In February of 2018, President Donald Trump announced that his administration had plans to equip teachers with concealed firearms (The Guardian); this was due to the increased number of school shootings over the last decade. Trump is no stranger to controversy. When he was campaigning for the presidency in 2016, he was vocal about most of his plans including building a wall along the USA-Mexico border. The famous wall has yet to come to fruition. I am not an everyday supporter of Trump, but I agree with him on this; teachers are the trusted adults in classrooms. They should carry concealed weapons so that in case of an attack, they might repel them.

The Nature of School Shootings

According to a BBC report dated November 12, 2018, the year 2018 was the worst regarding shootings (Coughlan). One hundred thirteen people; teachers, students, staff and so on were either killed or injured.  According to Education Week (2018), there were 24 school shootings in the year 2018 alone. The most people killed was during the mass shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Texas which claimed the lives of 27 people. On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Kruz, a former student of the school is alleged to have stormed into the school compound with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle. Kruz was described by former classmates, teachers, and people who knew him as a “depressed loner.”

December 14, 2012, saw Adam Lanza walk into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 school-children first-graders and six teachers (Shultz et al., 65). The horrific incident has since become the focal point for the increase in school shootings. Lanza had mental problems which would have made it impossible for him to buy a gun, but he used his mother’s assault rifle to murder before committing suicide with a pistol. In the United States, gun laws is another aspect to look at the problem of school shootings. Gun regulation is mostly governed by state law, and Connecticut responded by putting in strict measures for the purchase of firearms notably checking if the customer is of sound mind and double-checking the intended use of purchased guns.

Teachers as the Last Line of Defense

The most obvious solution to prevent school shootings would be to remove the guns altogether. However, there are guns in the street; total banning of firearms results in a lucrative black market industry for illegal firearms. Donald Trump’s plan to arm teachers is a contingency plan that acts as a failsafe between the shooter and his wicked plans. Trump talked about teachers receiving a bonus, a risk allowance of some sort for the responsibility of carrying concealed weapons. Teachers should receive training; teachers who want to contribute in this manner. The level of duty and responsibility required has to be inspired by volunteering rather than compulsory conscription. Teachers who feel overwhelmed by the burden should not be forced to carry weapons. Maybe in such special cases, the teaching assistant should be an undercover security expert or bodyguard.

Sometimes, the way President Trump talks might make the main point unclear. Trump’s main point was that weapons should be somewhere in the classroom just in case a maniac comes in guns blazing. The fact that he mentioned concealed weapons shows that Trump cares for the welfare of the students. Hypothetically, a conspicuous weapon might terrify the students or become a distraction when learning is going on.

The Viability of The Plan

According to Malcolm and Swearer (2018, p.2), the most at risk are students from kindergarten to 12^th grade or in common terms those in the K-12 system. Shooters such as Adam Lanza and Nikolas Kruza are young adults, barely out of their teens. There is a more significant problem in this respect; it seems that young males are finding it harder to cope with life, socialize and have friends. However, that does not give them a license to commit the heinous crime of murder. Besides arming teachers, Trump should also consider other measures. Giving teachers concealed weapons should be the last option in this discussion. Teachers are primarily there to impart knowledge and engage the students while assessing their aptitude and responsiveness. I support Trump’s plan to give teachers concealed weapons. At the same time, I concur that there might be a few challenges here and there.

The teachers might be divided in supporting the plan or rejecting it. Also, Trump could have been more official and consultative when talking about the issue. To make it official, Trump has to proceed using official channels. A committee should be set up to investigate the viability of the plan, ask teachers how they feel about it and parents too should be involved. It has been almost a year since Trump talked about his plans, but beyond debates on the media, there has been little progress to make it an eventuality. The issue of school shootings has to be tackled by the whole community. Besides arming teachers, psychologists and sociologists should be incorporated to give professional advice on the repercussion. Most importantly, something should be done towards preventing school shootings rather than thwarting them.

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