Arming Iowa Teachers
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Controversy has surrounded Iowa Code 724.4B, a law passed in 2011, that allows authorized individuals to carry a firearm onto school grounds; some schools have started to adapt this new law since then.
Spirit Lake Schools in Iowa has allowed guns in their building. Spirit Lake now has 10 on-campus officials to carry firearms, while teachers are still not allowed to carry them on campus. “As a school district, we have an obligation to protect our students and staff from a possible active shooter situation. We know that when these events occur, most of the victims fall within the first few minutes,” said Spirit Lake Superintendent Dr. David Smith.
The superintendent will select 10 individuals whose identity is and will stay confidential and who are not classroom teachers and will go through a 40-hour weapons training and screening by Dickinson County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Peterson and co-owner of Petersen Firearms Instruction a company that holds classes on gun training. “The training we’re going to run them through is our Armed Professional Program which is to deal with the mass killer and the mass casualty event. We plan on training school staff on how to deal with and how to confront the active killer before they’re able to kill more,” said Peterson.
The staff will not only learn how to use a gun properly but also how to treat school threats, lower response time and stop the threat sooner. They will be called to school and athletic events to protect students from possible dangers that may arise.
Northwest High School sophomore Ava Osberg stated, “If we decide not to arm our teachers I believe that there should be other people walking around with firearms on them and especially in such a big school if someone somewhere to shoot up the bottom floor the top two can get out but what about the bottom floor.”
NWHS junior Kristian Sullivan stated, “I think it is a good idea because it is safer,… and teachers being armed would be good for the school because if a shooter does come in it is safer.”
Some students believe there should be a max size of gun the teachers have in the classroom. Sullivan stated, “No ARS only pistols.” The main difference between these guns is the size of the gun barrel. A pistol has a barrel of maximum of 16 inches, while an AR-15, the most common AR, has a barrel of 20.
Training should also be involved, Osberg stated, “I think a continuous monitoring, I think that they should have training like once a month but like continuously and before they get their firearms to hold I think that they should have training for a solid couple months before they before they break it out.”
Students and staff at NWHS did not see eye to eye on this topic, in fact, the opinions on this were polar opposites. Mr. Vollmecke, an English and speech teacher stated, “Here is the thing man, guns and the things they do are very final, and they are only as predictable as the people carrying the gun.”
“The risk vs the reward is just way too big for me. Even the best teacher who has been fully trained and is a fine marksman, but they are also human beings and they might forget to lock up that gun,” Vollmecke added.
Author’s note: The graphic was made to draw attention to a topic that could have an impact on schools and the world students live in. It helps to encourage students and high schoolers to form their own opinion on this topic. The graphic on this article I created has a lot of unintentional juxtaposition. The interviewed teacher is not a spokesperson for the Waukee Community School District. The interviewed students are not spokespeople for the student body of Northwest High School.