Do Guns Belong in Schools?

Unfortunately when we think of handguns and schools in  the same sentence, it’s usually associated with tragic tales. Perhaps the one most remembered is Kent State University during the sixties. But who can forget 1999 and Columbine High School or the most recent incident at Sandy Hook?

Since the latest shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there is a cry for students and teachers to have concealed carry weapons.

Firearms in schools? Teachers and students in classrooms with guns? A decade ago this would have been unthinkable. Even armed guards in schools and metal detectors were considered paranoid thinking.

But, times have changed. When polled, a startling 70%  of the general public believed arming teachers would have saved student lives at Sandy Hook. Legislators are now under media pressure to pass legislation that would allow teachers, students, staff members, and even visitors to have guns on school property.

Utah allows teachers, students, and even visitors to carry handguns on campus as long as they have concealed carry permits.

The argument given for allowing guns in schools is that they are necessary for self-defense. Pro-gun advocates also argue that armed teachers might have been able to stop the shooter at such situations as Sandy Hook and prevent injuries or killings.

Floyd Phelps, former director of fire safety at Southern Methodist University and the current Chair of the Fire and Life Safety Council for ASIS International insists that teachers, because of the nature of their work, are as qualified as police to carry a concealed weapon.

However, teachers themselves argue that they do not have the qualifications, experience, and testing that police officers have. Most do not want the increased responsibility that carrying a weapon brings.  They also do not want to work in an environment where their students, an irate parent, a disgruntled fellow teacher, or a stranger could well be legally armed.

One parent pointed out that we’d no more think of having a police officer teach our kids than we’d expect teachers to take on armed assailants.

A school district in Austin, Texas now allows its employees to carry concealed weapons if they have concealed carry permits. The reason given was the rural, isolated location of the school. The state of Texas  allows weapons at schools only in specific cases.  These circumstances were deemed legitimate.

Concealed weapons on college and university campuses or even high schools bring as many concerns as they might alleviate. What happens when a student with a concealed carry weapon confronts a teacher from whom he received a bad grade? Or how about a teacher who confronts a student who is resisting authority? What is to stop an irate parent who has a legal permit to carry from coming in to a school and shooting the principal who has suspended his child?

Proponents for arming staff and students cite the situation at Pearl Mississippi high school where the vice principal went out to his vehicle and got his handgun and then confronted a student who had come to school to shoot students. Never firing a shot, the vice principal forced the student to the floor and held him there until police arrived. While two students died, the number casualties could have  been so much higher, pro-gun groups insisted.

Whether those with concealed carry permits are allowed to have weapons in elementary and high schools is most often a local or school district decision. Decisions at the college or university level is a state decision.

Utah has stated that its colleges and universities must let any staff member, student or visitor who has a valid concealed carry permit bring a weapon on Utah state campuses.

In Colorado, students may carry concealed weapons as long as they have a permit to do so. University of Colorado at Boulder is the exception. Ohio and Michigan have legislation pending that would allow students and teachers to carry guns in both public and private schools. Fifteen other states have rejected requests for similar bills.

Student organizations like Students  for Concealed Carry have lobbied for national acceptance for students to be armed on any campus in USA.  Their efforts have escalated since the shootings at Virginia Tech.

Anti-gun groups argue that being armed at schools is an enormous responsibility. This raises the question: Do those with concealed carry permits have a duty to use their weapons to save themselves and others in the case of a shooter on campus? What are the liabilities of doing so? Are they negligent if they fail to do so?

Unfortunately, we live in troubled times which escalate the argument for arming those who work in and visit our schools.