As of lately, many schools around the country have been facing threats and violence related to weapons, and although we trust the school security, is the answer to weapons just more weapons?
“If I have to shoot a student who may be a threat to the students and I have no other choice I will shoot that kid,” security guard Cody Vazquez said.
Some agreed with Vazquez, like fellow security guard Jeffery Amador who believes that security guards have a job to do when it comes down to it.
“I mean I agree with officer Vazquez, when it comes down to it, we have a job to do and our job is to protect students, and we will do that by any means necessary,” Amador said.
Yet its not only security guards who have the job of defending students, some teachers not only agreed with Vazquez and Amador but even said they would do the same.
“The most important thing a teacher can do is protect the students and get them to safety wherever that needs to be,” history teacher Craig Richman said.
While some agreed with Richman, students are curious on the legal implications of a teacher using weapons within school grounds.
“Teachers shouldn’t have weapons because the recklessness of students, like what if a student got their hands on that weapon, but one of the main priorities for teachers is to protect their students so, if, obviously, if they legally have a knife, like I understand if there’s some type of repercussion,” senior Seth Alba said.
Some students believe that if a security guard or a teacher is allowed to have weapons on them at school for defensive purposes students should be allowed too as-well.
“Obviously if a student had a gun on campus on their person that’s illegal breaking the law that shouldn’t be allowed, but lets say its something like pepper spray and they only ended up using it to save lives why should a student get in trouble for that, they saved lives on campus and did what they could to protect their friends you know,” Junior Landyn Rayan said.
Junior Victor Perez also believes that students should have the same rights as faculty of the school.
“In some scenarios, the security can’t help every single person. So, in the case that someone does get like assaulted or harassed and the like having that on them would be really helpful,” Perez said.
However, security guard Vazquez disagree and believes that students and faculty should have different rules when it comes to having weapons on campus.
“I don’t agree at all with students having weapons, looking at it logically we have the proper training, we have the mental capacity to deal with a threat like that, and although yes we want the students to feel safe you know safety school officers are here for a reason,” Vazquez said.
However, some such as Perez started to question just how safe they felt with the security guards on campus, and if they should be allowed to have lethal weapons.
“I think that they should carry in case of an emergency, like a school shooter, it would be necessary that they carry one if they have control and the proper training. They shouldn’t utilize those guns for any other purpose though,” said Perez
