Following the shooting that occurred at Stoneman Douglas High School and the nationwide student walkout, talk about arming teacher arose.

Since 2013, there have reportedly been 301 school shootings in United States, marking a total number of 142 deaths and 112 injured as reported by Everytownresearch.org. A recent school shooting took place in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 innocent lives taken in a homicide. After the horrifying event a heated debate started by president Donald Trump and his administration and citizens whether to arm teachers in order to have better chances of protecting the lives of students and limiting the number of school shootings.
School resource officer Rick Clausing weighs in on the debate of teachers potentially owning firearms given his history of being a cop and being NRA certified and is for the discussion of the idea.
“I am for the concept of teachers having guns in school, but the problem is, the mindset of teachers having guns in schools that cloud the judgement of why we have guns in school,” said Clausing.
For some Florida Victims, the argument goes in a different direction, as some feel the decision of teachers being able to have access to firearms at any given time is not the best idea, especially if some people are not properly trained to handle a firearm. English teacher Whitney Mikkelsen falls into this group of people who do not believe that the law should be passed.
“I am against teachers with guns because I feel that teachers have a huge responsibility to teach, and yes, to keep kids safe, but I don’t think adding guns to the situation will help anything. Cops get in trouble because they lose their cool and they shoot someone, and if you arm a teacher, it could be the same situation” said Mikkelsen.
Students themselves describe how the concerns and benefits of the potential opportunity for teachers to carry firearms. Sophomore Nolan Gora speaks his personal outlook on the matter.
“I’m for it because then I feel like you don’t have to have security guards and as many police and you’d have more people with a gun rather than hiring a few people with a gun,” said Gora.
On the flip side, some students believe that teachers should not be able to carry a firearm because it is a danger to students. Sophomore Ellie Retter talks on the sensitive subject.
“There shouldn’t be guns because there is some teachers that can’t be trusted, in my opinion I don’t think adding more guns is solving the problem, and there should be more restrictions on guns all together,” said Retter.
Major gun retailers have made some major decisions in regard to the sales of rifles to help prevent such tragedies from happening again. Stores such as Dicks Sporting Goods, Kroger, and L.L. Bean are some of the major stores that are taking part of movement of not allowing the sales of rifles to anyone under the age of 21. Gora explains his reasoning for why the legal age should not be 21.
“I think that if you’re 18, you’re a legal adult, and If I’m old enough to serve in the army and ready to give my life for my country, then I should be old enough to own a gun,” said Gora.
There has been speculations around the topic that if teachers were not allowed to carry firearms then the conversation comes up for what teachers should do. Mikkelson offers some suggestions she believes will help the cause and make school a better environment for teachers and students.
“I know it may be something some people might not like but I think adding metal detectors might be an option to consider because then you can try to catch the problem before it becomes an even bigger problem,” said Mikkelsen.
Time will tell what will be done to help protect the lives of students and teachers, whether that be arming the teachers or putting more restrictions on guns. People will have to come together to decide what is not just best for people’s opinion, but what is best for the lives of students and teachers throughout the country.