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Gun control in schools 123 essays
Gun control and school safety
Gun control in schools 123 essays
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Locker Searches/Personal Searches Rough Draft Argument; The principal at your school has instituted random locker and backpack/book bag searches to check for guns, knives, and other weapons. Anyone caught with these weapons will be immediately suspended. The Principal argues that the random searches will not only guard against illegal weapons at school but will also help students feel safer. Safety, what makes us feel safe at school? As an elementary age student, safety was never something we really thought about. We just never thought a fellow classmate would do the unthinkable and bring a weapon to school and harm our teachers and fellow students. We spent our time worrying about if Suzie and Janie were going to invite us to their birthday party and if Johnny and Joey were going to be the winners of the dodgeball game. As we grew and moved from elementary age into middle school, most of our thoughts of safety were more about “stranger danger” than weapons. Never thinking once …show more content…
In my research, I found, most everyone was for the random locker and backpack searches. The safety of the students and staff of a school were of the utmost concern. Lockers belong to the schools and are a privilege they offer to each student to house their books and belongings on a daily basis. This gives the school the right to check a locker anytime they choose. Citations: "Backpack and Locker Searches in Public High Schools | The Classroom | Synonym." Backpack and Locker Searches in Public High Schools | The Classroom | Synonym. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. "School Violence and Weapons: Constitutional Rights of Students - FindLaw." Findlaw. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. "Search and Seizure, Due Process, and Public Schools." Search and Seizure, Due Process, and Public Schools. Web. 10 Nov.
In “Stop Worrying About Guns in the Classroom. They’re Already here.” the author, Erik Gilbert, argues in favor of the law allowing the concealed carry of firearms in college campuses. Gilbert claims that it’s futile to be “worried by the prospect of having guns in [the] classroom” because he believes that even before the bill was passed, some students and faculty were already carrying firearms to campus (Gilbert). Furthermore, he insinuates that despite the presence of firearms, there were no incidents of student or faculty causing harm. To support his argument, the author provides incidents which have occurred over the last decade at his campus, such as accidental discharge of guns in dorms, firearms in student’s vehicles, and one faculty member who was discovered to be in possession of a gun in an on-campus facility. Considering these incidents and previous knowledge of “prevailing regional attitudes towards guns”, the author assumes that significant numbers of students, and possibly faculty, bring guns on campus regularly (Gilbert). As for those who are afraid due to the new law, he declares to them that firearm permit-holders are not dangerous by comparing the rate of their crimes to that of police officers. He also reasons that permit holders need to be at least 21 to qualify—claiming that the more mature students qualify—and have background checks performed.
Redding became a starting case against unconstitutional searches of students where a girl had her backpack searched in the assistant principal 's office. After the official searched her bag, the school nurse’s office was her next destination, so the nurse and the administrative assistant could search her clothes and instructed her to shake out the elastic of her bra and underwear (Carpenter 86-87). The tragic part about this case is that it is not the first or final time a similar event has occurred. In the case of Jane Doe, “...or so she was called in this case…”, a student of a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas filed a case against her school (Dowling-Sendor 46). Dowling-Sendor tells of how the school regularly conducted searches of book bags and purses, and police officials would take any contraband found. Then any items found would become evidence for a prosecution (46). When school officials searched Jane’s bag, they recovered a container full of Marijuana, and its purpose was to convict Jane Doe on a drug misdemeanor charge. After being charged with this, Jane appealed to the 8th circuit because the District Court first dismissed her case. The court ruled in her favor in a two to one decision, claiming the search caused a violation of her rights. She had every reason to win because school officials search students at this school on a regular basis, and it is
"Stop and Frisk." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Donna Batten. 3rd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 391-392. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Everyone knows that parents’ first worry is the safety of their children. With the increase of violence in schools, parents have started to wonder if their children are really safe in the school setting. Shootings like Sandy Hook and Columbine left parents, administrators, and educators feeling the need to be proactive towards children’s safety. Reacting to situations like these is not good enough when children’s lives are on the line. Administration has started to brainstorm different ways to help insure the protection of their students. The idea of having teachers carry concealed weapons has been on the front burner for quite some time. As a result of this extreme idea, insurance companies have started to increase or even cancel policies with schools that have armed teachers because of the high risk they are putting themselves at. Parents and administrators also worry about the idea of children getting their hands on one of the teachers’ weapons and injuring themselves or other students. Because this idea seems quite extreme, I believe there are other alternatives that are less dramatic and more positively out looked, such as having armed security guards in schools.
The largest and first assault on the rights of students to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures occurred in the case of New Jersey v. T.L.O. In 1980 at Piscataway High School in Middlesex County, N.J. a few girls were caught smoking in the bathroom. After being brought to the principal's office one of the girls, T.L.O., denied that she had been smoking. The principal then searched her purse looking for cigarettes. After finding a pack of cigarettes the search continued until the principal discovered evidence of drug dealing. This evidence was used to prosecute T.L.O. and ultimately she received a year of p...
First, allowing students to carry backpacks throughout the school day would save everyone time. Since backpacks have multiple compartments, they allow students to carry learning materials like textbooks, calculators, binders, and writing utensils. Students can use backpacks to transport laptops inside dedicated sleeves. As a result, students would waste less time at their lockers searching through debris for assignments and missing homework. Teachers, too, will welcome backpacks when they no longer have to squander valuable minutes writing locker passes. Less locker stops will reduce hallway congestion, expediting travel between classes. Without wasting the teacher’s precious minutes, students can get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, or take care of personal hygiene needs. . Even custodians will appreciate the practicality of backpacks when they are no longer interrupted from their busy jobs to unjam a muddled locker because of cumbersome coats and binders.
The school locker is usually the only private space available to a student in the environment of the school. So it focuses many of the main issues involved in privacy of the students. The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,papers,and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized.”
Toronto: Association of School Business Officials International. 2006. Czubaj, Camilia Anne. “A Legal Analysis of School Searches.” Education 115.4 (Summer 1995): 548-551.
In light of recent acts of violence in the nation’s schools, school safety and security have become a hot topic. However, the issue of school safety goes beyond student violence. It includes property damage, theft, and anything else that concerns the overall well being of schools. While it is important to create a safe environment in schools it is also necessary to make sure students feel comfortable in this atmosphere. The security can not be so overbearing that it becomes a negative tactic that gets in the way of the students main objective, learning. Barely noticeable cameras, ID cards, and security guards without uniforms can help generate this safe, but comfortable learning environment. On the other hand metal detectors and mini police forces may be a little too reminiscent of George Orwell’s novel, 1984, or even modern prisons. School security should not be overbearing or obtrusive where it gets in the way of a comfortable environment that is conducive to learning in the nation’s schools.
Severson, Kim, and Alan Blinder. "Guns at School? If There's A Will, There Are Ways." LexisNexis Academic. LexisNexis, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Like Mr. Cuellar said “ Being an US Customs I know any one with a gun in a shooting will help out to, there is more good people then bad and together we can take them down , that’s why I am with guns allowed in school campus , for the reason that I am also a father and care for the safety of my family members”. As he mentioned it can also be protection for oneself when you encounter a problematic situation. There are good reasons why we should allow them but there is more bad ones than good. Some people say that they’ll feel more protective if they have a gun with them , knowing someone you don’t know has one. If guns would be allowed under strictly rules and would have a lot of training and permissions / test people have to go through maybe like that I will be safe in school with guns
Which can be having armed officers walk though halls, making sure the school is safe from any harm that could potentially happen.
“The biggest drawback to a school locker search is the lack of trust students may feel as a result of actions they see as an invasion of privacy,” is what Dennis Hartman had to say on the matter. For instance, if a student had harmful things in their locker, it’d be easier to find and confiscate them. This would prevent a potentially dangerous situation, and the student would face proper consequences. Whilst I agree that locker searches could definitely potentially keep schools safer, I still believe that there are better ways to enforce safety than going through a student’s possessions, which could be mentally damaging.
On the first day of school, teachers demonstrated how to correctly open lockers to their students. However, many students (including seventh graders) were having difficulty mastering this concept. From experience, students can spend around 10 minutes trying to open their lockers. Not only it could be difficult for regular students, but it is also a challenge for short students that have a top locker. They constantly are strengthening their toes by standing on their tippy toes trying to get a grasp on their top locker.
Bump! Bump! Bump! Whoa,and my papers go flying everywhere. Should middle school students be able to carry their backpacks?