M1 McJannet Bratton

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We develop ethics as children and continue to learn from environmental factors aswe grow. Primary sources to learn ethics our are our parents and family. They show us the initial building blocks of right and wrong. Environmental factors continue to play a part, one major influence is school. Many first choices that come to a person are within the school system. Cheating on a test or on homework, whether to include a person at lunch or not, or college admissions scams as we’ve seen lately in current events. All of these choices whether the ethical or unethical choice is made starts a pattern and continue on into the work place. Other Influences such as a religious organization may impact if the person has that in their life. Other external extracurriculars and volunteer organizations play a part as well. For example, if a child participates in the Boy Scouts, Civil Air Patrol/JROTC, and football, all of the cultures of the organization will impact. In Scouts or CAP/JROTC emphasis on volunteerism, excellence, and integrity is placed highly. This shows the child that cheating or lying is wrong. When not involved in any external organization one may turn to a social group that doesn’t necessarily have the same ethics, such as a gang. While the team concept is still present now the child or young adult is under the influence of adults that could be committing crimes and not behaving in an ethical or moral manner. Another point from, “The Significance of Ethics and Ethics Education in Daily Life,’ a TEDxPSU by Michael D. Burroughs he states “What we generally don’t receive is training in ethics education [from secondary school]. Nor in an era of maxed out curricula and standardized testing do we even leave open space for a frank and honest conversation about the ethical discussions we face in adulthood.’ However, to avoid controversy these conversations within school may be side stepped. This Ted Talk provides insight as to how ethics isn’t being addressed. If one of the foundational blocks is from school, not having ethics in the classroom which in turn leads to the work place is not the correct path.

 

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+do+we+develop+ethics+ted+talk&view=detail&mid=4854325A678305A2938B4854325A678305A2938B&FORM=VIRE

 

 

M8 (Boyd)

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2. I feel that employees should have a moral right to leave their weapons in their vehicles at work. At my current job they ask that there are no weapons on the premises. Though there is no way to enforce this, without the invasion of person property, I feel weapons should be aloud in personal vehicles as long as they are secured. This could be the matter of life and death for an employee. I recently received an email at my job of another manager in the lower 48 being stabbed multiple times after being hit from behind by a customer. With robbers and customers bearing weapons I feel we should have the right to keep weapons in our own vehicles for our protection as long as they are secured. The difference it could have made for another employee to have a weapon they could have gotten to defend the manager could have lessened his injuries dramatically. I believe companies have no right to ask employees to remove their weapons from personal vehicles. None company vehicles are private property and would take away the rights to a person owning the car to tell them they can not store weapons. I do not feel companies have good grounds to this due to cars being personal property.

3. I agree with the NRA that if companies ban guns from their parking lots would cause a major hit to the second amendment. People have a right to bare arms, I feel being asked to leave a weapon in my vehicle is a reasonable way to keep weapons out of the work place. Many people carry weapons in self defense, and I feel having to leave a weapon at home puts employees at extreme risk. People have a right to protect themselves, having no access to a means of protection for 40 hrs a week when their is most likely to be a need for said protection does not seem right in my eyes. I feel state legislatures have a right to get involved due to the matter affecting the second amendment. This controversy has a direct effect on our second amendment and should not be left up to the jurisdiction of a company.

4. I feel their are circumstances that teachers should be allowed to bring weapons to schools. Granted I feel they should have to take advanced safety courses, check in and out all weapons, and have a military grade security system for storing all weapons. I feel teachers should be able to have weapons as long as the school ensures the safety of the “learning environment”. Theses weapons should be assigned to qualified teachers and the school should ensure that in no way possible a student could gain access to these weapons. I feel it is very reasonable for teachers to carry weapons under the right circumstances.   Regarding schools though I feel that other aspects should also be taken such as bullet proof doors/rooms, better monitoring systems, stricter regulations on what is aloud within the school, and more checks to ensure all policies are being followed.

M8 (Wehrer)

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2) I believe employees have both a moral, and legal right to park cars in a company parking lot with guns in them. The property rights and safety concerns of employees matter, but I don’t believe having a gun in your car is a safety issue. If someone wanted to do harm with a gun, they would simply do it. Just because a gun is in a car doesn’t mean the owner would be more enticed to use it for anything other than protection. What if there is a shooting, and someone who originally had a gun in their car, wasn’t able to have it? More people could potentially die because no one would be able to eliminate the threat. Also shootings would be less prevalent if people knew others around them were armed as well. I think it would be a good policy for companies to allow employees to have guns in their cars. People forget that something as simple as a fork can kill someone. If someone really wanted to do harm, they wouldn’t need a gun to do so. That being said companies don’t have the best of grounds for being concerned about guns in cars, only their political agendas in mind. People should be able to protect themselves but without scaring others around them. If a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” policy was implemented like in the navy regarding homosexual recruits, I think the problem would be solved. Simply don’t tell people whether or not you have a gun in your vehicle. No one will know so therefore people wont be frightened to go to work.

3) I do agree to an extent with the NRA that if companies ban guns from their parking lots it would create a wrecking ball effect to the Second Amendment. If companies were to succeed at this, they will think it should be done else where too. Companies will use it as a foundation against guns and use it to further their personal agenda relating to gun laws. Gun advocates are guilty of politicizing the issue, but so is everyone else involved with the issue. Its hard to say if state legislators should get involved. I believe it should mostly be up to the companies to decide, just as you are responsible for the rules of your own household. As I stated previously Companies should implement a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” rule, because even if companies don’t allow guns, how would they really know who is and isn’t following that rule. Its not like they can search their employees cars without a valid reason.

4) When it comes to schools there are plenty of circumstances in which bringing a gun to school could be reasonable. Schools are where a lot of shootings occur so Its safe to say that at least one person should be armed just in case. There is a phrase that goes, “I would rather have a gun and not need it, than need it and not have it,” is a good saying regarding schools and guns. As far as elementary to high schools goes, the teachers and faculty should be armed. For Colleges, teachers and students with concealed carry permits should be able to be armed in order to defend themselves in the case of an attack. Unfortunately even so bringing guns to school is reasonable to a degree, I do think it violates the rights of employees and students to be guaranteed a safe working environment. Seeing a gun on an individual is always scary. If schools allow guns to be brought, it should be regulated to mainly faculty being the ones having them, as well as students with concealed carry permits. With concealed carry permits people are less likely to be frightened because they would be unaware of the situation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/f-firearm-more-teachers-authorized-carry-weapons-classroom-n208946

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/02/08/employee-rights-to-store-guns-in-cars-parked-in-private-employer-parking-lots/?utm_term=.6cfe14ee3aff

www.southernlawjournal.com/2015_1/SLJ_Spring%202015_Sanders_etal.pdf

M8 Jones

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8.4 case study questions 2,3,4

2.   It is my belief that any individual who carries a concealed weapon permit should be allowed to leave his/her weapon locked inside their automobile while at work.   It’s the individuals constitutional right to carry a firearm, if the State in which he resides has the declaration of law on it’s books.   States such as Texas have an open carry hand gun law on it’s books, for example the gun could be carried on the hip or in a shoulder holster.   The individual is required to carry a license permit that states they must be at least 21 years of age, have a clean criminal record, passed psychological exam, complete classroom training and pass a shooting test to be able to carry their gun.   Therefore, keeping a concealed handgun locked inside of an automobile while the individual is at work should not pose a threat of any kind.

3.   In the situation pertaining to the NRA and companies banning guns from their parking lots would take a wrecking ball to the Second Amendment.   I’ll have to stand neutral on this episode, because according to the text (page 322) the Second Amendment does not give gun owners a constitutionally protected right to carry their weapons onto someone else’s private property against the wishes of the owner.   Although many of the states in the union have laws on their books stating it’s legal for an employer to let an employee bring weapons to work locked in their parked automobiles.   Then there are gun control advocates stating that permitting firearms at the work place gives disgruntled employees easy access to a deadly weapon.   There’s always going to be a difference of opinion when there are different organizations out there fighting that locked weapons could also be protection against robbers, burglars or carjackers.   However, when it comes right down to it, just follow the rules of being a law-abiding citizen.   Both sides have good arguments and will continue to pose challenges to the gun control laws.

4.   Schools that allow teachers/employees to bring their guns inside the work place, should there be certain circumstances?   Yes.   For example such as when there at individuals walking into churches, schools, movie theatres and outside concerts taking lives for no other reason than the thrill or the rush.   For instance, the Deerfield High School shootings just a few weeks ago or the Parkland Florida High School, Benton, Kentucky School, Ohio School, Birmingham, Alabama and Pennsylvania School shootings just this year alone.   If the school security guards were allowed to carry guns maybe fewer children and adults would not have lost their lives on those dreadful days.   We are only three months into this year 2018 and there has been reports of at least eight school shootings already in which children/adults were injured or killed.   Therefore, I say each individual who carries a weapon should be required to pass a psychological exam, have an annual gun training class yearly and able to protect our children while being educated.

M8 (GRIFFEN)

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Read Case Study 8.4 “Have Gun, Will Travel….to Work’

Answer the following questions in your post:   Questions 2, 3 and 4 at the end of the Case. For question 4, since it is being debated at the state and federal levels, answer it in relation to schools and teachers. Question 4 could be as follows:

A  school  could choose, if it wished, to allow  teachers  to bring guns not only into the parking lot but also into the  school  itself. Are there ever circumstances in which doing so might be reasonable? Or would the presence of guns automatically violate the rights of  students or other teachers  to be guaranteed a safe  learning environment?   Feel free to comment on other aspects of having controlled guns in schools.

  1. In your view, do employees have either a moral or a legal right to park cars with guns in them in the company parking lot?   If so, what about the property rights and safety concerns of employers?   If employees don’t have this right, would it be good policy for companies to allow them stow guns in their cars anyway?   Do companies have good grounds for being concerned about weapons in their parking lots?

I think the area needs to be considered, and company policy should dictate the work environment. If an employee is on company grounds, and they do not allow guns, then no. If the company says it’s okay to have a gun for travel safety and they can secure the parking lot, then that is the companies will. I used to live in a rural area in Northern California, and my commute was ten miles of winding, mountain roads. As a woman traveling alone, without a cell phone signal, it could have been dangerous for me if my truck happened to break down. I carried a handgun in my truck for my personal safety and am trained in its use. In fact, knowing that I was a city girl, my employer suggested that I have one for my own protection. My employer also had guns in the store, and I did not feel uneasy or threatened at all. I was in the country and everyone I knew up there carried guns, it was common, nobody made a big deal out of it. We had nine employees in this general/hardware store. I would have been more concerned about someone coming into the store to commit robbery and using a gun on us. In the three years that I worked there, nobody attempted a robbery, I felt safer at work there. In the SF Bay Area, I was involved in some instances where my store got robbed and I did not feel safe there. When you work retail, the potential for robbery is a real danger, especially in a large city like Oakland, it’s not a safe place to be. I would not have had a gun in my car that was parked in Oakland. Cars were broken into all the time, so a gun could not have been secured. We had a security guard that walked us to our cars if we wanted, and I did that. I did not worry about my commute since I was less than a mile from the freeway and I knew the bad areas where I should not drive.

  1. Do you agree with the NRA that if companies ban guns from their parking lots, this restriction would “take a wrecking ball to the Second Amendment’ or nullify the right of people to have weapons for self-defense?   Explain why or why not. In your view, have gun advocates been guilty of politicizing this issue? Do you think state legislatures are right to get involved, or should the matter be left to companies and employees to settle?

Again, I think this depends on the area, rural or urban. Individual companies should have the right to dictate their own policies since they are ultimately legally responsible for anything that happens on their own property. However, if guns are not allowed, and someone feels threatened walking to their car, then the company has a responsibility to keep their employees as safe as possible. My store in Oakland provided a security guard as an escort and most of the women I worked with asked for protection since our store had the highest crime rate. Government involvement in gun laws do not allow for considerations of the area, rural or urban. The two cultures are radically different, and one law concerning guns does not fit all circumstances. Every state has their own gun laws and if you choose to live in that state, then the laws should be respected. The gun laws in my state prohibit me from open carry, and when I move, it will be to a place where I can protect myself.

  1. A  schoolcould choose, if it wished, to allow  teachersto bring guns not only into the parking lot but also into the  school  itself. Are there ever circumstances in which doing so might be reasonable? Or would the presence of guns automatically violate the rights of  students or other teachers  to be guaranteed a safe  learning environment?   Feel free to comment on other aspects of having controlled guns in schools.

Many of my personal friends are teachers in elementary schools in California. I asked them on Facebook to personally message me their thoughts on guns on the classroom. I asked for private messaging because my range of friends go from very liberal to very conservative and I did not want a heated public debate on my wall. I wanted to hear only from the teachers that are in the classroom and they respected that. Due to the recent school shootings, training is being provided for all school personnel in how to handle a shooter situation. One friend completed her training last week. She was told in training that in all the school shootings, that the actual shooting is over within 5 minutes or less. The length of time for the Sandy Hook shootings was 3 ½ minutes. If guns were in the classroom, there would not be adequate time for a teacher to hide the children and retrieve a gun since it must be secured to keep the children safe. At her training, a game plan not involving firearms was put into place, a way to protect the children and themselves. She does not think that guns should be allowed in the classroom. This is an individual who goes to the shooting range for target shooting. She is not anti-gun for private citizens, just not in the schools. “Another point that came from the training is that all these mass shootings were not the result of bullying but that the shooters were all psychopaths.’ (Direct quote).

Another teacher told me a gun in the classroom is an accident waiting to happen. Teachers are hired to teach and that having a gun in the classroom would stress her out because she would always be afraid that the gun was not 100% secure. The classroom environment would be unsafe for students and teachers with a gun, she said guns have no place in the classroom. Her daughter, also a teacher in California, recently completed her training and believes that guns should be not be in the classroom.

Another friends response is from a retired California teacher now living in Fairbanks. She wonders why there are more shootings in urban areas as opposed to rural. After researching statistics on school shootings in Alaska as compared to the rest of the US, she saw that there are far fewer shootings in Alaska where guns are more prevalent. Her granddaughter attends public school in Fairbanks where the class size is 20-25 students per classroom. When my friend taught in a low income, urban area in California, the class size was 32-37 students per classroom. She wonders if overcrowding affects humans the same way it does rodents in mice studies where they cannibalize each other. This is something to consider if overcrowding does indeed create psychopathic behavior, I had not thought of that. Her vote is for no guns in the classroom. She suggests that there are already procedures in place to protect the children and staff. She would feel unsafe knowing that there were guns on campus. “I am one of those who say to politicians, rather than spend money on weapons and military training, please spend money on lower class sizes, arts and music programs, and on basic classroom supplies so us teachers don’t have to buy them ourselves.’ (Direct quote).

Now for my personal opinions on school shootings. After the Columbine tragedy, the music of Marilyn Manson was blamed for negatively influencing the high school shooters as well as violent video games. This accusation had a great impact on his career. His concerts were protested by Christians and his income suffered. It came out two years later, that the shooters didn’t even like his music, never even listened to him. In the movie, Bowling for Columbine’, Manson was interviewed and was asked what would he say if he could talk to the kids at Columbine? He said that he wouldn’t say a word, just listen to what they had to say. This is something that nobody did. The issue I have with school shootings are not about the guns, bullying, music, or violent video games. I believe it is about the lack of adequate mental health treatment. The school shooting in Parkland, Florida by Nikolas Cruz was especially heartbreaking. Authorities and many people in his life saw signs of serious mental problems yet took no action. Nobody listened to him.

Ovalle, David. “Florida School Shooting Suspect Was Ex-Student Who Was Flagged as Threat.’  Miamiherald, Miami Herald, www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article200126034.html.

yamayurikai.  Interview with Marilyn Manson – Bowling for Columbine. 20 Nov. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrHFB2KP8fc. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.