Ecology Club National Honor Society

School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.

Taken a drastic action against school shootings in every school in our nation might be difficult, but as a parent and legal practitioner; there are many options out there for us to follow if every organizations and agencies including our school’s authorities work together. In this respect the

Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.

School shootings are a common occurrence on daily news. Students shouldn’t terrify going to school with the mindset that a shooter will show up with intention of killing people. Ideally, students leave home for school to learn, and not worried someone will come in and shoot everyone. When I was younger I would go to the bathroom worried a shooter would enter my school leaving me alone in a life or death situation. School security improvement is extremely important because children should feel safe and never in danger. Also, schools need better ways of helping children feel safe when they come for six hours everyday. More could be done for students, not only as prevention from shootings occurring but from relieving young children of unnecessary anxiety.

Thirteen people were killed at Columbine High School in 1999, thirty-three died during the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, and twenty-seven people, twenty of whom were children no older than seven, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 (Kirk). These name only a few of the larger and most well-known school shooting incidences. In total, 297 people have lost their lives due to school-based shootings since 1980 (Kirk). Although this number may be small in comparison to death by guns overall, these instances are completely unwarranted and it is likely that they could have been avoided or at the very least reduced. These people, college and high school students, teachers, and even children, might still be alive today if our

School shootings are terrifying and a big problem in today’s society. Schools have added lockdown drills, bullet proof glass and metal detectors. School should be a safe area for children to learn instead of fearing for their life. Instead of buying metal detectors and hiring more officers, there is a much easier solution in order to decrease and prevent school shootings. We have to be more alert about securing weapons at home and being aware of suspicious behavior at school in order to keep children and faculty safe.

The safety of schools have been tested more in the recent years with news coverage of the most recent incident in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where twenty children and six staff members lost their lives. With the recent rise of school shootings it is no wonder parents are concerned for their children’s safety in schools. Where drugs and peer pressure were once major concerns, in today’s society, we worry about our children dying in the hands of armed shooters. While there is much controversy over how to protect the future of America’s children, lawmakers are supporting a bill to allow armed guards to stand and protect our children in the school systems by creating laws to allow armed security in the schools. “The Indiana amendment's sponsor, Rep. Jim Lucas (R), said he believes mass shootings like the one in Newtown could be prevented by more firearms.” (Resmovits, 2013). In support of armed guards, the National Rifle Association has paid for research

For example, in 1999 thirteen people, including a teacher, were murdered at Columbine High School. Nine years later tragedy struck again at Virginia Tech University where 32 people were gunned down including five staff members. Most recently, a gunman killed 20 innocent elementary students along with six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut (Rostron 439-440). LSUA cannot be the next school to be added to this list. Schools are supposed to be a safe place for everyone and not a high risk danger zone. These school shootings have sparked debates whether or not teachers should be allowed to carry guns in schools to protect themselves, as well as students (Rostron 440). Although guns can do bad things, they can do good things like saving lives. National Rifle Association Vice President Wayne LaPierrce says “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” (Rostron 441-442). Politicians and the media want us to believe that more harm is done with guns than good and make us believe it’s the gun’s fault it killed someone, not the person who shot then gun (Rostron 454). My solution to fix LSUA’s small amount of security around campus and the

Mass shootings have become one of the most fearful events that could happen in elementary schools, high schools, and College campuses. These violent actions committed by a number of individuals have happened for many years and will continue happening unless prevented. Individuals like James Holmes opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, killing twelve individuals and injuring twenty, John Sawahri shot five students dead in Santa Monica College also injuring four individuals. However Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold executed the most horrific act of school violence in United States History. These two individuals managed to take the lives of twelve students, a teacher and managed to take their own life in the process. This act of crime has spread through America, leaving no one safe.

Columbine High school 12 students and 1 teacher dead, Thurston High School 2 dead and 25 wounded, Sandy Hook Elementary 20 children and 6 teachers dead, Virginia Tech University 32 dead and 17 wounded and Umpqua Community College 9 dead and 9 wounded. After the Thurston shooting happened, we took necessary precautions so we would be prepared for an incident like again. Yet Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Umpqua happened anyway. Even though we implemented ALICE training in order to be safer, hiding with entries blocked won’t be enough in some cases especially if the police take a long time to get to the school and stop the shooter. There are a couple ways that would not only make the school safer but also stop the shooter quicker so we can save more lives and not have to wait for the police to arrive. One solution we can do is give teachers and staff that haven’t had any experience with guns at least basic training in the use of guns

Soon after the 1999 massacre, school lockdowns became widespread and ushered new security measures in school across the U.S. The effort of installing Lockdowns were strengthened after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Instructors and staff members applied these safety procedures to protect students at the school. Students were swept into the storage closets and behind bookcases where they would hide until the situation is fully resolved. Today, instructors are advised to snap off the lights, lock the doors and usher students into closets and corners while the school officials contact the police. In this locked room, students' text one another, play cards or board games or just wait until they are told everything is back to normal. Indeed, since the Columbine shooting, 32 states have enacted laws demanding schools to perform lockdown drills to keep students safe from intruders (Muschert 11). However, over the years, in the past decade, shooting has increased. The introduction of lockdown drills has not materialized in today’s setting as gun control laws have failed. The massive ownership of guns allowed in the Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution has promoted school shootings. Today, students have access to guns from parents and there is no minimum age for owning a long gun. It means even a child can own a rifle. The weakness of legal ownership of guns in the U.S is clear. So, even with

Teaching at a typical small town school in rural America one day, shots ring out. Active shooter drills come to mind, but what do we do, where do we go, how many students are present? Panic sets in. Thoughts of hiding, running, calling out for help and screaming all flash across the forefront of the mind when a person can be seen walking down the hall with a large gun in hand. No one ever thinks it could happen in a town, school, or church like ours but when the act is committed everyone feels the betrayal. Although schools from elementary to universities have adopted drills for active shooters and have routes with plans drawn up we never know how we will truly react until the time comes. Armed guards stand at the ready at most entryway doors but they are only one person and can not be everywhere always. In a recent study of active shooters for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, J.Pete Blair and Katherine W. Schweit have said, “The second most common incident locations were in educational environments…and the study results established that …these incidents involved some of the highest casualty numbers” (20). Crime is always a threat to education and defending our students nationwide should be a priority. The trouble begins with the fact that the school shootings are becoming more regular. Allowing teachers to be armed gives administration, faculty and students a more successful chance at survival against an active shooter in our education systems.

From the Connecticut Sandy Hook School shooting in 2012, to the Recent Parkland School shooting in Florida, hundreds of innocent students and adults have been murdered by guns, and the public is questioning whether or not to have more gun control laws. In order to protect and prevent these traumatic mass shootings we need to pay attention to citizens who have mental issues, have stricter gun purchasing laws, and also stop selling military replicas.

Imagine you’re watching the news and hear of a mass shooting at a local college. You suddenly realize a family member or someone who’s very near and dear to you attends that institution and you rush to grab your phone to call and see if they’re okay. As you furiously dial their number over and over again you glance at the television screen and see their name in the list of people who were critically wounded or killed. Now imagine being the parent of a child in whom you drove to school that day, but later received a call informing you there was a shooting at the school and your child was amongst those killed. Sadly, you read and hear about these stories all the time, mass shootings, and gun violence. Guns and instances of gun violence aren’t new to American society, but there has definitely been a significant increase in these last few decades. Instances of gun violence that include mass shootings in theaters, schools and college campuses have been on the rise and it will only continue to rise unless proper actions are taken. Because of this, stricter gun control laws need to be placed into effect.

America has been drowning in the blood of students shot on school campuses. The number of massacres is climbing up yet we do not see any major changes in the gun laws and continue a heated debate on whether the answer is more guns or less, in spite of the fact that there is an overabundance of evidence, research and statistics that strongly suggest that the very reason we are in this predicament is because we have too many guns and too loose of regulations as is. The debate has been going on for over a decade sparked by the Columbine High School Massacre, and the situation does not show any signs of improvement. As a matter of fact, it is only getting worse. Former US Attorney General Eric Holder pointed out, that in the years between 2009 and 2013 we saw an almost 3 times increase in the average number of mass shootings per year (qtd. in United States, Dept. of Justice 1). As figures 1 and 2 show, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) there has been a consistent yearly increase in the number of active shooter incidents as well as casualties in the years 2000-2013. We