Source Plus [EBSCO].
Sheriff, Natasja. "Guns in Schools: Using Threat Assessments to Prevent School Violence." Al
Siebold, Steve. "Every Teacher in America Should Have a Gun." The Huffington Post.
Specht, Sanne. "School District Weighs Pros,cons of Arming Staff." N.p., n.d. Web.
Vossekuil, B. "School Shootings." School Shootings - Teen Violence Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
Mar. 2017.