While Senate Bill 383 doesn’t sound intimidating in name, it sure is when you know what it’s about. The State level bill, introduced by Senator Don White (Republican-PA, Indiana County), would allow school boards to make the decision as to whether they should allow trained staff members of the school district to carry firearms. A panel from the Senate voted 9-3 that it should be voted upon at the full senate level.

        Panic is not necessary yet, this bill is far from being a real law, but it sure brings up a lot of questions. For one, why do people want to change the very strict gun-free school zone? A lot of this seems to be in response to school shootings in recent years, such as Sandy Hook Elementary School, and White’s own experience with a school stabbing. It also begs the question of school security and how that differs all across Pennsylvania. As a Norristown Student how real is the possibility of a security breach? How real is this compared to Western Pennsylvania? The main difference seems to be police response time. Our school happens to be about 10 minutes away from the local police station. Can the same be said of Western Schools? Definitely not.

        It seems the real problem here is increasing school security enough to substantially protect students while they are learning. The biggest question of all though, is why do we think fighting guns with guns will increase our safety instead of putting more students at risk? As unstable as the world is, we do not need more access to weapons.  Instead of a student bringing a knife to school, or finding a gun, they can now overpower a teacher with a concealed weapon and cause damage to those in the building. It’s also putting the life of children into the hands of teachers. How will people decide if a teacher is mentally stable enough to carry a weapon? Who dictates when it’s appropriate to use it?

        The reality is that this bill is not well thought out enough. The answer to our children’s safety is not by putting a weapon in the hands of educators. Tom Wolfe has spoken out against this through a representative,  and he does not support it, (Mcall.com). That doesn’t change the fact that 9 out of 12 senators allowed this bill to continue. (pennlive.com). The chances of it passing are almost inconceivable at the State level. Sitting on the outskirts of Philadelphia, with easy access to trained Police Officers, the idea seems absurd. That does not change the fact that our society now finds weapons, meant only to harm and kill other human beings, to be the solution. Students across the Country do need better safety precautions, and that will require change. Guns are not the change we need.