Desmond Doss, a combat medic in world war two, April 1, 1945. Doss stayed in the field alone for twelve consecutive hours single-handedly rescuing seventy-two men and lowering them down a four-hundred-foot drop, one by one while on one of the bloodiest and most violent war areas; the crimson-stained hilltop of Hacksaw Ridge, Okinawa. During Desmond Doss’s entire time at war and training, he never once picked up a gun or weapon even if he was attacked. When Doss was confronted about this, he said that it was against his Christianity and that he is, “No less danger, just… while everybody else is taking life, I’m going to be saving it. With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me to wanna put a little bit of it back together.” Considering Doss and other people like him, including Joel Myrick, an ex-principal and local hero who took down a school shooter with his own concealed weapon. “An Armed Principle Detained a Campus Gunman. But He’s Against Arming Staff” by Stephine Saul, proves that people all around the globe’s brave actions against the violence, pain, and ruination that guns cause means we shouldn’t feel compelled, nor should we put guns in the hands of our school’s staff; for the students and staff’s overall safety.

If our school staff possessed guns there are endless things that could happen to the teachers and their student’s mental health. Mr. Myrick, after being involved in a 1997 school shooting, was described as having, “acute stress for about six months afterward. Nightmares. Misery, he said.” To be in a state of misery is to be in constant distress mentally or physically. Mr. Myrick having these night terrors for such a length of time can militate his sleep schedule and make him exhausted, that being bad for Mr. Myrick and his career. Exhaustion can cause dizziness, depression, irritability, loss of some motor skills, and fainting all according to common knowledge. Being in a school shooting is disquieting in itself, but to be responsible for a whole group of minors and have even one of them get murdered, is something even worse. Mr. Myrick’s ‘misery’ is quite understandable if you look at it in the way he must’ve. Conceptualizing being someone that students look up to, and not being able to help, would take its toll on anyone no matter how strong they are deemed. Something Mr. Myrick says about school shootings is that all the people involved lives, “… will never be the same,”. And their lives never will. To be involved in this is scary even if you don’t think so, It’s something you won’t forget. When your fight or flight sense kicks in your position may change from I can handle this, please help me. Mr.Myrick isn’t the only one to think like this. Melissa Cropper, a former teacher, said that having guns “masks what the real problem is” and that doing this (putting guns in schools) will place “an unfair burden on teachers.” Miss Cropper having this outlook on this specific subject shows many things in itself, since she was a former teacher she may understand the pressure it puts school staff under. Not only does not having armed teachers prevent some of the mental issues involved, but also not having them, staves off some things we can’t truly know until it’s already happened.

People who may argue with me could say that teachers should be armed and that the teachers are thoroughly trained to know what they’re doing. According to the Executive director of the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) in Ohio, “Participants in the gun training are school personnel who already have concealed-carry permits. ‘It puts very well-trained concealed-carry people inside the school,’ Mr. Rieck said. ‘If something happens, they’re able to respond faster. That’s the entire point of the program.” The FBA may say that these teachers are trained and reliable and have gone through rigorous examinations. They may in turn reason in any instance of a school shooting they can put themselves to immediate and helpful use. However, a school shooting is a precarious situation, and cops will likely be more efficient than armed teachers. School shooters like Luke Woodham, a 16- year-old student, can cause major damage by just having the thought to kill. School shooters are so dangerous because ultimately no one can predict if a school shooter will be 14 or 40, seemingly nice or mean, and if they have a lot of friends or not. Mr. Myrick said, “If Luke Woodham had an AR-15, he probably would have killed 20 people instead of two,”. The thing about all school shootings is it’s completely unpredictable. What could happen if we give teachers guns is something we will never know, but we can guess. If we don’t put cops into our schools and only have armed teachers, their fight-or-flight response may cause havoc. If a teacher gets nervous and goes to shoot the gunman and doesn’t fully assess the situation because of nerves, many people will get hurt. The irrevocable truth is no one knows what they will do in a perilous situation till they’re really doing it. That is why cops in schools would be the better option. It’s safer to have cops because they have extensive training to take down shooters without guns and aggressive violence. The better and safer option for guns is self-defense training. We could arm our teachers with tasers and pepper spray and it will overall help schools against shooters while not damaging or risking other lives.

No matter who contretemps my view, the palpable solution to whether guns should or should not be in our school system is no they shouldn’t. School shooters are unpredictable and dangerous and adding more guns to the situation will be detrimental.