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School Shootings and arming teachers

Student Name

Arizona State University

PSY 304: Effective Thinking

Dr. Kimberly R. Mascaro

February 21,2021

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School Shootings and arming teachers

Schools have been traditionally thought of as safe zones for students and staff members.

Over the past few years, there have been numerous school shootings in various states in the

United states. The Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012 was one of the deadliest

school shooting in the US. Community members and parents have often presumed that schools

are safe and protocols for unforeseen events like school shootings are in place (Everett-Haynes,

2011). The shooting sparked a lot of debate as to whether school staff more so teachers should be

allowed to carry concealed weapons in school. Politicians, educators and various community-

based groups have debated the merits and demerits of arming school staff in an effort to counter-

act a possible school shooting.

Video Summary

The video begins with a segment from Judy Woodruff, a news anchor from PBS News

who introduces a news feature aired by the media house known as Making the Grade. She begins

by giving a recap of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that killed 20 children and 6 members

of staff. She claims that the shooting did not become a transformative moment in creating

policies that restrict gun access. The shooting however made several school districts ramp up

security measures like hiring police officers, installing cameras and also metal detectors.

Correspondent Kavitha Cardoza travels to West Union, Ohio where she interviews Joe Eaton

who runs a firing range. The students in the firing range work for school districts in various

capacities like school drivers, principals and teachers. John Eaton expresses his views on the

need for armed school staff. He compares the situation of having an active shooter in a school

with a kid drowning. In the latter, the nearest person responds to the emergency before medics

arrive and so should a school shooting scenario. Lori Snyder-Lowe, the superintendent of

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Morgan Local School District also expresses her views. She argues that the school district is

wide and emergency response might not be as quick as needed for some schools that are further

away from the Sherriff’s office. Erin Knox, a teacher at Fairfield City Schools also shares her

concerns. Despite having a concealed carry permit, the school does not allow her to carry her gun

to school and hopes that this might change soon. She argues that she needs to be able to defend

her students in case there is an active shooter in the school. Various non-profit movements like

Moms Demand Action have joined forces with Everytown for Gun safety to advocate for anti-

gun laws in school and have so far been successful. Various individuals like John Moffatt express

their opinions on the matter and argue that even for trained police officer, they rarely hit a target

in an active shootout and do not feel teachers will perform better in a school setting with lots of

kids.

Argument

As described above, your first level subheading should be centered, bold, and written in

upper and lower-case letters.

Second Level Subheading

Your second level subheading should be left-aligned, bold, and written in upper and

lower-case letters.

Level Three Heading

Your third level subheading should be left-aligned, bold, and written in title case heading.

You would include a third level heading if you are providing more detail about a specific second

level heading topic. Again, you would typically only include a third level heading if you were

including at least two third level headings under the same second level heading topic.

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Provide a clear conclusion that incorporates major themes and findings from your

analyses (You may provide your conclusion here OR after your “Argument Evaluation”; please

recall that in either instance the conclusion is to be a separate paragraph and you may use a first

level heading to separate and delineate the conclusion).

Argument Evaluation

Teachers and school staff should be armed. In a school setting, teachers are the primary

caregivers of school going kids within the premises. They are responsible for protecting the

children from harm be it physical or psychological. A school shooting is an emergency where

teachers need to promptly respond to as fast as possible. They might not be the best suited people

for that scenario but before security personnel arrive, they should be able to ward off the attacker

and minimize casualties. Arming the teachers gives them a better chance to face an attacker.

Knowing teachers are armed could also be a measure of deterring violence from schools (Isbell,

Dixon & Sanders, 2019).

Arming teachers is a cost-effective way of providing security from armed shooters in

schools. Runevitch,2013 argues that saving one life is worth arming educators in an effort of

protecting and providing safety to students. Schools have come up with various methods of

securing their premises from shooters. Hiring armed police is one way although some schools

might not have the financial resources to hire the extra personnel (Kennedy,2003).

Saving lives is a positive social change that will affect a community as a whole. In case

of a tragedy, the main objective is getting everyone out of harm’s way as fast as possible. The

psychological anxiety that teachers might experience in the event of having an active shooter in

their school might be a deterrent to them providing security to children. Getting the training

required to handle a firearm and use it correctly in an emergency gives the teacher the confidence

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and self-esteem knowing that in case of any attack, they stand a chance of protecting their

students.

Assessment and evaluation of the argument for arming teachers.

A source can be said to be credible if it demonstrates authority and expertise (Facione &

Gittens,2016). The sources selected in this paper have been thoroughly researched based on the

references in the journals and papers. The sources are free of conflicts of interest and are not

skewed to support one side of the argument. The sources are also current and not outdated in that

they were written at the time when school shootings were rampant and not earlier than that. The

authors also do not stand to benefit in any way from the research done but are scholars who seek

to gather information about an issue that is affecting society. This is a clear demonstration that

they will not benefit in any way from the information and findings of the study but rather seek to

provide the public with facts to make a decision.

The claims in the argument for teachers needing to carry weapons to school are valid and

sound. According to the course text, Facione & Gittens,2016, an argument is said to be valid if

all premises are true therefore making the conclusion impossible to be false. The premises in this

case are the need for security in a school and the need for a fast response in an active shooting

situation. Teachers being the core caregivers in a school are therefore the most suited to be armed

in order to respond faster than the authorities. The premises are true and therefore justifies the

conclusion.

The reasoning used in writing this paper is empirical reasoning. Empirical reasoning is

based on observation, careful logic and open scrutiny to others. Empirical reasoning is also open

to Independent verification. The sources used in researching the topic are freely available as

expert analyses and can be verified by independent parties at will. In the process of researching

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content for the paper statements made in the study were cross-referenced with text in the course

book.

Conclusion

Whether to arm teachers or not continues to be a subject for debate. The nation is divided into

two groups who follow different schools of thought. Those who support arming teachers are

most probably pro-gun ownership while those who don’t are anti-gun ownership. Some groups

can also be argued to use the ideological reasoning to argue for or against the issue of gun

ownership. The major issue remains to be the safety of students in schools and also the ability of

teachers to hold off attackers before authorities arrive at the scene of an active shooter.

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References

Everett-Haynes, L. (2011, April 27). Study: School climate a key factor in feeling of safety,

University of Arizona News. Retrieved fromhttp://www.uanews.org/story/study-school-

climate-key-factor-feelings-safety

Facione, P. A., & Gittens, C. A. (2016). Think critically (3rd ed.). Pearson.

Kennedy, M. (2003c). Paying for protection. American School and University, 76(2), 20-26.

Runevitch, J. (2013, January 18). Noble County, Indiana considers arming teachers . Retrieved

from http://www.wthr.com/story/20626939/noble-county-considers-arming-teachers

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