Protect our kids
Increasing gun access isn’t the way
In a state where we have the seventh-worst rate of death caused by guns in the nation, should we not look for ways to improve the safety of our citizens by passing gun laws that help protect our children and our schools instead of proposing lobby-backed laws that increase gun access?
What if we were more like Washington state and passed measures to increase the minimum age to purchase guns and to make safe storage a priority? What if we required background checks and/or mental health screenings before purchasing a gun? What if we mandated gun-safety courses for all people who purchase firearms? I could go on. There are many proactive measures we can take, but instead, Arkansas continues to keep our gun laws like those from the wild, wild west.
When we talk about gun safety, we must consider our schools. With more than 200,000 students nationwide having experienced a school shooting since Columbine, we need to look at ways to provide our lawmakers with facts about gun-safety measures. We have to urge them to pass new gun-safety laws that protect our children in a proactive way.
Just this legislative session, our state legislators introduced not one but two gun lobby-backed bills. One of the bills was the “stand your ground” bill. The other, House Bill 1694, introduced by state Rep. Steve Womack, eliminates “gun-free zones” which would have allowed people to carry guns on all of our school campuses. Luckily for our students, the bill was pulled. These are just the latest gun bills presented by Arkansas lawmakers which favor increasing gun access and gun use, but I am sure there will soon be more.
As we move forward, our state needs to look at ways to proactively protect our children from guns, not protect them with guns. As we know, the national school-safety debate has included arming teachers with guns. I disagree. There is no evidence that arming teachers will help, and according to a recent Washington Post national poll, eight out of 10 teachers oppose arming themselves.
While there is not one single proactive action that will increase school safety, there are several things we
This past year, 26 states passed 67 new gun-safety laws, but not Arkansas. We continue to receive an F rating in gun safety, according to a 2018 Giffords Law Center report.
This is unacceptable and has created a climate of fear—even in our schools. Education institutions are not meant to be prisons protected by armed guards. Schools are meant to be the center of our community and safe, comfortable learning environments for our kids—the most precious members of our community, and they are our future.
Talk to your local and state lawmakers and urge them to find alternative measures for protecting our schools and increase gun safety across our state. More guns equal more violence. You do the math.
John Unger of Siloam Springs is the Decatur Middle School Alternative Learning director/teacher for grades 5-8, and has served as dean of students, athletic director and head boys basketball coach. He has an education specialist degree from Arkansas State University and a master’s in education from LSU-Shreveport.