Should Teachers Be Armed?

On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty children and six adult staff members in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. This was one of the biggest mass murders in history and there has been much controversy over it. Mainly over whether or not teachers should be armed in schools. Some say that not as many people would have died at Sandy Hook Elementary if the teachers were armed. They think that if they can protect themselves they can fight back. Others disagree. They think that guns in schools are too dangerous and unnessesary. I think that if guns can save lives then let them.
        The article "Every Teacher in America Should Have a Gun" by Steve Siebold takes a very strong opinion. Siebold strongly thinks that teachers should carry guns (as seen in the title.) He says: 'How many more innocent children need to die before we wake up and prepare our teachers to fight back?'. He believes that we are putting up our children for slaughter by not arming our school staff. According to the article in 1997 there was a shooting where the assistant principle had a gun. The staff held the shooter at gunpoint until the police arrived and this, he claims, saved many lives. Currently many states have approved the law to let teachers carry guns in school.
        Steve Siebold does a great job of convincing you that guns in schools are good. He makes you feel guilty if you say there shouldn't be guns. For example, he brings up Victoria Soto who was a teacher at Sandy Hook who got shot and killed protecting her students. Siebold says that she might still be alive if she was armed and able to defend herself. He also makes a point of recognizing another shooting where the staff did have a gun and held the killer captive till safety. According to the article this 'most probably prevented more people from being killed.' The author wants you to agree with his views on the matter and uses evidence and facts to get what he wants.
        This article definitely changed my views. I wasn't so informed on the matter and didn't really have an opinion. However, now i think that guns should be allowed in schools. I think the author got me when he talked about the two different shootings and how one of them had a gun, and how much that helped. If it could even save one life I am in. I am not a violent person and I haei the fact of guns being in a learning place with children. But I believe that it will truly help. Safety should be the number one priority at schools and if that means fighting back and protecting kids with a gun then so be it. I loved how the author ened the article. He said : 'In a perfect world we wouldn't need to take such measures. But until that happens, critical thinking suggests that we all exercise our second amendment rights, arm our teachers and school officials to ensure the safety of our children.'

Source:  Siebold, Steve. "Every Teacher in America Should Have a Gun." The Huffington Post.                        TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.
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