Gun regulations and the youth
Shootings in schools have, until recently, been thought of as something “Western” or even American.
Now that we’ve been having a spate of such shootings in the Philippines, we have the usual rush to come up with last-minute remedies to prevent more such tragedies, but I do wonder how well thought-out the proposed remedies and preventives are.
This is particularly the case with proposals to require preemptive training so students can respond right away and appropriately. I still need to see more information on what exactly goes into such training, but I do have some ideas on what should not be included in these training workshops based on sketchy descriptions of the proposed training.
I write here as someone who has been a school administrator, including being a university chancellor and president, with students from the preschool level to the tertiary level.
First, and this is my greatest fear, is to think of preemptive measures as training students to be adept with shooting firearms, perhaps even as sharpshooters, in other words, training students for war, real warfare or street crimes.
Those of us who had to go through Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in college know of all the weekends (or at least one day per weekend) wasted on march drills and some handling of rifles, supposedly approaching what would be entailed in handling guns.
Those of us who come from families with macho men who insisted on taking us on weekends to shooting ranges, also knew how much time was wasted for this, especially instilling a phobia for gun-related drills.
And now, it seems, we hope to train young people—it is not clear if this is going to be mandatory or not—for handling guns, supposedly to defend themselves and their classmates if someone in school turns into a mass shooter.
But this proposal is just so flawed. What we need is education about guns, not a “how to fire a gun.” Guns are just so glamorized from a very early age onward. And gun control, despite all kinds of rules (e.g., neuropsychiatric exams), does little to mitigate the risks.
Think, for example, of the minimum legal age for possessing and/or owning firearms. It’s 21. Has anyone thought about what this will mean for proposed shooter training in schools? That would mean all levels of students up to early college would not be able to legally participate. (Which, for me, is a good thing but then, why bother?)
I know the training will probably involve other matters from storage of firearms to handling guns, but I think, even more importantly, we need to get schools to talk about the philosophy behind firearms—why do we have them in the first place? What do we mean by defense? Offense? Self-defense? And more.
Will gender issues be discussed in relation to guns? Will the guns mean women are better protected or will they be at greater risk, given the way guns empower males more than females? (With several daughters, I’d worry more about them if we push through with the shooter trainings.)
Mind you, I do want to see more discussion of gun issues in schools for many different reasons. For one, guns relate very much to the risks of suicide among young people. Will gun control programs include mental health? In the recent Ateneo de Zamboanga University shootout, the gunman was 14 years old and killed another junior high school student before turning the gun on himself.
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University shootout was livestreamed through the shooter’s Facebook account. Now, that should be part of gun “training.” I hear more stories now of students with depression venting their rage with threats against their teachers, parents, and other objects of their frustration by threatening to use guns, including on themselves.
Let’s get students to do research as well. What do they hear in their schools, communities? How do they feel about gun and violence threats? Do they hear of students being idolized because they have guns, or wield guns? What do they think are the solutions to the threat of firearms-based violence?
—————–
michael.tan@inquirer.net
******
Get real-time news updates: inqnews.net/inqviber
