School Shootings
Post date: Mar 02, 2018 6:17:47 PM
School Shootings
By: Kristine Li & Kimberly Garay
There has been at least eighteen school shootings since the beginning of this year alone. The most recent mass shooting, the Parkland, Florida shooting, involved 17 people in total. Many students and teachers have died in these shootings, some taking a bullet to save the lives of others. These mass school shootings are rapidly increasing in both number and frequency in the United States and there hasn’t been any changes since the shootings.
Here are what a few students at Marina Middle School have to say about teachers having guns in their classrooms and whether they feel safe at school:
“No teachers shouldn’t, because later on the students would be scared of teachers having guns in schools,” said Diya Vanmail.
“No, it will frighten the students. Yeah, I feel safe, but not if they had guns,” said Jack Lawrence, a sixth grader.
With the recent mass shootings at schools, people have grown concerned and demand change. Yet there hasn’t been many change.
There has a been a few change in laws, like politicians say, but it took many years for these changes to actually occur. The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting finally sparked enough controversy to prompt others to take action. They have raised the minimum age to buy a firearm to the age of 21. Still, there are people armed with dangerous firearms and are not willing to give them away. Many hundreds of students going to school have been killed and shot at because of these weapons.
Should the government be improving the safety of students? Yes, they should. Students should feel safe at school without worrying about whether a gunman will open fire. There was another mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary where students between the ages of six and seven and six adult staff members were shot dead. Since then, they have demolished the school to create a happier and friendlier one with “bulletproof” windows, improved locks on doors, and a clearer view of their surroundings. All schools should have some kind of prepared protection to “hide” students inside school in case of a shooting.
What do you think we should do to better protect the students attending school? To many people's dismay, changes in gun laws and school safety will not happen right away, but rather gradually over time. Despite this, we still need to take extra precautions. Today, some people are regularizing these school shootings as something completely normal because it occurs so often. There will be a walkout on March 14th to honor all the students of the Parkland, Florida shooting.