Arm Our Teachers!

By Jamie Lynch, Staff Photographer

We live in a pretty terrifying world, and instead of sitting and waiting for it to get better we need to take action.

As of today, teachers in Pennsylvania are not  allowed to actively carry a firearm on school property due to “The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.” This federal law makes it illegal for anyone “to knowingly possess a firearm “within 1,000 feet of a school zone.”

However, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill over the summer that would have allowed educators or school staff to carry a concealed weapon with the right permits, but this bill never became a law.

At this point in our society, we need to take action. Gun control is great in theory, but how hard is it to lie your way through a test? Everyone gripes about the ability to lie about their gun application in the first place, but if they are lying now to get a gun do you really think more testing is going to make them be honest? If so, I would like to know what delusion you are living in.

Arm the teachers. Arm the staff. Arm the custodians. Arm any school official that is willing to take on that responsibility.

Our school security system is flawed. Officer Bub is an amazing guy, but he is only one person and we have three schools to protect.

The administration will claim that our security is “solid” but it is all too easy to get into this school and with anything you want.

It takes nothing but the ring of a buzzer and a signature on a pass to gain access to any of our schools. No escort, no photo identification, not even walk through a metal detector. We have spent all this money on metal detectors, yet I haven’t been through one since my ninth grade year. If we are going to make it easy for people to gain access to our school, we need to make it just as easy to defend ourselves.

So let me ask you this, are we anything more than sitting ducks?

We have been through these drills since we have been in elementary school about safety in emergencies, but what is sitting against the wall going to do? Make me an easier target? I’m sorry, but if there was ever a school shooter I would want to know that someone would be able to protect me.

No, I’m not saying to arm every single teacher. If you force a gun on someone that is insanely dangerous.

These need to be teachers that already have concealed permits or even ones who would be willing to get one. Put them through an education course with the local and state police to ensure that they have the competence and responsibility.

We need to take action. We should not have to have our students worried about their lives rather than their education in a place that we have been promised is safe.

Arm the teachers.

Arm the staff.

Arm the custodians.

Arm any school official that is willing to take on that responsibility.

I’m also aware that someone is going to make the argument ‘What about first responders being able to distinguish the shooter and the teachers?’ If we would be serious about this there would have to be a code word, or a signal, or a system of identification out into place to protect our staff.

To say that ‘It will never happen here’ is just ridiculous. Look around! It’s 2018 and our society sucks!  If we can’t stop it, we might as well try to prepare and get ahead of it.

Arm our teachers. Save our students. Protect our school.