There is a burden unlike any other, a bloody choice that plagues Americans, a division so deep that progress is an elusive fantasy, a single word that can either concoct ideals of freedom or haunting visuals of massacre: the American burden of guns. Despite making up 5% of the world’s population, 42% of civilian gun ownership is in America. That is 393 million firearms. You have likely heard these statistics before, even abroad where such statistics make the U.S. a laughingstock, and know the reality of how this seeps into American life.
Schools have fortified doors and classrooms, few windows if any, educational environments designed around the terrifying prospect that one day someone will come in with a firearm and one based on the fact that dozens of school shootings take place every year, 51 of which resulted in injury or death just in 2022. From this, a national debate has emerged: how to protect students?
Imagine it is Dec. 3, 1989, in California, and plastered on every news channel is an elementary school shooting with 5 Asian children dead. This event marks a crucial change in California law as that same year the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act (AWCA) was passed, creating the category of Assault Weapons and making it illegal to own, distribute or manufacture Assault Weapons, including the notorious AK-series, in California.
In 1993, California continued to be a national trailblazer, introducing educational requirements after a mass shooting in San Francisco. More recently, Proposition 63 passed in 2016 after the 2nd deadliest shooting in California’s recorded history, killing 14 and injuring 22 in San Bernardino. Proposition 63 expanded background checks and banned large-carry magazines. This has had some effect; in California, you are 25% less likely to be in a mass shooting than in other states. The percentage of school shootings that take place in California as part of the U.S. is 8%, lower than the state’s population as part of the national population at 11.8%, the picture is still bleak though, with shootings still being terrifyingly prevalent.
A 2020 survey found 50% of schools had at least one armed security guard. Another survey found that roughly half of U.S. parents believe this is an effective solution, and in some cases, it pays off. On Mar. 20th, 2018 a 17-year-old gunman walked into Great Mills High School in Maryland. The armed guard, Blaine Gaskill, rushed to the scene and shot the shooter. The incident was over in less than a minute with two injuries and no deaths. This is the kind of success story parents hope for, teachers hope for and students hope for. But hope doesn’t reflect reality.
On Feb. 14 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a similar incident took place. This school had an armed school resource officer, Scot Peterson, in uniform, as well. Peterson arrived at the West side of a building, took a position, and waited. While the shooter gunned down students, the armed guard stood outside, doing nothing, despite being aware of the situation. Simply imagining the students’ experience of having no protection when they thought they did will make your skin crawl. The incident resulted in 17 dead.
These are only two examples, but they demonstrate that a gun does not grant the level of protection expected. A study by the Violence Project looking at shootings from 1980 to 2019 in which a quarter of cases involved an armed guard found no significant decrease in fatalities. This makes sense once you think about it; shootings happen in a matter of minutes meaning it is unlikely a guard will be at the right place at the right time.
Unarmed people also have an important impact in this small time window. In fact, more mass shootings have been stopped by unarmed bystanders than armed ones—nearly twice as often. The question of funding raises another layer to the debate, as it would cost billions of dollars to fund this with the last available figure being $2.54 billion to arm half of America’s schools (figure was adjusted for current statistics and inflation, this statistic is from 2012). Do taxpayers want to funnel even more money into school safety? They already feel plenty like prisons—adding a gun would make it a more striking likeness.
Whether armed guards should be on campus is not a question of how effective it is, because it simply does not work, but one about how students feel. Ultimately this debate will keep trudging on despite the statistics clearly showing that armed guards have no impact, so it comes down to those who have to live with the fear of a school shooting, who have to face it every day. Do students feel safer when there is an armed guard or are they terrified
In the case of CHS, security guards crowd the campus, many more than even mere months ago. As far as students know they do not have firearms on them.
“All Covered 6 officers assigned to protect the LVUSD have undergone extensive training, and have passed a stringent vetting process,” said Michael Grant, Chief Operations Officer of Covered 6, the main provider of security for CHS when asked their stance on the use of guns by their guards and if they intend to provide them with the weapon, completely neglecting the question posed to them.
School shootings haunt the American experience, making it infamous internationally. Despite the futility, debates trudge onward because people are scared—parents fearing the loss of their child in a brutal way where they do not even have a chance to help and students living in fear because every day they step into fortified schools with guards obviously designed around the idea that maybe you could be shot. Schools that resemble prisons; they risk death.
This is an opinion piece, but because of the nature of this issue, my opinion is not based on facts but on emotion. I do not feel safe. I see the guards watching every space in the school and the thick cement block walls. Every school has the potential to become the grounds for a massacre. When I see a guard with a gun, I am disturbed by the gun and the reality of why they have it in the first place. That gun should not be there. We must stop.
