2008 Woodie Awards
Educators do not need guns
Josh Perttunen
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Opinion
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In order to get into some of the most dangerous urban high schools in Michigan, students must first pass through a metal detector. The last thing administrators want is for guns, knives or other weapons to get into the educational environment.
This is why schools across the United States have been declared gun-free zones. Currently, only law enforcement officials are legally allowed to carry firearms into a school zone. The hope is that the fewer guns getting into schools, the better off students will be.
If a Michigan lawmaker has his way, there will soon be exceptions to these rules.
Rep. Dave Agema introduced a bill into the Michigan House of Representatives that would allow teachers, administrators and staff to carry concealed pistols onto school grounds as long as it is permitted by their respective principal. Parents and legal guardians who possess gun permits would also be allowed to carry firearms on school property.
The politician's proposal is meant to deter the school shootings that have dominated the media in the past decade, as well as to preemptively prepare for what would happen if terrorists started attacking academic institutions.
"What motivated me to do this was a form of disaster preparedness," Agema said in defense of his bill, according to ABC News. "To me, it's about safety for kids first. I just think we have to have something like this if something starts happening with al Qaeda."
Past the nervous jokes about professors firing warning shots to get a student's attention in the middle of a lecture, or shooting down paper airplanes in midflight, there is something deeply disturbing about this proposal.
To have teachers who are packing heat would be taking a step that even correctional facilities have been reluctant to take. Most prisons do not allow firearms on their floors. The logic behind such a ban is the same logic than needs to be applied to this proposal.
Charles Fenton, a retired warden and frequent expert for departments of corrections, explained this logic in Madrid v. Gomez, a California court case centered on improving prison conditions.
This is why schools across the United States have been declared gun-free zones. Currently, only law enforcement officials are legally allowed to carry firearms into a school zone. The hope is that the fewer guns getting into schools, the better off students will be.
If a Michigan lawmaker has his way, there will soon be exceptions to these rules.
Rep. Dave Agema introduced a bill into the Michigan House of Representatives that would allow teachers, administrators and staff to carry concealed pistols onto school grounds as long as it is permitted by their respective principal. Parents and legal guardians who possess gun permits would also be allowed to carry firearms on school property.
The politician's proposal is meant to deter the school shootings that have dominated the media in the past decade, as well as to preemptively prepare for what would happen if terrorists started attacking academic institutions.
"What motivated me to do this was a form of disaster preparedness," Agema said in defense of his bill, according to ABC News. "To me, it's about safety for kids first. I just think we have to have something like this if something starts happening with al Qaeda."
Past the nervous jokes about professors firing warning shots to get a student's attention in the middle of a lecture, or shooting down paper airplanes in midflight, there is something deeply disturbing about this proposal.
To have teachers who are packing heat would be taking a step that even correctional facilities have been reluctant to take. Most prisons do not allow firearms on their floors. The logic behind such a ban is the same logic than needs to be applied to this proposal.
Charles Fenton, a retired warden and frequent expert for departments of corrections, explained this logic in Madrid v. Gomez, a California court case centered on improving prison conditions.
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