Arming Teachers and Bank Tellers
Every time there’s a school shooting, we hear about arming teachers with guns. With all the bank robberies going on, we’ve never heard of arming tellers with guns. The American people say that bank tellers are not important enough to be protected. Shortly after the Columbine shooting, the idea of arming teachers with firearms came up in full force. Teachers and other school administrators are there to teach our children.
Only last year there were a total of 6,985 bank robberies. We may hear of 4 school shootings a year. Bank tellers deal with the public every day. They may be up against an attempted bank robber who may be highly intoxicated, high on drugs, or just downright desperate. None of these situations make things safe for a bank teller at his job. The cashier has no security between himself and the attacker, except for the counter. The counter would be easy for anyone to jump over.
Bank tellers are extremely vulnerable to threats and bank robberies. Bank tellers don’t get advance notice that the bank is going to be robbed until it actually happens. With the school shootings, another student knew about the plan before it happened and that person never told the proper authorities. Probably because the children thought that no one would believe them. For example, a child calls 911 to get help for his mom. The first call from him was taken as a joke.
The boy called back four hours later and the dispatcher still thought it was a joke. When the police finally arrived at the boy’s home, his mother was dead. We cannot take lightly what our children say. Maybe that student who knew about the shooting plan and told the proper authorities. That student was ignored by the proper authorities or the authorities did not believe him. If no action is taken, it’s no surprise that Americans are immune to the violence that unfolds in schools.
Teachers take care of our children 90% of the time. Most teachers see their students’ parents a couple times a week or a couple times a year, depending on the grade. There are very few cases of an adult entering a school with the intent to participate in a shooting massacre. Schools must have surveillance cameras to monitor locations in the school. Schools must set standards by installing metal detectors at every entrance/exit, including emergency exits, and security guards at each entrance.
These accesses must have surveillance camera systems for all activities. Schools have other options to prevent school shootings. Arming teachers with weapons should never be an option. There are many teachers who are women and can easily be outclassed by a student. The shooters involved in the school shooting are students. There are many teachers who are not stable. There are teachers who are heavy drinkers, drug addicts, and who act in acts of child abuse.
Other options that are available to both bank tellers and teachers are to arm themselves with pepper spray and tasers. Make an entrance and exit accessible to the public with metal detectors and security guards. Better surveillance systems with someone to monitor activity at all times and adding more security guards. Arming bank tellers is much more important than arming teachers. Bank tellers should have to go through extensive training to be able to arm themselves with weapons and will require ongoing training throughout their careers.
There should be a pay raise for tellers who complete and pass all the training that goes into arming themselves. You never hear of a bank teller being suspended for child abuse, drugs or alcohol. They deal with thousands of dollars a day. Being in a bank robbery is a very scary thing. The bank teller keeps his cool during the robbery and is to be commended for that. They go to work every day not knowing if their bank will be robbed today.