On February 14th, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He killed 17 people, leaving fellow students, parents, and the public devastated but determined to push for better gun control. The AR-15 rifle used in the attack was easily purchased by Cruz for just $116.99 and with no waiting period.
A week after the tragic event, Donald Trump sat down with individuals who have been impacted by school shootings, including some students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. As parents shed tears over their lost children and pleaded to Trump to eliminate guns, Trump sat listening with no emotion on his face.
When Trump did speak, he brought up an alternative idea to help prevent further school shootings: a “concealed and carry” approach. This means, that teachers and other faculty members would be trained to use guns, and would carry one with them at all times on school grounds. Trump says that the reason there are school shootings is because schools are a “gun-free zone.” What Trump fails to acknowledge is that there was an armed guard at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the time of the shooting.
Trump believes that arming teachers will scare off any potential perpetrators from entering schools. The President is quoted in a video published by ABC News stating: “We need to let people know that if you come into our schools, you’re going to be dead, and it’s going to be fast.” The issue that is being overlooked is that school shooters know that they are either going to die or go to jail. School shooters usually shoot themselves, are killed by policemen, or are arrested and sent to prison, as was Cruz’s fate.
In Trump’s idealized world, the more weapons there are, the safer people are, but is this really the case? An article by the New York Times reports that “after Sandy Hook, more than 400 people have been shot in 200 school shootings [in the US].” However, in Canada, where gun control is much stricter, there have been 13 school shootings in 18 years. This raises questions as to Trump’s true intentions with adding more guns. Common sense would push someone to look at other countries that have low rates of school shootings and adopt that protocol. With Trump taking it to the opposite extreme, his decision lends itself to public criticism.
In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver relays his opinion: “It’s no wonder that the NRA likes this solution. It involves buying hundreds of thousands of guns, and that’s their solution to everything.” It comes as no surprise to many that the possible push for more guns could all come down to money. Even if Trump was correct in saying that giving teachers guns would deter future school shooters, it still does not take into consideration the possibilities of gun mishandling and unintentional acts of violence. An article published by Aftermath reveals that unintentional deaths by a firearm are common: “From 2005-2010, almost 3,800 people in the U.S. died from unintentional shootings.” More guns will only increase this number. It is inevitable that humans make mistakes. Adding a deadly weapon to a classroom will only result in more children dying.
Teachers have enough on their plates; having to look after an entire classroom alone is difficult, but adding a gun into the mix just adds more stress. Teachers would constantly have to watch to make sure the students are not handling the gun or trying to take it from around their waist. Children and teens are already scared to go to school due to the constant news coverage of school shootings, and seeing a gun in the classroom would be a reminder every day of horrible possibilities. Also, children and teens tend to be extremely impulsive, which could lead to a child stealing the gun from a teacher and shooting a fellow classmate without thinking about the repercussions.
To prevent future school shootings, it only makes sense to remove the item that causes them. In Australia, there was a mass shooting in 1996 when a 28-year-old man shot and killed 35 people with the same weapon that Cruz used – an AR-15. After the shooting, Australia immediately banned all semi-automatic and military style weapons. Since that day, there have been no mass shootings in Australia. According to a Fortune article titled: “How Australia All But Ended Gun Violence,” it states that Australia’s murder rate is: “one-fifth the size of America’s.” It also goes on to mention that Australia’s suicide rate has plummeted because suicide can be an impulsive act and by eliminating the weapon it has lowered the rates of the act.
Introducing guns in the school system will only bring more danger to every person that walks through those hallways. It exposes the young to a weapon that could potentially cause harm at any moment. It also gives them access to regretful acts of impulsivity that they can never take back. Adding weapons will not scare off any potential school shooters because they are not scared of death. Overall, this plan will backfire and lead to more deaths and tragedies than anyone will ever be able to plan for.