Weapons Law and Public Schools

Weapon Laws and Public Schools

Recent shootings in public schools in the United States have generated concern around the world questioning the perpetration of violence right in the four walls of students ' ground for learning . Thus , there is a growing perception that public schools are not anymore safe places for academic learning . Added to that , reports from media highlight the school-based violence perpetrated by the students . Thus , the education sector and government states implemented strategies to maintain violent-free environment that is conducive for learning . One of theme is the coming up

of laws to regulate the carrying of weapons which had helped perpetrators in instigating the crimes in schools

In 2005 , a bill was passed in 2005 in the U .S , the Senate Bill 403 which allowed an individual to be licensed to carry a concealed weapon which includes : a firearm , knife , billy club , and electric weapon , with certain exclusions . The legislators who proposed the said bill argued that carrying concealed weapons could prevent crimes from arising and that it could also allow a person to protect himself in case police protection is unavailable . But others have different view on the situation , which include most law enforcement agencies . They oppose carrying concealed weapons because they view that crime would increase and that individual reactions to stressful situations could turn dangerous if a firearm is readily available to the people (Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau , 2006

The requirements that will qualify a person for a license to carry a concealed weapon as discussed in Senate Bill 403 were the following must be eligible to possess a firearm under federal law and must not be prohibited from possessing a firearm under state law must not have been committed to drug treatment during the preceding three years or convicted for a drug offense in the preceding three years the person must not be a chronic or habitual user of alcohol or other substances to the extent that his or her faculties are impaired and the person must not have been found to be incompetent , the subject of a protective placement as a minor based on a developmental disability , found guilty of a crime due to mental disease or defect , involuntarily committed for treatment of a mental illness in the preceding five years , or convicted of certain misdemeanors or serving a sentence for certain misdemeanors within the preceding three years (Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau , 2006

But above all these , Senate Bill 403 did not any way affect the provisions of the gunfree school zone law that prohibit a person from possessing a firearm within the premises of a public school

The State of Delaware had also come up with a law on gunfree school zones . It prohibits an individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows , or has reasonable cause to believe is a school zone . Schools zones include a distance of 1 ,000 feet from the ground...