By Paige —
On February 12, TRiO held a lecture series in Hepburn Hall’s Gothic Lounge about the second amendment in regards to whether or not teachers should armed in the classroom. The lecture was about the violence that schools have been experiencing especially since the tragedy in Connecticut.
The lecture started off with an overview of the second amendment and an introduction of a panel of judges that included a professor from the political science department, the director of public safety at New Jersey City University, a professor from the elementary institution, as well as an admissions officer.
The second amendment is the right of the people and more importantly a militia to bear arms. It is actually written in our constitution that this right should not be infringed upon. But is this poorly written? It doesn’t say anywhere that a citizen can bear arms or if this law is mentioned specifically for a militia. The panel of NJCU experts agreed that this law is vague and it is due to this vagueness that the Supreme Court has constantly been debating this issue.
It’s a hot topic to debate. So how do we protect our citizens and more importantly our children? Right now, Congress is debating whether or not to outlaw guns altogether but as we all know, this could cause an opposite reaction: instead of limiting violence, creating more.
And what if we put guns in our classrooms? Is a teacher armed with a gun safer for the students or not? Throughout recent years, there have been scandals in the news with teachers abusing their power. Would you feel safe if you knew the teacher in front of your child held a gun in their desk drawer or even if the teacher in front of you had a gun? It’s scary to think about. At any given moment, that person could snap and shoot at the students they are supposed to be protecting.
Guns can do about as much harm as they can protection. Times are changing and our schools are no longer the safe haven that we once thought them to be. Is it time to change our laws in order to protect the children of the nation?
