On why I think teachers shouldn't bring guns to school
I'm not of the opinion that we solve school shootings with an armed staff. I think that we should be examining 1. why our kids are bringing loaded weapons to school and 2. why our kids think that shooting their classmates and teachers is a healthy response to whatever they are feeling.
The first question is important because I could see, for instance, how a student coming from a family of gun collectors might want to bring a gun to school for show and tell. That might be kind of interesting, and it could open the door for communication about gun safety and uses. There is a whole gun culture that doesn't support combat, and even putting a class on guns might be something we could look into. If, however, they are bringing LOADED weapons to school, I'm less inclined to think that they are bringing it with peaceful intentions. Accidents happen, of course, but maybe we could take precautions by requiring that any gun brought to school for show and tell be 1. not loaded and 2. accompanied by a permit-carrying adult.
The second question is important because it tries to get at the ROOT of the problem. Clearly, as a culture, we are failing at demonstrating how to communicate effectively and sympathetically. I believe it is a life-preserving skill to be able to respectfully disagree and phrase things in a way that prevents further escalation. And, within a pluralistic society, our public education system necessarily must strive toward developing these skills early on. In addition, the older generations must be able to demonstrate this type of communication so that the younger generation can identify what peaceful disagreement looks like. It doesn't mean censorship; it means... intentional articulation. Nothing slips; everything is thought out with the goal of continuing conversation in an exploratory way. We can all learn from each other, and it's valuable to toss ideas back and forth. We just need to learn how to do this without letting it turn to violence.
A follow-up examination would be to identify when exactly a situation tends to turn violent. Is it when we feel personally attacked? Is it when we feel that our intelligence is being insulted? Is it when we feel the other person is saying things just to get on our nerves and not for any intellectual purpose? We need to explore these things and address them. It's not black or white; things that offend me might not offend someone standing next to me, etc. Because the answers are so complex, we have avoided asking the questions, and now we have an entirely new problem.
I fear that by allowing staff and faculty to tote weaponry, even with a permit, we might be escalating the potential situation. I'm worried that we could have a whole new list of things to worry about: training our teachers to safely use guns, how to use their judgment in a classroom argument or strong debate, how to keep their weapons on them and away from the snooping hands of middle schoolers or daring hands of high schoolers, the ethics of whether or not to act or REact, whether or not the situation could turn into a problem of racial profiling, the list goes on.
If teachers carrying guns is the solution, the shape of our educational system is shifting. It started with metal detectors and wire fences. Now, teachers with weapons. Next, there might be bulletproof glass and ceaseless military presence. Following that, what?
Demonstrating an institutionalized lifestyle of tension gives it validation, and I believe that we should reconsider the message we would like to send future generations. I want to try our hand at solving the underlying problem, regardless of how difficult it is. I want a culture that understands guns not for their use as weapons but as tools. History. Evolution. I want the hard work that goes into this. Not silence. Not censorship. Not apathy. I want to try to understand where someone I disagree with is coming from and show them the dignity they deserve in the language that I choose to employ. I want to mend our relationships instead of finding new ways to obliterate them. I want to coexist with my fellow humankind. I want it not to resort to guns in school. I want our educational system to strive for something more than what plagues our urban areas. I want it not to reflect a lifestyle of tension but to craft a way out of it.