Monday, March 12, 2018

Pencils, Book Bags and Guns? The Newest National Debate


Columbine.  Virginia Tech.  Sandy Hook.

These names bring terror into the public's minds and send shivers down their spines.  The newest name added to this list is Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

This recent school shooting has sparked one of the hottest debates in the media: To arm or not to arm teachers.

According to a USA Today article, there have been 22 school shootings where more than two people were killed since 1990.  Seventeen people died in the Florida shooting.

Many people took to social media to share their opinion on whether or not allowing schoolteachers to carry firearms is a beneficial idea.

President Donald Trump tweeted about how teachers with guns could keep students safe before police could arrive at the scene.

This stance differs from a previous tweet Donald Trump posted during the election season.

 However, some people agree with the president’s current stance. They think arming teachers is the only way to prevent more deadly school shootings and that students’ safety is the school’s responsibility.  



One person used the saying "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," from NRA Executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre after the Sandy Hook shooting. 

 Other social media users even made Facebook pages, like the one below, to comment on arming teachers.
 

This has sparked outrage from some parents and social media users saying teachers carrying guns in school would only create more problems from race-based shootings to accidental violence.

  


One Twitter user expressed her anger over the president's comments and responded to one of President Trump's tweets.

Numerous social media users pointed out that what teachers lacked in the classroom were not guns but school supplies for their students.  A survey from Scholastic revealed teachers spend around $500 of their own money on school supplies every year.  Teachers and principals in high-poverty schools spend even more.



 This issue has even expanded to a movement, created by two educators, with the hashtag #ArmMeWith.  Schoolteachers have been sharing what their classrooms truly need, and it is not guns.  The requests range from books to funding to social and emotional support for students.  The teachers involved in the campaign say they know what is best for their students and what they need.




 Joshua Grubbs, a psychology professor at Bowling Green State University and a gun owner, posted a video detailing why teachers and professors should not carry guns.  Grubbs says an armed teacher could be mistaken for a suspect during a school shooting.

 One Facebook user made an argument in support of a less-expensive and safer alternative to guns: a fire extinguisher.
 
 
While this is a serious issue, many Twitter users took a comical approach to express their opinions on whether or not to arm teacher.  They alluded to popular television shows and movies and shared personal experiences from the classroom.





The debate on arming teachers grew even more heated after a high school teacher in Georgia opened fire on Feb. 28.  Jesse Randal Davidson barricaded himself in his classroom at Dalton High School and shot a handgun.

 Davidson has a history of mental illness and even had three rifles removed from his home after setting his family's car ablaze two years ago.  

 Students at the school took to Twitter to express their dismay and share experiences from that day, even tweeting directly at the NRA.




 This complicated issue is still in the headlines due to the many student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and now Dalton High School.  Some states have already moved in the direction of banning guns in the classroom, while others have struck such legislation down.

 As of right now, the question "To arm or not to arm?" goes unanswered.     
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