Gun Violence In Schools Essay

School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.

Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.

Imagine being in the family’s shoes when hearing through media reports that their child was killed in a school shooting. If teachers had the option of being equipped with the handguns, then that child (and the rest in the classroom) would have survived. How many more times are we going to learn about a deranged gunman walking into a school loaded and ready to kill? How many more innocent children need to die before we wake up and give our teachers the prospect to fight back? The only resolution is to grant our teachers a fighting chance. No shooter is going to target a school that can protect itself and fight back. Every second counts in a school shooting. Calling 911 and anticipating for police to arrive isn’t good enough. Spartanburg County South Carolina Sheriff Chuck Wright says, “Our form of justice is not making it. Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it” (Miller, Fox News). Then there was Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. who lately created a nationwide uproar for advising citizens to master how to manage firearms so they can protect themselves, because he says, “simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option” (Handelman Fox 6 Wisconsin). What happens when the nearest police unit is 10

Do you feel Gun violence has taken a bad effect on taxpayers? I do, because even if your family member hasn’t been shot or killed, it still hurt you in a way. When a person has been killed in a certain state, and the killer is a part of that state. The state happens to give away four Thousand dollars to help cover the funeral costs. If you didn’t know, that’s coming from our taxes. When a person have been shot and wounded, your taxes are being taking and helping paying for medication to keep that person out of pain. Even when the killer gets caught, your taxes will be still be a risk, because killers has to eat too.

A very controversial topic throughout the United States and the world is guns. As American citizens, we have a constitutional right to own a fire arm. But why is a gun so important and why is it such a huge part of the United States division of its people? The division starts with people using this Second Amendment to harm people. In recent years, mass shootings have become the norm for the United States and that outcome is not the purpose of the Second Amendment. These mass shooting happen everywhere from movie theatres to concert halls. But the majority of these mass shootings seem to happen at schools with innocent children aging from kindergarten to high school students. With the deaths of children in school rising, the urge to find a solution and develop prevention tactics have become top priority. Not only limiting the access to guns but finding out the reason behind the shootings will help aid in the fight to stop gun violence in schools.

During the past few years, the number of school shootings has increased markedly. In 2013, there were 19 school shootings that occurred, taking so many innocent lives. Some may remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14th, 2013. It was the second deadliest massacre shooting in United States history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Adam Lanza shot twenty children, six staff, his mother, and himself that day. School shootings are tragic. Violence continues to increase with these shootings, as well as with violence within the schools among the students. The big question is, how do we protect ourselves from these horrible occurrences? How do teachers protect the innocent lives of their students? One common suggestion is for the teachers and administration to be armed. The premise is that if the school staff has possession of firearms this would discourage shooters, thereby making the schools much safer. However, it is my belief that teachers should not be able to have access to weapons. There should never be any type firearm on a school property, excluding trained security personnel, such as police officers and security guards.

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine if teachers should be in possession of a firearm while on school properties and if this will decrease the number and magnitude of school shootings. Many scholars believe equipping teachers with firearms will be costly and end up unnecessarily endangering more students, but many scholars claim that a teacher should be the last line of defense against a school shooter. The question this paper hopes to answer is how can equipping teachers who teach grades K-12 help to prevent school shootings in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining the perspectives of school administration and law enforcement, the impact on student’s safety and education, the

Gun ownership is embedded in the fabric of America. The United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world with 88 guns per 100 people. This is a staggering amount of firearms in the U.S. which our forefathers would 've never imagined when writing the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment states that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Not everyone interprets this right the same way. Regulating and restricting the use of these firearms brings up opposing sentiments from those in favor of gun control and those who oppose

Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.

Every so often the media and news feeds flood with reports of a mass shooting. Families mourn. In the days that follow, calls to action can be heard, and there is a demand for change. Sometimes minor legislation passes, but in the United States extreme change is rarely seen. Other developed nations provide an opposite comparison. Following the Port Arthur shooting in Australia and the shooting in Great Britain, both countries organized for significant gun reform.

Our schools have been deeply affected by mass shootings and weak gun violence laws. This country has had over 1000 mass shootings in the past two years and over 50 school shootings, killing thousands of innocent little children. Our government needs to put up strict gun laws that allow administrators in all schools to use necessary force against a school shooter or anyone who tries to harm students of such nature.

In 2015, 13,367 people lost their lives due to gun violence according to Gun Violence Archive. The Archive also states that out of that number, 693 were children from ages 0-11. We can all agree that there is indeed a problem that we have to address. The solution to that problem, however, has been debated by many. I believe the solution to this problem exists in three parts: Mandatory training and licensing along with more heavily secure gun storage, stricter regulations on the purchasing of a firearm—disabilities and criminal records should be more deeply looked into before transaction—and finally, equipping teachers at highs schools with the right kind of weaponry to prevent mass shootings.

As stated by the Second Amendment of the United states Constitution, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” (Bill of Rights, 2) which in simpler terms basically means you have the right to own a gun. Gun control has been an extremely disputed issue between political parties over the past few years, with conservatives and liberals both taking a strong stance. Most conservatives believe that it is their Second Amendment right to purchase and own a gun while liberals feel there should be more severe restrictions organized therefore the selling, usage, and marketing of firearms will be restricted. Most citizens who consider themselves conservative believe that it is their Second Amendment right to purchase and own a gun. They believe it is their civil right to own a license for a firearm in order to protect their families and themselves. The liberal party believes there should be more severe restrictions organized for the selling, usage, and marketing of firearms therefore it will be restricted. It is a common belief that citizens do not necessarily need fire arms, just our army and police forces. It is believed that if we have stricter laws with gun control the brutal and destructive violence will stop. Excessive restrictions could lead americans to believe their Second Amendment right has been breached, but if there is not enough constraint, it will lead to brutal crimes due to gun violence. Despite the fact that gun control is a questionable subject to discuss openly, it is vital to comprehend and fully understand gun rights and gun control.

Despite our whereabouts everyone main concern is gun violence; there is always an argument concerning guns. Should be mandated or not? Is it life or death situation or plain old homicide? With that question being asked by Americans nationwide, should students be allowed to carry guns or campus? Or should we fear that they all will use it for all the wrong reasons intended?

How many people have to die before this world will let go of these dangerous weapons? The Chinese invented gunpowder in the 9th century which lead to the creation of guns. A repeating firearm is a firearm that holds more that one cartridge and can be fired more than once between chargings. Gun control should be enforced more because it will help prevent violence, it can help stop crime, and although some people may argue that gun control should not be enforced because guns can help save people’s lives but they are wrong because people misuse guns.