Everyone wants students to feel safe in school. Students want to know that there are people ready to help protect them if something ever happened. But just because we want to feel protected doesn’t mean we feel comfortable with our professors carrying loaded guns around campus.
The problem at hand is that it is already too easy for young, unstable and dangerous people to access guns and then go out and do harm, including the easy access many young individuals have in their own homes. The way to fix this problem is not by putting more guns in schools. Yes, college students understand why their professor is armed, but how do you explain that to a five year old who has never seen a gun in real life before?
Emma Contic / Graphics Editor
Obviously, there is always the chance that a professor would go against their duty and harm someone with their gun, but for the most part, we know professors wouldn’t hurt us. But what happens when a shooter busts into a class, runs out of ammo, and quite coincidentally finds a loaded gun on a teacher in that classroom? Now that student can simply continue on the quest for taking innocent lives.
We’re not saying that it’s the sheer fact of having guns present that makes the problem, so please don’t mention the ole “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” slogan. People who use a gun can kill people.
Let’s face it, the government is not going to ban guns, but it shouldn’t start arming everyone either. The point this is coming to is that why does every American need to have the opportunity to own almost any kind of gun for almost any reason at all? They don’t.
The Equinox is not saying we have the perfect answer for gun regulation or safety, but it is our opinion that arming our professors and thereby placing more guns in schools will not solve the problem.
We should look at our state laws and see what could be changed so that gun dealers know more about the individuals they are selling their weapons to. The problem with arming teachers is that it still doesn’t solve the problem that there are numerous ways for the wrong people to gain possession of guns.
It’s more than a matter of ‘they’re trying to take away our guns,’ or ‘they just want more guns.’ Extending the process time for purchasing a gun, or changing the age requirement may just be some easier ways of sifting out the psycho killers from the citizens just looking to practice their aim. Then again, what are they planning on aiming at?
