School security guards should have guns. School shootings are becoming more and more prevalent. Since 1970, school shootings have annually increased from 20 incidents in 1970 to 251 shootings in 2021. Students are not blind to this information. Nearly 60% of teens say that they fear the possibility of a school shooting happening in their school. According to Pew Research Center, 1 in 4 students say they are extremely worried. 

I am one of those students who fear a school shooting. In the past years, Central High School has had various shooting scares, one of which forced Brophy into lockdown in 2022. Given these alarming statistics and the palpable fear among students, it’s important to explore how arming school security guards could potentially enhance safety and provide peace of mind.

To tackle this question of whether guns would create a safer campus and provide peace of mind, we need to look at how students feel about being in the presence of guns, whether it’s at the store, church, or movie theaters. I always feel safer when I see someone with an open-carry firearm. Knowing there was someone with a gun that could possibly incapacitate a shooter before the police came, gives me peace of mind not having to worry as much about my safety. I would feel much safer knowing there was a gun on campus that could be utilized to neutralize a shooter.

Something crazy to me is the lack of armed security guards in schools around the country. According to districtdministrations.com, only 46% of schools employed a resource officer or security guard. In 2022, only 25% of those security guards are armed. In 2019-2020, 51% of those guards were armed. It makes zero sense to me that school shootings are rising, but our armed security rate is falling. Wouldn’t we want to increase our armed security rate? 

After talking to multiple students, it is clear that there are mixed feelings about having a security guard with a gun on campus. London Urquijo ’27, explained that he is neutral about the subject. “I am neutral on whether the security guard should have a gun. I would feel safe if the guard had a gun during a school shooting. Other than that, I don’t care.” He would only want there to be a gun if there actually was a school shooter. I understand where he is coming from. He is saying there is no need for a firearm unless there is a time to use it, however, I believe we need to be prepared. According to KJZZ Phoenix, the average police response time to a violent crime is 6 minutes, which is longer than it takes a shooter to engage.

We need an armed security guard on campus. It would provide peace of mind to all students on campus and allow us to focus solely on our academics and not on our safety. For as much as we pay to attend this school, Brophy owes us this.