Arley Bryson

Mrs. Ashworth

English IV

April 4, 2017

Seventeen years ago, two students walked into Columbine High School and

murdered twelve students and one teacher while injuring twenty-one additional people.

At the time, this was considered one of the worst incidents of school violence that had

ever taken place in the United States. It occurred to me that many teachers and

students are at risk in today's schools because our schools are becoming unsafe places

to be in at times; therefore we need to have a better understanding of school safety.

Should teachers be allowed to have guns while on school campus? How are our school

systems helping traumatised students and do threat assessments on students actually

make a difference to a student who might be at risk at harming themselves or others?

History and data shows us that school crime occurs more often that one might

imagine. There are more students who experience violence or theft at school than away

from school during their lifetime. (Bidwell, Allie) Actual school shootings make up a

small amount of crimes that are committed by youths but those crimes are increasing

dramatically. (Vossekuil, B) Authors state that there have been 387 school shootings

out of 99,000 United States Public schools since 1992. (Sheriff, Natasja.) Most of the

school shootings happen during the day time and typically the crimes are committed by

males and many of the attacks that occurred involved more than one person committing

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the crime while on campus. Most of the attackers had access to weapons at home or

from friends and family and had the know how on how to use the weapons. ( Vossekuil,

B)

One of the main theories that gets constantly floated around after every school

shooting is if teachers should be armed with a gun while on the school grounds. Many

people believe that calling 911 during an emergency situation and waiting for

responders to arrive isnt the best option when it comes to protecting our students and

teachers. Some argue that they believe that by having teachers carrying a concealed

weapon we are positioning our teachers with the best chance at helping our students

and teachers survive should a school shooting happen at their school. (Siebold, Steve)

Siebold believes that very shortly, carrying a firearm will become a requirement for

teachers and school administrators and that teachers who dont want to carry a

concealed weapon probably will have to find a different career choice. (Siebold,

Steve)While the debate continues around the country, Arkansas Christian Academy

became the first school in the United States to allow teachers to have a gun inside the

school building. (Siebold, Steve) Some believe that arming our teachers will create a

less intense environment for all involved as opposed to having another Columbine or

Sandy Hook shooting. Some believe that if teachers are armed and take responsibility

for the situation then no gunman will target a school that has teachers armed. (Siebold,

Steve) While many share this point of view, other people feel like that having teachers

armed while on school property is not the best solution to the

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problem of school violence.(Newspaper Source Plus) Administrators are worried how

armed teachers might react in a bad situations and where the firearms should be kept in

the building before they crime occurs while other officials are worried about the level of

training that teachers would have to complete in order to be able to bring their weapons

on campus. They also worry about what training that they would receive to be able to

successfully respond in a shooting situation without using a weapon. (Clinton, Thomas)

Police officials worry that teachers carrying a weapon during an active shooting

situation, law officials might have trouble determining which person with a gun was the

actual shooter and who might the teacher be, which could have a negative impact on

the situation. (Clinton, Thomas)Officials worry that most teachers would not receive

enough training to handle a hostile act. This type of training would also add more to the

daily lives of teachers who are already overloaded.Without proper training some people

feel like it's just adding more guns to the bad situation. (Newspaper Source

Plus)Teachers are not sure that the right way to protect students is by having teachers

carry weapons on campus. (Clinton, Thomas) Some officials believe that others in the

school should be armed. Some say that support staff members such as custodians

might be a better person to have a concealed weapon because most shooter focus on

students and teachers first as targets. (Clinton, Thomas) Most school systems say they

have a security guards who is armed while on school campus and that this is sufficient

enough to protect both students and teachers. (Bidwell, Allie)

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While school officials and law enforcement agencies work efficiently to keep all students

and teachers safe, schools have to go the extra step to offer preventive measures to

traumatised students to help prevent violence from happening. Preventive strategies,

such as threat assessments can have a positive impact on stopping violent incidents at

school and elsewhere; Sheriff says preventing school violence depends on a team of

school professionals, including counselors and other mental health experts, who are

trained to identify and support troubled students who may be on a path to

violence.Students that are victimized at school or are being bullied or threatened need

to be pulled in by the counselor or any adult that can make a connection to.(Sheriff,

Natasja.) A number of the people committing these types of violent crimes have been

bullied themselves. Most of the attackers had many motivations such as revenge and

someone who is wanting revenge against people. ( Vossekuil, B)Most people believe

that if troubled students are helped early, this can stop violence that may have occurred

later.

One of the ways that schools help troubled students is by offering a threat

assessment on students at school. Studies have shown that schools can use threat

assessments successfully to help deter crime and this can be an good alternative to

zero tolerance policies schools have in place. (Sheriff, Natasja.) Most of the school

shooters in the past havent acted on impulse, they have a plan and usually tells friends

or siblings about it before the event actually happens. Counselors have to decide

whether a threat is out of anger or a student is really going to go through with it.(Sheriff,

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Natasja.) As part of assessment, adults need to rely on behaviors of the students to be

able to identify shooters.(Vossekuil, B) The downside to zero tolerance policies that

include a rise in out of school suspensions and in school suspensions. Authors say that

that the results of these policies show no evidence that those harsh punishments

directly reduce school violence.(Sheriff, Natasja.)

Throughout this research paper, I discussed students how our schools are

becoming unsafe for teachers and for students to be at and wanted to have a better

understanding of school safety. To help me have a better understanding, I looked at the

data on school shootings and why the public should be concerned about violence

happening in our school systems. I also looked at the need for teachers to be armed

while at school to protect themselves and other students during an emergency situation.

Finally, I looked at the importance of helping students who might have been traumatized

by offering preventive measures, such as threat assessments, to stop violence before it

happened.

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 Works Cited

Bidwell, Allie. "School Crime and Violence on the Rise for Students and Teachers." (n.d.): n.

pag. Web.

Clinton, Thomas. "Guns in Class:do Teachers Want Them?" Newspaper Source Plus [EBSCO].

N.p., 14 Sept. 2014. Web.

"EDITORAL;Bill to Allow Arming Teachers,other School Officials Misses the Mark."

Newspaper Source Plus [EBSCO]. N.p., 27 Jan. 2017. Web.

Sheriff, Natasja. "Guns in Schools: Using Threat Assessments to Prevent School Violence." Al

Jazeera America (2015): n. pag. Web.

Siebold, Steve. "Every Teacher in America Should Have a Gun." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.

Specht, Sanne. "School District Weighs Pros,cons of Arming Staff." N.p., n.d. Web.

Vossekuil, B. "School Shootings." School Shootings - Teen Violence Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 16

Mar. 2017.