SAN MARCOS, Texas — A national debate to arm teachers K-12
has sparked a major uproar. One side wants better gun control, while the other
wants to arm teachers with guns.
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| photo by Sarah Atterbury |
Two weeks after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting,
President Donald Trump and some members of congress came together to discuss
solutions in reducing gun violence in schools, and he later showed his support
of arming teachers through social media. Regardless of Trump’s support, the
majority of teachers don’t want to carry guns. A recent Gallup poll shows that73 percent of oppose the idea while 20 percent favor it.
Dr. Donald S. Inbody, lecturer for political science,
believes it’s a bad idea to arm K-12 teachers.
“I have no fundamental problem against people carrying
concealed weapons, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to use it in that
environment for that group of people because they aren’t trained to use it
under a stressful circumstance,” Inbody said.
Current Texas State student studying to be a future teacher,
Casey Sigerman, said arming teachers will affect the learning environment of
students.
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| photo by: Casey Sigerman |
“I think it negates the idea that so many people hold that
schools should be considered a safe place because when you include or when you
put in the necessity for teachers to be armed, automatically it makes schools
less of a safe haven or sanctuary for students to go to every day,” said
Sigerman.
Sigerman also said that she’ll have more pressure and
responsibility as a teacher in the future.
“It’s interesting because when I went into education, never
did I think that this was something I would deal with in my profession. I
didn’t think this would ever be something that I’d have to talk about or deal
with and it’s extremely sad,” Sigerman said.
Micah Calton, a healthcare administration major, said that
he is very concerned with schools’ ability to keep students safe.
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| photo by: Prince Imo |
“Concerned not so much about the school’s initiative/ability
on the matter, more-so with the local and higher authorities, the ones who set
standards and motion procedures for the schools, that direct them. They never
seem to make a valuable difference in changing how protected our students are or feel. It’s a scary time to be a student in
America, to be honest; I’m very concerned,” Micah said.
Public administration major, Katie Johnston, said that if
she were still high school, she’ll be ok with it.
“Where I grew up guns were normal. Everyone had a gun. The
people who did have guns definitely knew how to use them are were responsible.
If that was the atmosphere I would 100% feel comfortable, but like I said if we
can't afford the proper training then I wouldn't feel comfortable,” Johnston
said.
Garret Hanson, finance major, is more than in support with
arming teachers K-12. He said that his relationship with guns allows him to see
the positive side of the controversial idea.
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| photo by: Rachel Lauten and Sierra Tyler |
“I’m proud to have a gun. I feel like everyone should have a
gun at least if you need one. Everyone thinks that you just need a gun for
hunting and stuff like that but self-defense, there’s so many times people just
need a gun to save themselves or save a person they know,” Hanson said.
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| photo by: Brianna Fisher |
Jennifer Lones, mother of two and current general studies
major, believes that parents shouldn’t be given the choice whether guns are
allowed in school.
“Parents would never agree, someone would always feel as if
they weren't being heard and because of this there would be resentment and
possible backlash from those parents,” Lones said.
Gun control has always been a big issue in the United
States, and there needs to be some kind of change. Contact Congress to ask what
Is being done to stop the epidemic of gun violence.
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