Armed guards in the public school systems

There are many risks with having an armed guard, one of the risks is a fight happening between students, when an armed guard comes up to stop the fight, a student could take the chance and grab the officer's gun, shooting the conflicting student, the officer and other students around him/her. A teacher or armed worker could leave his or her gun laying around in their office while talking to a student or could have the weapon concealed within a cabinet, so when they leave a student might snoop around the office and find the weapon. An officer could also have a mental breakdown and become the shooter himself, It only takes a bad break up, depression from the loss of a loved one, or even being in a negative climate, to make a person break down and think once about the weapon, then their thoughts could become clouded and then it begins. Also a shooter could take note of the schedule that an armed guard manages and could then avoid the armed guard. A shooter could just take the armed worker out of commission as well, just like the Virginia Tech Campus shooting and the Columbine shooting. There hasn't even been enough training, test runs, or time to prove that armed workers in public educational places could be effective. I wrote a research paper in my English 9 class about this topic for an opinion paper and even though it is basically what I have explained, maybe it is more basic so I shall post it: -----"When parents think about their child's education, the first thing that might have come to mind was grades or friends, or even school plays. But since the shooting at Sandy Hook, one of the main things on parents minds is how to protect their children. School systems have recently been thinking about hiring an armed worker to protect students, but armed guards could pose to much of a risk for schools across the nation and could turn out to be a not-so-good idea. One of the things with having an armed worker is the problems and risks that associate with it. One of the problems with having an armed guard is the affect it could have on the learning environment. According to an article on In These Times website, Cops and armed workers don't receive the same training and education for a school environment that a teacher does. Students are growing up and they have different emotions and actions through out their life. Officers were not trained to deal with this kind of situation and what teachers would consider a normal issue, armed workers might treat it as a criminal issue and could blow a simple issue out of proportion.(Samsa) . Students are still maturing and growing mentally and emotionally, their actions are different from adults and armed workers and a situation could be taken wrong, and then it could be blown up into a bigger deal than necessary. If armed guards were brought in to the school system, people would see more of these situations over a period of time. Another problem with armed guards is there is no actual proof that armed guards make a difference in mass shooting in a school. According to The Huff Post, There is not enough evidence to prove that armed workers prevent mass shootings in schools, A shooter can decide when and where to attack, and this planning can also revolve around the armed workers placement and scheduling. And also a shooter can injure or kill an armed worker just like in the Virginia Tech and Columbine shooting. (Strauss). Also according to In These Times, The options that organizations and people are making have to many risks involving weapons, its possible that there could be chances of mistaking an item for a weapon, or a student grabbing the teacher's weapon. It just doesn't make the school environment safer, it makes it riskier for students. A shooter could gain any knowledge that could give him the upper hand in a situation in which he could take out the armed guard. Armed guards could miss the shooter and also shoot a child by accident. It's unknown that having an armed guard presence in the school system will be able to do enough to put a dent in mass shootings. And a students could be shot because something was mistaken as a weapon, or because it was available for a student to steal and use against another student. Also, another problem is funding. According to Newstime, It's not just a matter of training personnel and placing them in schools, Funding is also required and very few schools have the funding to support an armed worker while he works for the school system. (Fitzgerald). Some schools can't afford to hire an armed worker, for most schools armed guards would only be possible if it became a federal issue, then the government would pay for the funding. If the issue goes federal though, all schools would have to have armed guards despite the fact they might not want one. As the government and public schools debate on having armed guards, They must consider the risks and problems associated with having an armed guard including, how armed guards could affect funding, a child's understanding and education, and how an armed guard will actually affect the safety of the schools. Armed guards are a serious choice for the school environment, and studies and research show that sometimes armed guards are not the best solution in all cases, or in this case, classrooms. The true question is, are the government and the school systems ready to take a chance with something that hasn't been proved effective, at the expense of today's children?"------ I agree with what the NRA stands for and I believe in the right to bare arms. I just don't believe that armed workers are going to be effective and the idea could possibly backfire on America.