Sarah Greeley

February 28, 2018

After the saddening high school shooting in Florida, the state lawmakers and governor are trying to loosen the restrictions on guns. People involved in the State House and Senate signed a package of bills stating that the lowest age to purchase a firearm would be from 21 to 18. If a gun is purchased, there would usually be a three day waiting time to obtain the weapon and there would be an increased funding for school safety and more helpful access to mental health care.

There was also a proposal to arm the teachers and school staff, but not without law enforcement training. While many stand with this idea and like that the school has protection, parents of Majority Stoneman Douglas High School thinks that teachers and staff shouldn’t take the job of the police. The parents and family of ones who were killed, like the geography teacher Scott Beigel, his mother says that their son did not become a teacher to be a police officer, but to teach. She goes on to say that if staff and teachers were armed, it would result in more chaos and deaths.

The lawmakers have a different side to this idea and says that arming teachers and staff would help out police officers and chiefs if they do not have enough deputies or officers on the job. They wouldn’t want something to happen just because they didn’t get there in time.

There are also many people who dislike this idea in the law enforcement. The sheriff Scott Israel said a former deputy, Scott Peterson just stood outside of the school during the shooting and did nothing. The superintendent of the school, Robert W. Runcie, also dislikes the idea of arming teachers and staff. He goes on to say there has to be a more rational way to deal with things like adding more police to schools. He also doesn’t like the idea of the three day waiting period to get guns after you purchase them. The governor says that the school shooter would not have stopped if there was a waiting period because when he bought the gun, there was nothing in his personal record that stood out and made him a threat. So the purchase he made wasn’t unlawful.

House lawmakers were asked to vote on this idea in Tallahassee. Students and parents from the school spent two days lobbying to protest against gun and to ban all assault weapons. Efforts failed to amend gun control bills and to ban assault weapons. Most students and parents don’t want to school armed because they are scared more deaths and chaos will ensue. They want these kinds of problems dealt with by the police because it’s their job and not their own.