Gun Free School Policy Analysis

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Step 1: How do we ensure the safety of the students while at school? Before the 1990’s, there was not as much worry about students having a gun used for hunting in their vehicle on school property. It wasn’t uncommon for a student to have one, since they hunted before school. This tolerance drastically changed as a result of the mass school shootings that have occurred in the recent past. The Gun Free-Schools Act of 1994 mandates students who bring a gun to school will be expelled for at least one year (Dunn, 2002). School districts soon adopted policies to follow this act. School safety has been a concern for not only family members, but school officials across the nation. Two ways districts have been actively keeping students safe are having …show more content…

Teachers may be able to protect more students when law enforcement may not be able to respond for 25 minutes (Shah, 2013). Teachers would have the ability to assess the situation and act within seconds or minutes versus waiting. Another advantage to arming teachers is teachers are familiar with their school building. Teachers know where students congregate and where they try to hide. Would the local law enforcement be able to find the locations as quickly as the teachers questions Sanfransky (2014). Following the known evacuation procedures, the armed teachers would be able to quickly clear the areas assigned to them and protect the students in the process. Weiler & Armenta (2014) conducted a survey of principals collecting data on arming school personnel. One question was to list advantages of arming teachers. It was noted the knowledge of teachers being armed may be a deterrent. An intruder may be bolder in his moves and actions thinking only the people who will be armed are the law enforcement officers. However, when the knowledge that teachers are armed is widely known, the would-be shooter may not act upon his plan knowing return fire will be …show more content…

School Resource Officers have been trained specifically to protect people with no other thoughts interfering with this. Teachers’ main thought is to teach, not to protect. The collegiate teacher programs do not include classes on being armed and defending the students. The training school personnel may receive to be able to be armed may not be adequate in a situation that requires an instant decision to shoot or not to shoot. Another disadvantage of arming teachers is children always seem to find a way to get their hands on everything (Corbett, 2013). Typically, the person carrying a weapon must keep it on their body at all times. Accidents can happen though. The gun may be exposed or dislodged when a teacher breaks up a fight. If a student is able to grab the gun, a fist fight has now turned

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