Opinion: Not Again by Morgan Langan

Take your action.

A printed paper, a news story, an alert on a cell phone all screaming the same headline, “Another School Shooting in…” But it’s not just another school shooting; it's another life lost, another heart break, another fearful neighbor, another terrified student, another reason we need it to end. We can not let this continue. School shootings can be prevented by the government, the schools, and the students themselves.

Government Action

Back in the spring, heartbreaking pictures were shown all over the news of kids, teenagers, and even adults marching the streets in Washington D.C. praying for a change. Young girls were carrying signs that are beginning our government for action. The fact of the matter is the government has the power to change the gun laws, making these tragedies much harder to complete. So many people argue that changing the law won't change a person’s mind to do the killing. Yet, at the end of the day it is the bullet that kills someone. A fact stated by Gebelhoff, “ Research on gun violence is notoriously underfunded, but the data we do have shows that lawakers can act to save lives from gun violence” (Gebelhoff). If we could make these weapons much harder to get our hands on, the likelihood would dramatically decrease. Assault weapons were actually banned from 1995-2004. “And in fact, mass shooting casualties dipped during the ban” (Gebelhoff). This statistic proves that banning guns, does help out this revolving issue.

School Action

Schools have the biggest role in the avoidance of this situation. Every single action that is taken needs to be one hundred percent in the thought of the students safety. It’s so easy to sit back and think that we live in a safe neighborhood, and that these mass shootings would never occur here in Clarks Summit. However, that is false. These shooting trends are unfortuntionalty becoming more and more common everyday. If big changes aren't made soon, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before one happens here. Therefore, it would be extremely beneficial if the schools were prepared with what to do in that horrific situation. Firstly, the schools need to be enforcing the drills. The schools should make it an often ritual of completing lockdown and evacuation drills. Also, the schools should be talking about this topic often with the students to answer questions, and to figure out what is the best plan according to the different school layouts. Some argue that this creates a fearful environment, yet we should be fearful. This is one way that actually could lessen the fear of students, knowing they have a plan that has been practiced in case of the emergency. Practice makes perfect. Another action schools should be taking is adding metal detectors to the entrances of each door in the school, and locking the ones without the detectors. Quoted from an article, “"When we decided to make airports safe from armed terrorists, we installed metal detectors and dramatically increased safety," she said. "It's time we did the same thing for our schools"” (Tinsley). The metal detectors are a huge step in the right direction of the safety of our students. It’s an easy action to justify safety just like in the airport. You walk through, get the bag checked, and your on your way. This small action goes a long way and stops weapons from coming into the schools.

Student Action

Lastly, the students can impact the outcome of school shootings. There is one sentence the students need to follow and they are golden. The one sentence is, If you hear/see something say something. More often than not, the shooters themselves have given off hints and clues that were flags of suspicion. If the students take action on those suspicious words or actions they hear or see, they can be saving so many of their classmate’s lives. It’s as simple as going to your guidance department, a trusted teacher, or even asking a friend to go with you to the principal. It’s better to tell the adults in our lives about the concerns we hear and see, than blow it off and run the risk of it backfiring.

In conclusion, there is a solution to this giant problem. Everyone that can make a difference needs to including the US government, the schools, and the students. Everyone needs to do the best they can to prevent this issue, in hopes of it never ever occurring in our small, comfortable town.