In this decade there have been more school shootings than any other decade and our numbers only keep rising. In 2018 there were 110 school shootings just in the United States, that resulted in loss of teachers and students.

Each year our numbers go higher. Why is this?

More shootings have happened because of our easier access to illegal weapons and harder access to support with mental health.Although this topic is very controversial, I believe arming teachers with protection for students safety would help lower the number of school shootings in coming years. Although, I believe staff and the facility of schools should have access to protection, in situations that threaten students. This wouldn’t be without strict guidelines.

In an article by Lauren Farrar, “Should Teachers be allowed to carry Guns at School?” It says “…arming teachers include that if teachers had guns, they would actually be able to defend against an attack-potentially minimizing deaths.”

Teachers having a source of protection in certain circumstances like a shooting could make students feel safer and attacks are less likely to happen if its known teachers have protection. If a situation like this was to occur teachers could act fast and stop the shooter. By arming teachers they would have to use this in a safe manner and follow certain protocols for this to work. Although there are concerns about what could go wrong, I still believe this could cause more good than harm and save students lives.

Another article from the Future of Working states this, “… teachers who are correctly trained in the use of their firearm while still wanting to have laws in place which keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them in the first place”.

If this were to happen teachers would have to go through correct training and understand protection is only needed in extreme situations. There was concern about what could happen if a student got a hold of this protection, so teachers should have this kept away from the hands of students. These actions could make students feel safer in a classroom environment and not have to worry about what could happen at school.

Arming teachers is a short term answer until more support is given to students to prevent them from following through with such a thing. The San Diego Union-Tribune says, “Allowing trained  staff to be armed and carrying concealed weapons on campus is the best short term solution”.

What’s driving students to carry out a shooting?

Students have more access to guns these days then they should. More shooters take guns from their parents which is an issue. We need stricter gun control to prevent these events from happening. People need to understand the dangers of guns and that they should be locked up until a situation calls where it’s needed.

Mental health is a major issue in our decade and students are getting enough support. We are ignoring signs that someone needs help. We have to keep our eyes open and look for any red flags you might see. While support is low for students right now the safest thing is to have protection at school. Until we find out more about why these events are taking place it doesn’t hurt to have a source of protection in a classroom.

Although some students may feel safer having their teacher have protection, students also may feel uncomfortable with this. Trusting teachers is hard for students when you’re not in a healthy classroom environment or don’t know the teacher well. Teachers also have the possibility of using protection in the wrong way.

This shouldn’t be the case and teachers should be working on creating bonds with teachers to feel safe. Some say they wouldn’t feel safe but arming teachers is not to threaten them, it’s to threaten someone if they were under these circumstances. This is why teachers would go through background checks and tons of training to understand the use of this protection.

Teachers should have the option to have protection on school grounds with the right protocols and training. This is to make students feel safer in a school environment and to protect them at all costs if something were to happen. This could lower the number of shootings that occur and could end up saving lives in a situation. For this to work and for students to feel safe in the meantime, teachers would have to follow strict guidelines.

There has to be gun training and a safe spot for the protection to be stored. Guns don’t have to be the source of protection, there could be tasers or knives etc. While students look for more support it’s our decision to decide what makes us feel safer at school. To look at the bigger picture and see that this could save lives. Would you feel safer at school if your teacher carried protection?