At this moment, how safe do you feel on campus? How much safer would you feel if guns were allowed to be carried by school administration?
It’s not an easy question to answer, but it’s a question we should keep in mind, since some other states allow teachers and other administrators to carry firearms as a safety option.
Although, this isn’t a consideration for our district, or any school district in the state of California, it is mind-blowing to consider that there are were 32 states in 2022 that do allow school officials to concealed carry firearms.
It seems like a ridiculous idea considering the amount of mass school shootings we have faced around the country, and it is.
How can the root of the problem be seen as the solution?
In 2016, Kingsburg High School’s school district allowed for five anonymous high school teachers to be able to conceal and carry on campus, according to abc30.com.
The condition was that the five had to have concealed carry permits issued by the sheriff’s department.
However, a year later, the governor signed a bill banning firearms from being on school grounds. According to abc30.com, the goal for this was to overall reduce gun violence by making schools entirely gun free.
Overall, allowing firearms on campuses only increases risks for student safety in the aspect of possible gun theft or accidental shootings.
Students are supposed to go to school and feel safe, not feel like their lives could be in jeopardy at any moment. And the possibility of having guns on campus can cause high anxiety or even be a trigger for some students’ mental health.
There are many things that must be considered when it comes to teachers being allowed to conceal carry on campuses, one of those being whether or not they are fit to have a weapon.
What happens if a teacher reaches a boiling point, or a student has finally had it and knows where this weapon is located?
These are just a few of the issues that need a deeper discussion. Especially since there have been instances where students have brought weapons on our campus.
How would administration having guns solve this issue? It simply wouldn’t, it would be like adding gasoline to a fire.
Some may argue that having guns on campus can be seen as a way to keep students safe. But using a gun for protection may have the opposite effect if the perpetrator takes it as a threat and just starts shooting blindly, or if a teacher “shoots first and asks questions later.” Again, the result is more lives lost rather than saved.
The main goal is the overall safety of the students, and in an active shooter situation, protection is a job for law enforcement and should not be left to teachers or administration.
It’s too much responsibility. Knowing how to operate a gun and when to use it is not in an educator’s job description. And even when there is positive intent Kingsburg’s later decision proves otherwise.
We have Campus Security Officers on campus, as well as school resource officers, which are safe and logical options rather than putting it in the hands of educators. This has been shown to be the tactic that most schools including ours have resorted to when it comes to safety.