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Should teachers be armed?

4
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11
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  • Seen Aug 25, 2012
I get it — I'm pretty much sparking an entirely different debate here — but are gun laws in America not already ridiculously lax? To bring up Columbine High School and Virginia Tech would bring us back to how easy it is to get a gun and just start a blood bath. Would we really be thinking about a ludicrous idea like arming teachers if we had already policed the sales of firearms to John Doe, which would likely in turn, prevent incidents like Columbine from happening?

The second amendment of the US constitution maintains that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". This is nearly always taken as meaning all citizens have the right to bear arms, allowing teachers and others in positions of authority over vulnerable groups to be armed would be a natural extension of this entitlement.
This is wrong. Neither you, nor your average man on the street, are "Militia" by any stretch of the word.

It's thinking like this that allowed the sale of a gun to James Holmes.
 
20
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  • Seen Aug 22, 2012
I Believe this would potentially be a mistake because there is no way to know for sure who of these teachers could be trusted with the responsibility and who could snap and any second and shoot up the whole class room. As bad as that sounds the possibility is quite real as we all know. Even individuals who have a long history or being a upstanding citizen and doing nothing but good have gone bad on occasion. I think a better idea would be to have more law enforcement/police present in these locations. That way these things could be monitored more closely and maybe even prevented all together. Most people (not all) that carry out these horrible acts wouldn't do so in the presence of a police officer. Its not a completely full proof plan but i see it being more beneficial then arming the teaching staff.
 

Kura

twitter.com/puccarts
10,994
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19
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No. Anyone can flip the switch, so to speak, including teachers. It would be unsafe to bring any guns into a school environment. Besides, the teacher carrying a gun could also give a not-so-right student easier access to one.

Guns are unsafe, period.

Besides, what if the teacher doesn't want that responsibility of handling the gun? It shouldn't be enforced. Plus they would have to do a lot of training and there would have to be a lot more drills at school..

Either way.. too much terror.
 
20
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11
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  • Seen Aug 22, 2012
No. Anyone can flip the switch, so to speak, including teachers. It would be unsafe to bring any guns into a school environment. Besides, the teacher carrying a gun could also give a not-so-right student easier access to one.

Guns are unsafe, period.

Besides, what if the teacher doesn't want that responsibility of handling the gun? It shouldn't be enforced. Plus they would have to do a lot of training and there would have to be a lot more drills at school..

Either way.. too much terror.

I completely agree with your post, no matter how they are used the only thing guns are good for is creating harm. I would prefer personally that regular citizens weren't allowed to carry them and only law enforcement or military used them. Maybe allow people to use guns in controlled environments such as shooting ranges or hunting in permitted areas. There should be no need for people to be carrying one with them into the gas station to fill up the car or in line at burger king getting a sandwich. Of course this will never happen nor am i suggesting it should. Just think it would be nice to walk around and not to have to wonder if the guy in front of me is holding a weapon and is he going to use it.
 

KyokuseiXRyusei

DenCabe! :3
28
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11
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Either way there is risk. I think teachers (any administration in education, including university professors, for that matter) could be required to attain a license to carry a concealed weapon for protection purposes, but even people in a position of trust can snap and go bonkers. I'm in Colorado, so I've seen and know people in tragedies such as the Columbine High School shooting 13 years ago and the Aurora Movie Theater massacre 2 months ago and keep in mind that though the police are usually efficient and reliable, they can't be everywhere at once. So, in these situations it may benefit to conceal a weapon, though it may be more efficient to enhance security and assign more police officers (as opposed to just one resource officer) per school.
 
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As has been said before, not everyone in this world feels comfortable with a gun. I absolutely abhor them, and would walk away from a job that required me to have one on my person at all times.
 

Lord Varion

Guess who's back?
2,642
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15
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  • Age 29
  • Seen Jan 6, 2015
This will do either three things ;-
1. Children may be safe in case of emergency. Shootings or Hostage situations.
2. Children will be scared of teachers and pay attention.
3. Teacher will one day go crazy of a certain student and snap! ... The end.
 

Twilight Sky

» s t r a w b e r r y fields ♪
273
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11
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  • Seen Aug 7, 2013
I'm on the same boat as Razor Leaf here. Not only is it quite a hassle as far as the teachers possibly misusing it(I mean, have you guys heard of police brutality before? Even trained people can still snap and all hell breaks loose from there), I wouldn't feel particularly safe in a classroom setting knowing that there's a gun either hidden somewhere within the teacher's desk or within the classroom itself, to be quite honest.

It's one thing to be afraid of a classmate snapping and shooting someone, it's an entirely different thing when a teacher--a role model--starts doing that exact same thing, and it kinda shatters(if not, has a significant impact) on the trust that both teacher and student are supposed to have.
 

Nihilego

[color=#95b4d4]ユービーゼロイチ パラサイト[/color]
8,875
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12
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Obviously there would be training & safeguards put it place to ensure that the weapon wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

But what sorts of safeguards can be used to stop kids from taking the gun, even if it has to be by force? Other than like, body armour or something, which would definitely not be a great idea.
 

Khawill

<3
1,567
Posts
11
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Haha, issue teachers Dragon Skin vests (they are real) and riot shields. Maybe stun guns, tazers and batons too. Guns are too lethal, and too easy to kill someone with.

The problem with guns is that not a single person in this world is trustworthy, even teachers have feelings, and that includes anger/rage. It isn't a judge of character deciding who gets a gun imo, it is a judge of how much restraint they have. (It is not easy to test restraint with any accuracy)
 
25,404
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Problem 1: No teacher should ever carry a gun (IMO). People are people, anyone can be pushed too far especially in a stressful environment where you're guaranteed to find certain people (students and co-workers) very irritable.

Problem 2: Even beyond that few people could have a positive learning experience knowing that it is likely their teacher is carrying a gun. Scared people don't learn well, fear is not going to be conducive to creating an employable person or a good role model for the next generation.

I can't say much on law aspect since I'm not American but here I think it would classify as an infringement on a teachers "Duty of Care".

As it has been said before I think it would be far more beneficial to employ security guards... actually most of what I said has been said already but I had to give my opinion XD.
 

Inferna

hello stranger, i'm a disaster
99
Posts
14
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I live in the UK so I probably have a completely different view on guns compared to most of you, seeing as the UK's gun laws are among the strictest in the world.
I honestly don't think that they should have guns, some teachers would abuse their power of authority. A teacher could pretty easily gun down the class and say that they were provoked when they weren't at all - a little extreme I guess.
 

Oryx

CoquettishCat
13,184
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13
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  • Age 31
  • Seen Jan 30, 2015
I think you all are over-estimating the factor of fear on the side of the students though. There are plenty of children that grew up knowing a gun was in their house without having fear every time they stepped into their house. I doubt this would inspire much fear in students in general, if it settled in as a law. Within a few years the kids going into school would know to expect it and not be afraid of the idea.
 

Twilight Sky

» s t r a w b e r r y fields ♪
273
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11
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  • Seen Aug 7, 2013
I think you all are over-estimating the factor of fear on the side of the students though. There are plenty of children that grew up knowing a gun was in their house without having fear every time they stepped into their house. I doubt this would inspire much fear in students in general, if it settled in as a law. Within a few years the kids going into school would know to expect it and not be afraid of the idea.

But I think you're generalizing here quite a bit. Sure, there's always the exception, or those group of kids that grew up within the vicinity of guns, but one thing to take into consideration is whether or not that, even in their own home, whether some kids would ultimately feel comfortable with the idea that there's a firearm in there somewhere, and all it would take is for someone to have a really bad day for something really bad to happen.

While that is a separate topic, I wanted to get more in-depth on how long-term exposure doesn't always mean emotional tolerance towards something. Just because you've been around something for a long period of time, doesn't mean it still doesn't have some sort of negative impact on you whenever you're exposed to it. I'd imagine that the same would apply towards weapons in class.

Sorry if what I'm saying doesn't make much sense. @___@;
 
106
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11
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If teachers had guns, I am pretty sure 99% of kids would be homeschooled.
Then again, police in my country (England) very rarely carry guns so our gun laws are very strict, but really.. teachers carrying guns? I'd be scared as ****.
 
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