Following the recent tragedy in Florida, arming teachers has been a big topic of discussion in the government. Our president Donald Trump said that we should arm our teachers, during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. According to CNN, after Sandy Hook, a school in Arkansas decided to train 13 staff members to be armed guards. They did this because they couldn’t afford an armed guard, training the teachers was a one time fee of $68,000 and having an armed guard would be around $50,000 a year. Students told CNN, “We feel safer knowing our teachers can protect us if the unthinkable happens.”

We as Americans are safer at the airport, the bank and sporting events than children are at school. The government spends 7 billion dollars annually on the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and only 1.1 billion dollars every four years on school security. The children at these schools are America’s future and they are spending more and more time worrying about their safety. That time worrying should be spent learning. Children should know that they are in a safe environment when they are at school.

On average police take around five to ten minutes to respond to a call. The armed teachers are already there and can react immediately. Once the police arrive they still wait a little while until they actually enter the school. The teacher could have already taken down the shooter and the students would be safe. While if there were no armed teachers there, the students would probably be huddled in the corner scared for their life. The suspect could’ve gotten out of the school already and been on their way to hiding if the teachers were armed.

A common fear with arming teachers would be that a student could get access to the firearm and use it to cause harm to others. This most likely wouldn’t happen. The teacher would be required to wear the firearm in a holster on their hip. It would be nearly impossible to take a firearm from someone’s hip and most people don’t even know how to operate a firearm. There would be no need to worry about a student getting ahold of their teacher’s firearm.

Giving teacher guns would improve the safety of one’s children and help them be prepared for the worst.