Questions on whether or not the right precautions are being taken to prevent school shootings have reached even higher, in lieu of recent school shootings across the nation.

Violence in schools has always been apparent whether that’s with fights happening or recently with school shootings. In the last year, there have been more than 220 school related shootings, research shows that 93% of shootings are planned ahead of time (sandyhookpromis.org). Usually, the student who is behind the shooting will leave some sort of indicator that they are going to eventually go with their plan. However, not everyone is properly aware of these signs, leading to a disregard for potential danger.

When people get news of a school shooting everyone has the same reaction “how can we stop this” or “what can we do” leading people to come up with ideas on how to help. It seems like nothing is ever done to address it or fix it. Students support, seeking gun control to help with the stoppage of school shootings and having stricter laws. 

“I definitely think that if they allow anyone to have a concealed weapon in their home that there should be a law to have it in a safe and that it shouldn’t be so easily accessible,” Senior Izabella Zwiesler said. 

In addition to the restriction over gun regulation, other individuals argue the notion to arm teachers to arm teachers with guns to keep in class in order to possibly prevent a school shooting for protection. While many teachers believe that this is not the right thing to do, many also do not feel comfortable carrying a gun in their classroom. However, some teachers and parents believe that this is the right answer in order to solve all of the problems regarding school shootings, claiming that it would be able to protect not only the teachers but the students as well. 

“I am horribly against teachers having guns. I think that is a very bad idea…I don’t want that type of responsibility and what happens when some kid takes your gun?” Student Council teacher Ms. Haun said.

School shootings are not the only violence students come across on campus, fights happening between a few individuals is always something that students will be faced with. 

When these students begin fighting in any place within the school it puts everyone at risk. Whether that be because the school cops may spray pepper spray, potentially hitting or hurting other students who surrounded themselves around the fight, or even putting the school into a soft or hard lockdown. 

Recently in Clark County School District many schools have been finding students with loaded or unloaded guns in their backpacks, making threats to schools, bringing knives or other harmful devices onto school campuses. One of the most severe events that have recently occurred happened at Cimarron Memorial High School, where a fight had broken out between students leading to one being stabbed, causing the school to go into a hard lockdown. Putting many different students at risk. 

With the recent news of shootings or other violent acts occurring within schools all across the US, this has led to many students feeling unsafe or not wanting to go to school. While many students may not be vocal about the feeling all the time there is still the fear of something happening at school. 

“I’ve experienced violence at school because there are always fights at our school and honestly it makes me feel a little scared. Feeling like someone could come and attack me at some points.” Sophomore Samantha Burak said. 

There are also some students who are not as affected from the recent violence. Some students don’t focus on all the negative that has been surrounding them and are more focused on their studies in order to stay positive. 

“I have zero fears of going to school because of gun violence mostly because I think we’re in a controlled environment enough and we have enough drills to stay safe and I’m not a person who is going to be afraid of something that might not happen,” Sophomore Logan Carter said. 

From other students’ perspectives, however, they have been in situations where they did feel unsafe and uncomfortable due to some of the violence that they encountered on campus. 

“My freshman year, I had a group of students that were in my grade and assumed it was somebody else and didn’t realize it was a different person who tried to jump me at school and I remember telling teachers and they just said to stay away from them. For a month or two I was being followed…so I didn’t feel safe for a while and I feel like the school failed on trying to make me feel safe,” Senior Izabella Zwiesler said.

Now, with the continuous fear caused by these unexpected hard lockdowns or fights that cause a crowd to get pepper sprayed, it leaves many students on edge about walking around the halls and wondering what could happen. 

Students aren’t the only ones who are fearing while being at school, teachers have their own fears too. With being a teacher nobody should have to go into school worrying of potential harm getting in the way of their students, having to put lives in the hands of a teacher. Teachers are expected to go through the different kinds of procedures for these situations to be prepared, but when the time comes the reaction could be different. 

“When we had that hard lock down a few years ago, I was hiding under my desk. Like I’m compassionate and I love you guys but I don’t want to be the hero teacher. I don’t really know what I would do other than do my best to keep everyone safe…if it was a kid that I knew I could talk to I would try to, but if it was a random kid I didn’t know I would cope to the best of my abilities,” Ms. Haun said. 

A question that is also on the table, has COVID been a cause of the rise in sudden violence? Though there is not a direct answer, students have been struggling to get back into the norms of school and collecting their emotions responsibly. 

“I think it’s just because a lot of kids forgot to be students and then that year and a half they threw away everything they may have learned in their first ten to twelve years of school just learning how to be respectful and be appropriate in their conversations and interactions…behavior has definitely been a big issue this year,” IB counselor Ms. Welling said. 

It is known that coming back from a year long quarantine, there were going to be some students who struggled with either explaining their emotions or having behavioral issues, however, it was not expected to be as bad as it has gotten. There is not much that can be done to help these students other than support. A lot of the time when there are behavioral issues, this year, school staff has been trying to be flexible and understanding on many occasions. The rules have been a lot more lenient. 

According to Chalkbeat.org, some schools across the nation have been trying their best to have more staff members that focus on supporting students and instead of forcing harsh punishments, they have been giving counseling. 

Although it has been a rough year for everyone because of COVID, schools should balance a focus on students’ mental health and safety, and improve safety measures, such as improved metal detectors at school events. 

“I think we should have metal detectors for when we walk into school because, like they have it at football games, I feel like that would make me feel much safer and in a more controlled environment,” Sophomore Samantha Burak said. 

Overall, there are not enough solutions that can accommodate everyone and be affordable or less time consuming. Many schools this year are over capacity and so schools can not easily check all 2000 plus students that are on campus, but adding metal detectors that students have to walk through in the morning can be an effective way to lessen the probability of a school shooting or violent act.