It's a simple equation, guns + schools = bad news.
There are reasons why most children align with their parents politically. Differing opinions on important issues make life with another person difficult, even if it's not directly addressed all the time. Watching a TV show that raises a question, reading a newspaper article, and other daily activities that constitute an ideological boundary are just awkward, honestly.
For example, my mom made a delicious burrito casserole tonight, so instead of grabbing a plate and running upstairs to hide out from parental time like I normally do, I decided to sit with my mom and stepdad. My mom was watching something like "15 Most Shocking Violent Moments" or whatever. We were at #2, the Columbine shooting. Clayton then says, "See, this is why everyone should be allowed to carry a gun. (pause) Right, Jayda?"
"Where, in school?"
"Yeah, anywhere."
"Um...no."
Honest opinions here...am I wrong in thinking this would only increase the violence problem? Sure, it would have been fortunate had every student been carrying a weapon to defend themselves on the day of that particular shooting, but to carry a pistol everyday in your belt buckle, well...that just makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to do it personally, and I wouldn't want to know that everyone around me had a gun by their hip or in their bag, ready to go off at any time.
First of all, Columbine was a huge tragedy because it happens rarely. You hear about school violence on the news because it's actually news...it's important to point out because it's so out of the ordinary. Why would we all need to endanger ourselves daily for something that happens on a very irregular basis? School is meant to be a safe zone, which is why rules against carrying weapons, including something as trivial and basic as a pocket knife, results in suspension. Sure, Clayton's idea is that if some psycho decided to start shooting people, we would all be able to retaliate quickly because we had the same weapon and possibly less people would die.
Wait, really? I was curious, so I went to the Department of Justice website for some statistics. According to the pdf file on Gun Crime in the Age Group 18-20, there are 1,134 UNINTENTIONAL shootings from that age group. AKA, the gunholder did not mean to shoot the victim or to have the gun go off in the first place. And that number, I believe, would only increase if there were more people carrying guns regularly...it's just common sense, a directly proportional relationship. Currently, I know of no one in my old high school carrying around a gun...maybe they are, but if they're keeping it hidden it's out of harms way. Clayton is arguing that we should be able to carry them with us, almost like identification, and that freaks me out. The more people have them, the more can go wrong at a moment's notice.
Here's a real-life example for you, something I witnessed myself. Sophomore year, Sr. Piermani's Spanish class, and I was just settling into my seat. In comes this guy Xavier, notorious for skipping school and being the only senior in Spanish II. He walks into the room talking to another girl in my class, Janelle, and takes his seat. As soon as he sits down, a gun falls out of his pocket. My first reaction was to play it cool, it was a mistake and he was scrambling to pick it up. The teacher never saw, and there were only a few kids in the class at the time. A girl behind me asked to "go to the bathroom," but instead went to the office to tell an administrator. I later learned it wasn't a real gun, but a cap gun or something like that. That didn't stop my fear, the pang that shot through my body when I saw what had landed on the ground, and the fact that it fell out of his pocket and could have gone off, right in my direction (which is the way it fell) scared the shit out of me. It wouldn't matter if I had a gun myself, I could have been accidentally shot regardless of what I was packing.
To me, it's entirely ludicrous to think kids should be allotted guns in schools. School is a safe zone, and there is nothing safe about toting around semi-automatic weaponry. Excuse me for a minute, but WHAT THE FUCK CLAYTON (and mom, she seemed to agree).
I'm torn on gun control as a whole, though. Obviously I believe people shouldn't have guns in public buildings, but private homes I grapple with at times. Though I personally feel no safer with a gun around, and I hate seeing them around my house, I'm not sure if the government should ban their distribution completely. There should definitely be tight laws surrounding the purchase of the weapon but it is a right people have through the Constitution.
Bottom line, my parents are highly conservative and I'm moderately liberal. This is a cleft, and I let it be, but Clayton strives to single me out because he knew I was going to say that no, kids should not be given guns in school. All in all, if any parent ever comes across this blog, my advice to you: Don't push your beliefs on your children. People will believe in what they find to be right, and I think keeping schools a safe zone is the right way to go. Putting guns in the hands of 14-18 year olds is just not a safe move.