Silence will not prevent the next school shooting, but talking about it hopefully will

On February 14, 2018, in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school a 19-year-old former student of the school who had previously been expelled walked towards the school at 2:19 p.m. With an AR-15 Semi-automatic rifle. A staff member knew after his previous explosion he was a risk to student safety and called a code red in on the radio. It was too late though. In just under two minutes he killed 11 people and injured 13 others. At the end of his 4-minute attack, he injured 17 and killed 17. Peterson was arrested in June 2019 and faced charges of neglect of a child, culpable negligence, and perjury. Children, staff, the whole Florida community was devastated. This was the deadliest high school shooting in United States history.

Violence among schools is super important. This issue is talked about in all schools and to all children. Like the American Psychological Association is saying when they wrote “Parents should acknowledge to children that bad things do happen, but also reassure them with the information that many people are working to keep them safe” (apa.org). Some parents or people, in general, might find the subject too sensitive but we must recognize and talk through it. The problem isn’t just the possible threat or dangers in a school, it’s the student’s mental health. Students may see these things on the news and really stress and over worry themselves. Since it’s not a very commonly talked subject they may not express how they are feeling, which is not a healthy way to keep emotions. Just like the article “Understanding School Violence” writes here “Exposure to youth violence and school violence can lead to a wide array of negative health behaviors and outcomes, including alcohol and drug use and suicide. Depression, anxiety, and many other psychological problems” (cdc.gov 1). Needs to be discussed among the schools to make the kids feel more knowledgeable about it and feel safer.

The odds of having an active shooter in the building are still rare but much more frequent. Well, gunsandamerica.org did some research and wrote this “From 1999 to 2014, the average number of days between shootings was 124 days. From 2015 to 2018, the average was 77 days” (Luis Melgar). Meaning yes, numbers have changed and not in the way you would hope. The number of days in between these horrible events is dropping meaning it’s becoming more frequent. Why would these become more frequent overtime? Technology doesn’t always work in our favor matter of fact sometimes it works oppositely. People can use it against students’ safety and find easier ways to get away with things that people would have noticed or not been able to access or do in the past.

As the numbers have changed what has been done over time to prevent it? Some schools have a new device. It’s called the Night Lock and each classroom has it in case they need to barricade in a lockdown. It retails for $59.95 so for every classroom it can be a huge expense but it’s worth it. It is known in several of these tragic cases that the attacker can be an old classmate that may have suffered from something like bullying. Many schools have set up programs to identify students who might be struggling and opening more access to mental health services. Some schools such as Majory Stonewall high school wear clear backpacks after they had an ex-student open fire and killed 17 students. Other schools may have them for precaution and prevention in the future. It has even been a discussion for teachers to carry guns in school. That was not put over well but every idea has been thrown out and discussed. Schools do care about the students’ safety, teach and practice different lockdown drills multiple times.

The number of lives lost is unbelievable but I think after things started getting worse everyone fought for making the schools safer. School is where a child goes to learn and grow as a person for their future. They should not have to worry about a threat or being harmed. Everyone should continue brainstorming and talking about new ideas to help out because you could never be too cautious. You can never be completely certain bad things won’t happen and you shouldn’t dwell on them but it’s normal and okay to have a concern or talk with someone who can help you work through it.