Why schools should do more to prevent school shootings

By Jaylin T.

Everyday students should walk into school to learn, not fear for their lives. It's time for schools to do more to prevent shootings and ensure every child has a safe place to grow. School shootings are something that's very frequent making the need for stronger prevention measures way more important than they once were. Opinions on the topic vary, as some believe stricter security is needed, while others think overly preparing could harm the school environment or traumatize students unnecessarily by making them feel more scared than they should. In my view, schools do need to do more to prevent school shootings. 

Reason one on why schools should do more to prevent school shootings is that people are getting hurt and losing their lives. According to world population review, just in South Carolina alone there have been 46 school shooting incidents. In other words, guns and gun crimes are a problem in general. In schools specifically, in 2024 there were at least 199 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 55 deaths and 146 injuries nationally, according to research from Everytown. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens witnessing shootings can  have a devastating impact on students  and can lead them to fail or have difficulties in school, cause  bad mental health and can even cause them to participate in criminal activity. Because of the frequency with which children and teens are victimized by guns, it’s clearly a problem and something needs to be done.  Not only should more be done to prevent shootings at school, more should be done to prevent gun crimes in general.  

Another reason why schools should do more is to provide a safe learning environment. There are schools that have already taken safety into their own hands by making sure their classrooms stay locked and schools use ID’s to help identify the students in the school. Schools can do things like adding bag checks, use electronic systems  to track visitors, and use metal detectors. 

Lastly, having better security will help better students' mental health. This is because there are so many students coming to school scared for their lives because of the risks of them just simply trying to learn. According to a Stanford  research website, there is a  higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence. It also states that School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores. This just shows how much school shootings actually affect the students and staff who experience it. 

Some people might think that adding more security might make schools feel like prisons and hurt the learning environment; others may think it might take away from learning environments.  I think my opinion is better because at the end of the day, adding more security will only better the environment for those around and will help students be less worried about everything. Adding security will make students feel safe on school grounds.  

Isabella G., a freshman at Airport states that “ I just wish there was better security so that way any time we had a drill I wouldn't feel so anxious”. This shows how better security will decrease students' anxiety about this topic and allow them to do their daily things at school without worries. 

Student Heridania L. stated, “At my middle school we got gun threats all the time and nothing got done about it.” This says how nothing is being done about these situations  and nobody’s able to get justice because the school systems treat it like it's no big deal. 

Kayley P. says, “My mom told me about a shooting that happened at her school when she was a kid and it's been my biggest fear for that to happen to me”. School shootings are a big fear among children and teens and this just proves that there needs to be more done. 

In conclusion, schools really need to better their ways and learn how to create safety protocols to prevent school shootings because the numbers are just gonna increase more and more if nothing gets done. Adding these measures will create a healthy learning environment and cause less worry for students and faculty.