Nebraska Proposes to Let Teachers Carry Guns

The following is an article that I wrote for my school newspaper in opposition to Nebraska wanting to allow school officials, including teachers, carry guns in school.


I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. Well, a bad episode that is. For the past two weeks or so, gun crimes have been constantly circulating in the news. How to deal with these types of crimes has also come up in various articles and news proceedings. On January 5, 2011, a 17-year old Omaha, Nebraska student shot both the principal and assistant principal of his high school. As a result of this unfortunate incident, Sen. Mark Christensen proposed a bill that will allow teachers, security staff, and school administrators to carry guns in school. Let me be the first and foremost to tell Sen. Christensen that he is completely out of his mind.

This proposal is similar to the conceal-carry law that Mayor Jim Ardis proposed last summer for the city of Peoria. Both of these laws are meant to deter crime ,but in fact, they do the opposite. There has been at least twenty-two homicides in 2010 alone for Peoria. May I remind you that this is post-conceal- carry. Nebraska seems ready to fall into the same category as Peoria, “unsafe and trigger happy.” Why do lawmakers believe that the answer to violence is more violence? Where is the rationale in that line of thinking?

I believe that the answer to deterring crime is not giving the weak and scared guns(it’s evident that this actually leads to more violence than less). Instead, it should be safety. Safety is something that should do just as the name suggests, provide something that is safe. As a concept, “safety” is the solution to the problem of gun violence in schools. However, it cannot stop there. What is something in particular that can be done to deter this type of crime? While there are countless answers to this question, the first response that comes to mind, without too much thought, is metal detectors. Metal detectors allow for safety because they screen everyone and everything that walks through them. This includes weapons besides guns(i.e, a knife). Metal detectors would deter school shootings faster than giving a history teacher a semi-automatic rifle to hold while taking attendance.

Another similarity between Ardis and Christensen is that as lawmakers, they fail to make wise decisions. Lawmakers should try their hardest to prevent crime at all costs. It is very easy to say “let’s just give everybody guns” instead of asking, “is there an effective solution out there that will actually deter crime, and if so, for how long?”

There is never a crime horrific enough that will allow for school officials to have to carry guns to school. We are members of a civilized society, and not gorillas in a cage. Humans claim to be more intelligent and rational than animals. However, have you ever seen a wolf use a gun to kill a sheep?