Arming Teachers Research Paper

Arming Teachers; a Plausible Defense for Unthinkable Dangers Imagine a student in class, silently yet hastily completing their work; their determination interrupted by a blaring alarm they’ve only known in drills. A panic runs throughout the school, fear running alongside with it; stealing the color right from people’s faces. This is not a drill. The student’s teacher is frozen with fear, and they survey the room. They watch as another student goes to shut the door, but they were unfortunately one step too slow. The door creaks open and in comes a boy with his dad’s old hunting rifle, its leather sling fastened around himself. He shouts. All phones over here, come on. Everyone parts with their phones; everyone excluding the student’s close …show more content…
In an article by the name of “Up in arms: Should teachers carry guns?”, a Weekly Reader publication, the author relays information from superintendent David Thweatt regarding schools in Harrold, Texas, which are now arming their teachers. Thweatt explains how the Harrold Independent School District has already tried other tactics, but also describes how the school is 30 miles away from the nearest police station. “The only thing you’ll get out here if you scream is a rattlesnake or a coyote looking your way,” Thweatt exclaims. Massad Ayoob is the director of the Lethal Force institute which trains police officers and military personnel in self-defense techniques located in Concord, New Hampshire, and the author of the San Diego: Greenhaven Press article “Teachers Should Be Armed”. In this article, Ayoob writes of the 1997 attack on Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. He tells of how 16-year-old Luke Woodham entered the school with a hunting rifle and dozens of cartridges. When Woodham began firing, vice principal Joel Myrick sprinted to the parking lot and grabbed a Colt.45 automatic pistol from his truck. Equipped with this weapon, Myrick was able to force the gunmen to drop his weapon. Ayoob describes another story in …show more content…
Many gun control activists would argue that adding guns to the equation is not the solution, but John R. Lott, author of a Juvenile Crime article “Teachers Should Be Armed to Prevent School Violence”, considers a strong analogy which demonstrates how a school with no armed protection is a target for criminals. “Suppose a criminal is stalking you or your family. Would you feel safe putting a sign in front of your home saying, ‘This Home Is a Gun-Free Zone’? Law-abiding citizens might be pleased by such a sign, but to criminals it would be an invitation”. Ben Montgomery, a Times Staff Writer and author of the article “EDUCATORS: WE DON’T WANT TO BE ARMED; Administrators and teachers strongly oppose the idea that they need guns in class” published by Tampa Bay Times, supports this analogy when presenting the thoughts of Baxley R-Ocala, a lifelong National Rifle Association member and first responder to a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and seven adults dead, including the shooter. “We need to be more realistic at looking at this policy. In our zealousness to protect people from harm we’ve created all these gun-free zones, and what we’ve inadvertently done is we’ve made them a target” (qtd. In Montgomery). If someone was to attack a school, it would be essential for there to be a way to eliminate the

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