Policy Development

Policy on School Shootings
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A series of unfortunate incidents associated with gun possession has led to the call for the strengthening of gun laws in the United States. On January 20, in Winston Salem, North Carolina, A Winston-Salem State University football player, Najee Ali Baker, was shot to death at a party in the campus of Wake Forest University. Since the beginning of this year, there have been over 23 school shootings already in the U.S., and some people have been injured or killed. In average there are more than one shooting a week. Evelynn (2015) points out that the right to gun ownership is a highly debated issue in the US. Some argue that gun possession is an integral part of the country’s heritage and that it is a birthright. On the other side, critics argue that civilians have no justifiable reason to own guns. Despite the fact that the arguments from both sides divide, this whole situation has led to the realization that gun control laws need to be strengthened.
The increase in shootings led to the development of policies in some schools aimed at arming teachers. According to Hawkins, about 170 school districts in Texas allow teachers to be armed for self-defense (Hawkins, 2018). A school “Callisburg independent school district” has armed its teachers for a period exceeding four years as a way of protecting students. According to the school superintendent “We’ll do whatever’s necessary to protect our kids and staff. We don’t want to be at the mercy of somebody that’s intent on doing harm” (Hawkins, 2018).

The “Arkansas Clarksville school District” also adopted the same approach after the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 (Hawkins, 2018).
It is the role of social workers to ensure that the proposed policies take into account impacts on various stakeholders. They also help craft the policies at multiple levels and recommend necessary changes. Though the policies on arming teachers have proved to be useful, I think that it is still dangerous. I would recommend the number of teachers armed to be limited to probably 20% as proposed by president Trump. I would also suggest that all teachers allowed to be armed should first undertake a safety training. The presence of a gun in school also brings about the possibility that a student might snatch it from the teacher and use it. Therefore, safety measures must be taken into consideration before implementing the policy.

References
Evelynn, S. (2015, April 20). What We Gun’ Do About Gun Control? Retrieved August 29, 2018, from https://www.billtrack50.com/blog/social-issues/civil-rights/what-we-gun-do-about-gun-control/Hawkins, A. (2018, February 24). Schools That Already Have Armed Teachers Show the Way for Schools That Don’t. Retrieved August 29, 2018, from https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/24/schools-already-armed-teachers-show-way-schools-dont/