Would You Feel Safer With Armed Guards Patrolling Your School?

Anthony Monaco, 22, a volunteer, patrolled a high school in Anthem, Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio added school duties to his volunteer group’s responsibilities shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last month in Connecticut. Go to related article »Credit Laura Segall/Reuters
Student Opinion - The Learning NetworkStudent Opinion - The Learning Network

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 people, the National Rifle Association recommended that armed guards should be stationed at every school to prevent similar episodes. This week the N.R.A. released an ad criticizing President Obama for having Secret Service protection at his daughters’ school, but not promoting armed protection at every American school.

Would you feel safer with armed guards patrolling your school?

In “An Added Mission for Arizona Sheriff’s Immigration Posse: School Patrols,” Fernanda Santos reports on how one sheriff in Arizona has already taken the N.R.A.’s suggestion as a call to action to protect schools in Maricopa County:

Dennis Donowick is a retired truck driver who refused to spend the rest of his days “drinking beer and doing nothing,” as he put it. Four years ago, he packed his guns and his urge “to give back to the community” and joined Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s volunteer posse, a group best known for its supporting role in the sheriff’s immigration raids.

Last week, the posse, now 3,000 strong, added the task of safeguarding dozens of public schools to its portfolio.

Putting more armed guards in schools has been proposed by the National Rifle Association and others as a way to crack down on school shootings. Sheriff Arpaio put his own twist on it by simply ordering his posse to keep an eye on school grounds.

He rolled out the program less than a month after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where a gunman carrying pistols and semiautomatic rifles killed 26 people, 20 of them children. The program was, he explained, “to protect our schools from the same type of violence,” though some people are questioning the risks of placing this responsibility in the hands of armed volunteers when it is taxpayers who would foot the bill for their mistakes.

Students: Tell us …

  • Would you feel safer with armed guards patrolling your school?
  • What do you like about this idea? What concerns do you have?

Now, think about the public policy merits of the N.R.A.’s proposal:

  • Do you think armed guards should be stationed at every American school? Why?
  • If yes, how many guards do you think would be required to make most schools safe from armed intruders? Should they be stationed only at the school’s entrance, or should they patrol the hallways, stairwells and recess yards as well? And, who should pay for these guards? Or, like in Maricopa County, do you think these guards should be volunteers?
  • If no, explain why you think the N.R.A.’s proposal is not good public policy. Do you think it would be too expensive, ineffective, potentially dangerous, or do you have misgivings for other reasons?

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I think i would feel safer having an armed guard patrol my school because a person is less likely to come commit a crime with someone who could easily catch him/her.
I like that the policemen are voluntary and also that they were identical uniforms, so you cannot tell them apart from real policemen. I’m concerned with the fact that the article suggested the patrol guards to shoot and “eliminate the target”. This concerns me because they may shoot out of fear and kill an innocent person.
Yes, I think if guards were to be stationed at a few schools, it would not be fair. If they were to do this, they should be stationed at all public schools.
I don’t think stationing a guard at the entrance would be very helpful, so they should patrol the hallways too. The guards should be volunteers because school shootings and other crimes don’t happen often, and it would be a waste of a job to hire someone to walk around a school all day.

I feel safe either way, because most schools classrooms are not at the front of the school. That way the intruder would have to go all the way to the back of school. The doors at the back should be locked at all times no matter what. So that doesn’t happen if they come in from the back.

Would i feel safer with armed guards patrolling our school? Yes i would. I would because if somebody was to try to come in and try any shooting they would have a gun to shoot back. If somebody was to go and place a bomb threat at the school the guards can go and search for it. So yes i would feel safer with armed guards were at the school.

I don’t know it sounds like a good idea, but just because the school has guards how is that going to keep the person out. The intruder is going to have the gun hid more than likely so it’s not like the guards are going to see through his clothes. I think the better thing to do would be to set metal detectors at the main entrance; then have guards there to watch the door. Yea it might be a good thing to have the guards around the outside and inside but the most important thing is the main door the other doors yea have a man or two to watch but most people are coming in the main door.

I already feel safe when I’m in school even though I know it’s not all that safe because I know anything could happen. But if we did have armed guard patrolling the school I would know that were safe but I would feel pretty paranoid and it would make me think that anything could happen at anytime because there always patrolling the school.

Would you feel safer with Armed Guards Patrolling Your School.?
Yes , I would feel safer. Because if somebody try to come in too the school house during school hours and try to do something crazy we would have armed guards and most likely nobody would get hurt or harmed. So my opinion is that they should do that. But then the thing about it you need to have all armed guards at every door. And the school’s should get us pass ports so only the students of north central can get in.

I believe that I would feel safer, should there be armed guards patrolling my school, mostly due to the fact that there would be people within the school area, who, in the event of an intruder, would be able to protect the students and teachers.

I like the fact that the sheriff;s posse are given the instructions to keep their eyes on the school grounds, but not patrol within the school. This was a smart decision, in my view, of the sheriff because people who wished to harm the teachers and students would probably not notice members of the sheriff’s posse who were at the borders of the school grounds, and not patrolling on it. As a result, the posse members would be able to efficiently stop the intruder with minimal injuries. Additionally, I am concerned about the fact that the posse is dressed in uniform. Because of the fact that they are in uniform, should an intruder see them, they would be the first victims.

Also, I believe that armed guards should be stationed at every American school because they would be able to better protect the teachers and students, should there be an attack on the school. However, I don’t believe that the guards should wear uniforms, instead, they should double as custodians and wear the uniform of the custodians so that they aren’t the first target of the intruder. Additionally, they should patrol the school in their free time and be payed for being a custodian/security guard and there should be no more than ten custodian guards per school, to keep the cost of paying them down.

It would be great to station armed guards in every school in America, because kids might feel safer and they have trained people to be their for them in case of any emergency. Depending on the size of the school about 1 guard for every 50 kids. They should patrol around the whole school just to make sure their is a guard to reach a place quicker were they are needed. The guards can be volunteers but they would have to go through back round checks, and 1-2 trained guards paid by the state. But they should just not be train just for any shooting situation but in case of any kind of fire or threat that the students of every school might face.

I already feel safe in my school since it’s small, but I would feel safer with armed guards patrolling my school because anything could happen when you least expect it. My school may be small and not as populated as other schools, but after the shooting at Sandy Hooks, I believe something like that can happen to my school too. Armed guards should be at any school that would most likely have a shooting, then slowly have it in every school for safety reasons. The bigger the school is, the more guards there should be to make schools safe from armed intruders; and they should also be stationed in every entrance, patrol the hallways, stairwells and recess yards. I think guards should be paid by the state. They’re protecting the school and students in it, so they should be paid well.

Honestly, the security in my school is just laughable. The fact that out security guards carry pepper spray will most likely make the shooter laugh himself to death. Having armed guards would make me feel more safe. The time it would take, getting used to seeing armed guards, should be minimum. The armed guards would be on our side and protecting us from possible outside and inside danger. My only concern is that schools might not be getting armed guards, just another supply of pepper spray.

My school is probably one of the safest high schools in Queens. Literally, I would feel more safe if we had an armed guard because I feel we are too loose with the people we let in the school. I also feel you can’t trust everybody with a gun. If it is on you, you’re more likely to use it. The fact of the matter is, I would feel more safe if I was protected, and if an armed intruder did come in I would want someone to be able to shoot him down. I want to know that I have a chance at living.

My school is already a safe environments so I don’t think we would need armed patrol officers. If your school is dangerous and needs armed officers, I like that the kids would feel safe in their schools. The intimidation factor of the school safety officers would rise and I don’t like that. Considering the amount of schools shootings that take place in America, and it doesn’t matter what state you live in they can happen anywhere, I think it would be a good idea to have armed guards stationed at schools. Where I live there are about five high schools in one area so there could be a couple in our area.

Cristina Engl2Period6 January 18, 2013 · 9:32 am

I do think it would actually help if we had armed guards that are patrolling our school because of what happened in Sandy Hook just shocked me and I would feel safer when they are around.

Yes. I would feel much safer with an armed around and I would be grateful if there was a policy to keep armed guards around schools. Gunmen that attempt to shoot a place up don’t get very far at all if there’s another armed man to stop them. the only way to make everywhere safe is to make everyone dangerous.

I would feel safe with an armed guard at school. The more protection the better. You can always be more safe no matter what.

I would feel a little bit safer but not to safe because Police are just like ordinary people. They are not made out of steel but they can at least protect us for a little while. Police can only do so much, I would just want kids to be cautious of their surroundings. If they see some one or something unusual to inform some one.

I would feel safer depending on the number of guards around the school. If it was only one guard by him or herself, that guard may be overcome by a large group that was trying to get into the school. The group may be able to take the guards weapon and break into the school. However, if there were multiple guards together, if one was to have a group on his hands, the other guard with him can cover the guard getting jumped. All in all, it would depend on how many guards were together watching over the school.

I don’t think stationing a guard at the entrance would be very helpful, so they should patrol the hallways too. The guards should be volunteers because school shootings the other crimes don’t happen often.

Yes, I would feel safer if there was armed guards patrolling my school. Because that mean that there would never having an armed pearson who is going to kill us in the school. And because the guards are going to protect us from anyone bad.

i think itss a good idea because then nobody can commit crimes around or in school.

Would you feel safer with armed guards patrolling your school?

i guess you could say i would. it would be alittle weird but i would get used to it. i think it would keep us safer from shootings because the cops would already be there to help but concerns i would have would be them being at school all the time would be odd

Yes, I would feel safer with armed guards inside the school. With armed guards the school is at a lower risk of a shooting, and if one ever happened at the school we would have guards to stop it as soon as possible, hopefully stopping any students from getting shot and lowering any casualties in the school. I believe that every American school should have at least a few armed guards patrolling the school. I think that it would be safer for students and teachers if there were armed guards at every school. Each school doesn’t need a lot of armed guards, just a few professionally trained armed guards watching over the hallways, schoolyard if the students are outside, the cafeteria and the main entrance. I think that the government should pay for the armed guards to protect the students of American schools.

Kassie P English2 per6 January 18, 2013 · 9:38 am

I would feel alot safer if there was armed guards patrolling my school. What i like about having armed guards at my school is that they can stop any situation before it gets worst. Some worries i have are what if they accidentally hurt a student or a students parents? I think that armed guards should be in every school because they can keep us safe from arm visitors. I think each school should have two guards. i strongly believe this because it would make each and single student safe from any bad situation.

No, I don’t think I would feel more safe with armed guards patrolling my school. I wouldn’t feel safer because we already have officers right inside the main entrance of the building and I know the people at the front desk are weary about who they let in the building anyway. I think we need to stop worrying about this because we need to face the facts. We live in a bad world with bad people and bad things will happen. It was a horrible thing that happened, but why are we just acting now? Things like this have happened before but we haven’t acted until now. It doesn’t make sense to me because I think that we should have started acting on this problem the first time it happened, not the second or third or fourth. I really don’t see how having armed guards outside of schools is going to help.

I would feel much safer with lightly armed guards patrolling my school. But at my school, there aren’t that many things to be worried about. It’s very unlikely that a stranger will come onto the campus and start shooting everyone down. I like this idea because it is always better to have security instead of no security. But I am a little concerned about someone stealing the weapon of a guard and start shooting people down. Yes, because of the fact it is much safer to have lightly armed guards patrolling the school. But it is also not such a good idea, because it may or may not destroy the learning environment of the students. To keep most schools safe, about 10 to 15 guards should be good. They shouldn’t be stationed at one place. I think the government should pay the guards. And no, they should not be volunteers. They should all be trained for one or two years. The problem with having volunteers as the guards is that they could be a criminal in disguise.