Gun Laws in School - Essay Sample for You

America is besieged by firearm-related violence. Every year 30,000 people die through gunfire related crime. The country has witnessed murder, massacre in schools and in workplaces. However, there has been a debate and questions that have risen on who should own a gun and how this guns are to be obtained?. Guns have proved to be epitome of violence in our day to day society. Whenever there is a robbery case or murder there is a high chance that this event occurred with gun use. Most state in the US restricts or prohibits firearms in universities and campuses or allows the institutions to set their own rules to ban firearms in the institution.18 States including Washington DC have laws that prohibit or restricts guns in campuses while 21 states leave the decision to the campuses regarding possession of firearms. However, twelve states force public universities and college to allow the carrying of concealed guns. Gun lobby is still pushing state legislators' to adopt policies and laws that allow students to carry concealed guns on campuses. However, a number of states have passed this law.This essay brings up a debate of gun control in schools this is because Americans have embraced gun acquisition as a way of protection. The essay will seek to explore gun laws in school and illuminate the need to adopt strict gun control laws in schools that help to solve issues of school gun killing and reduce crime activities among the students.

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After two years of the school shooting in 1999,the message of crime control has been eclipsed by another issue frame. That year, almost half of all letters did sound child-related themes .This letters provided a general way of pro-gun control arguments. They contained three elements of the collective frame of action that has been identified as inspiring and political broad-based. Beginning 1997,child frame was later adopted by American president Clinton who began using child safety locks term that helped describe gun locks and trigger locks .This child frame was pioneered by political elites and policy entrepreneurs. A lot of gun law campaigns have spotlighted nonsporting criminal use of weapons that inflict injury or death. The gun control agendas have centered on gun control laws. However, there seems to be a jeopardy argument that portrays gun control as American sacred values violation. This argument states that modest measures of gun control are one step down to a slippery slope to Soviet or Nazi-style tyranny in America as embodied in the registration of NRA mantra that leads to confiscation. (Goss 1).

There has been gun attacks in school, this attacks shakes every individual prompting to everyone to ask what more can we do in order to protect the students in school?However in effort to respond to this question, policymakers have taken some conflicting actions where they have tried to remove weapons and guns from public spaces and other times reduce the gun restriction on individual ownership. At the federal level, there ought to be two laws that restricts firearm possession near or in K12 schools. Through Gun Free Zone Act,18 of 1990 and Gun-Free Schools Act 20 of 1994.The revised acts that is still in effect however permits possession of gun on school property. State laws seem to have differences in gun possession amongst different state. However, some of the state legislature have given learning institution the authority of regulating weapons in schools. While in other states, districts have taken the role of regulating weapons without legislative authority. Because schools are an integral part in our communities we however expect to evaluate the debate on gun possession and whether it should be legalised. Allowing guns on school will lead to more homicides and suicide. Research indicates that young adult between 18 to 25 years experience high rate of mental illnesses. Between 9 and 11 percentage of college students to consider suicide in their previous school year .About 1100 students in college commits suicide every year. With gun possession this attempts will become more lethal this is because 85 percent of suicide of gun attempts are said to be fatal. However, gun owing students are more likely to engage in risky and sometimes violent behavior. However, the gun lobby has recently argued that college women students should be allowed to possess concealed firearms so as to defend themselves against sexual assaults. This ignores evidence that campus carries school laws will not help in making women safe from this assaults. Contrary, when campus gun carry policies took effect in Colorado and Utah , crimes that were committed near or in colleges increased.However,groups such as National Coalition Against Violence and sexual assault survivors have observed that allowing guns on campuses will give women and others more reason of fearing armed rapists and predators. A lot of debate has developed on guns law in school and as for now, every state has the choice to allow or not allow the possession of guns in school. There is an argument that campus police are not everywhere and in cases where an active shooter is, a student with a concealed gun may intervene to save lives. Other arguments suggest that students have rights as every other person and should have been able to enjoy their second amendment rights. Some research indicated that guns don't equate to increased violence and there is a decrease in violence over the last four years while the number of possession and gun ownership has increased. Random shooting in a school is rare, and 99 percent of public schools have never experienced any homicide. In the school year, 1992 to 1993there were 54 violent death in high school. In the year 2000 there were 16 cases .Boys who engaged in this crime activities had psychological problems. (Agger, and Luke 66). However, Plans are underway to pass some laws that restrict gun sale to a person under 21 years along with the red flag laws. A mental disorder such as bipolar disorder ,organic depression ,substance use such as meth addiction or alcohol may figure suicidal behavior .Families with such a patient may be advised not to possess guns in their homes.

Due to the school shooting witnessed in Florida which left 17 dead in last year, a Republican-held pro-gun legislature that sought to weigh gun control measures. This bill included a programme that aimed at arming teachers in the state schools. However, there seems to be no research that supports arming either the teacher or students to support mass shooting.But there ought to be research that suggests that allowing weapons in school increases violence. There has been some disagreement in America after President Trump proposed arming of teachers in response to the debate of the school shooting on whether it was safe or feasible to expect school staff and teachers to act as first line or deterrent in event of a shooter. The president suggested that school are setting themselves up for attack because of lack of guns where he tweeted that a gun free school seems to be a magnet for bad people. There has been an argument which suggests that having people armed would deter the shooter to look for an easy target. The head of National Rifle Association argued that the banks, airport, NFL and NBA games, office building, movie stars, and politicians are more protected than the children in school.He suggests that people surround and protects a lot with armed security and drop the children in a gun free zones. However, some guns teachers may carry could be turned against them or may be used for wrong reason on the wrong people. Having guns in schools may lead them to end in the wrong hands. Where some students could figure out ways on how to get the gun away from the teachers. Armed teachers could also make things harder especially for the first responders. This is whether police responding to a school shooting could easily distinguish a gunfire from armed staff or the school criminal shooter.The unfortunate liabilities and accident should be considered . A student may, therefore, be injured accidentally by a gun that is in a possession by their teacher and this would lead to the school facing a lawsuit. A gun may also affect the student where he or she may consciously or unconsciously censor their conduct and this may affect student to respond to his normal stress instances with aggression. Weapons are said to be philosophically incompatible with a campus culture that is trying to maintain and develop. Campuses value reasoned intellectual debate ,reasoned discussion, equity, deliberative problem solving and a sense of security and safety. This quality is implicitly or explicitly valued on most campuses because they free faculty and students to invest in the learning enterprise. However, weapons have intruded into campuses as much as they have created a new presence in secondary school among nations and incorporate workplace. Presence of this weapon affects the entire learning environment in various ways such as intimidation and fear to less serious students but disruptive effects of vandalism and mischief. (Jackson, and Terrell 188).

Teachers and students have been injured and killed in a school shooting. However, workable Red Flag Laws can stymie this bloodshed. These red flag laws are laws that are adopted by the various state to empower individual family members and law enforcement in seeking an Extreme Risk Protection Order where a court orders a temporary restriction of an individual access to guns in cases when they pose danger to others or to themselves. However many lives will be saved with the passing of this law to allow for weapons confiscation owned by individuals who are regarded to pose danger to themselves and to others. Extreme risk protection orders and red flag laws will allow immediate weapon confiscation in the possession of children thus reducing the gun shooting cases in school.

Gun control is an issue that should be combated through rethinking the presence of guns in the society and not just making the problem worse through adding more incidences through prohibiting guns in schools thus allowing mentality of gun use to solve problems in order to survive in a school environment. A lot of people have been harmed or killed by legal firearms. Majority of school attacks which have been witnessed in the US involves young people who take their parents guns and used them to rampage in schools. If there was a great restrictions placed on adults before purchasing the firearm this guns may not have been easily appropriated by their children. However, school shooting seem to be a result of multiple issues in our society which are complex and cannot be solved with a single solution. This school shooting are likely to continue until when the society will decide to address the root cause. Over the last years America has witnessed events of school shooting. It is therefore necessary to end the gun free school zone practice and allow staff members to protect the students and themselves through hiring armed security or law enforcement. However, the school laws should prohibit students to possess guns and allow the staff and teachers to possess this firearms and be trained on how to use the guns. Traning of teachers is inexpensive and may be granted for free from national and local organizations. Preventing a trained teachers to defend students and themselves has proven to be a bad idea. This is because it will reduce cases of shooting crime in the school premises and is seen to be the most effective short-term solution. However, gun possession among the teachers would affect the student-teacher relationship. Where a lot of students who embraces teachers as their role models and mentors would begin to eye them with suspicion.