Blog Post No. 3

In a recent New York Times op-ed piece titled, "A Combat Zone, With Desks," high school math teacher and Afghanistan veteran Ashley Nicolas makes a compelling plea for gun control. Before establishing her main argument, however, Nicolas dives into her military past, recalling her extensive and intense military training, and commenting on how ironically similar most school drills are to those that she experienced in Afghanistan. As she explains the drills she and her students perform at the school, she notes that despite the similarities in the drills, the school's methods of defense would not be enough to deter an active shooter. Nicolas illustrates the tactics she brings to the drills, and she provides a rich description of her attempts to make the classroom as bulletproof as possible. Nicolas then interrupts her own thoughts with the heart of her argument: that it is astounding at how commonplace this kind of classroom defense has become. She states, "I was preparing my classroom for combat. But our school was built to cultivate learning, not withstand an attack; our teachers were trained to instruct, not shield students from bullets." Nicolas is not the only person to make a compelling argument for gun control, and nor is she the first teacher to do it. But, what makes her argument so effective is her experience both in the military and in academia. By giving her readers a brief description of her military credentials and experiences, she makes her argument for sensible gun control all the more trustworthy and credible. If anyone knew the proper defense tactics against gun fire, it would almost certainly be a former soldier. Furthermore, Nicolas' years of teaching in a high school give her the kind of perspective that she, and so many other gun control advocates, know is not matched by many pro-gun politicians. An increasingly popular suggestion, made predominantly by Republicans, that teachers and schools themselves should be armed is a proposal that Nicolas wholeheartedly disagrees with. Nicolas goes so far as to directly condemn recent comments made by Senator Mike Rounds, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Senator Marco Rubio, and, of course, President Donald Trump. But again, Nicolas' experience as an educator, as a teacher, and as someone who has to directly face the consequences of any kind of gun regulation or deregulation, gives her argument the perfect and unique amount of credibility, making for a fresh, poignant, and honest opinion piece.