On April 20, 1999, the students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado lives changed forever. I remember sitting at my desk, with my eyes glued to the television in disbelief. Twelve students and a teacher were killed that day and twenty-three others were wounded. The teen assailants took their own lives after the brutal massacre. Authorities feel that the attack on the school was premeditated. The Columbine massacre is one of the bloodiest episodes in U.S. history. It is also one of a dozen shootings in schools from Bethel, Alaska, to Conyers, Georgia. Imagine yourself or your child sitting eating lunch and all of the sudden have peers start shooting at them. The shooting aroused concerns about school safety and gun control. President Clinton said that the tragedy could be a wake-up call for the nation. If Columbine High School had metal detectors this incident might have been prevented. Metal detectors in schools protect students and teachers, bring less violence into schools, and can help keep schools safe.
One might feel different in having metal detectors in schools. They might feel metal detectors violate personal rights. For example, if a student sets off the metal detector, they could be searched and have their backpack searched. This is there personal property and they could feel violated. Amendment four is to help protect Americans against unreasonable searches and seizers. They must have probable cause before searching anyone. Students might feel like prisoners in their own school. .
To begin with, having metal detectors in schools protect the lives of students and teachers. A student could get a gun easily and try to bring it into the school. Now, all the lives in that school are in danger. A NBC news poll found that seventy percent of Americans (students) believed a shooting could occur at a school in their own community. If a school, public or private, does not have metal detectors, a student could bring a gun in.
