The morning of Wednesday, September 10th, started out normally; students were in classes, learning. But by 12:30 pm during lunch, Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, had become a crime scene. 16-year-old Desmond Holly injured two students with a gun before killing himself. The Colorado Sun covers the incident moment by moment, including interviews with survivors like Katie Clarkson, who recounted that she was eating lunch in her Spanish classroom before the shooting began. The shooting lasted nine minutes, but felt like forever to those involved.
Security.org reports that since the Columbine shooting in 1999, there have been 1,611 gun-related incidents at schools, resulting in over 370,000 children exposed to gun violence in that time. In those shootings, 440 students were killed and 1,243 were injured. That is 440 kids who never got to grow up, who never got to live life because of a gun. There is a way to lower these numbers: stricter gun regulations.
Multiple sites record the number of school shootings that happened, and due to that, the numbers vary. According to Aljazeera, there are three ways shootings are classified: broad, moderate, and strict. The broadest classification, recorded on the K-12 School Shooting Database, states there have been 146 incidents, which include any time a gun was fired, wielded with intent, or a bullet struck school property. Everytown for Gun Safety narrows down the information from K-12, including only when a gun was brought to school and wielded or when someone was injured or killed. Using this definition, there have been 91 school shootings this year. Education week is the strictest, only counting times where someone was injured or killed by a gun on school property, and counting eight shootings.
Shootings happen for a multitude of reasons, but Joan Tupponce from VCU News words it perfectly: There are more guns than people. She also states that the United States has the largest civilian gun ownership in the world, and the other countries that compare to the United States are war-torn nations. Another reason is how violence is treated on social media. It’s become so normalized, especially with government factions promoting it. Saying something as simple as “We need to stand up and protect our country” can trigger dangerous acts by Americans who think they have authority. Causes can be more connected to the school, too, like bullying. Research from UCLA that included 27 different shootings from 2000 to 2017 says that 54.6% of school shooters experienced bullying. A school shooting is a drastic response to bullying, but for some individuals, they believe it to be the only solution or a way to make a stand.
School shootings have become normalized in the United States. They are blamed on video games and mental health, and no precautions have been taken to avoid shootings or to prevent a minor from acquiring a gun. Kids have drills in school, which is helpful, but it creates a sense of normalization. That at any time, their main focus would need to switch from learning to surviving. That’s not to say drills in school are bad, but the fact that students need drills is. Students have become so desensitized to the fact that a shooting could happen at any time that drills aren’t taken seriously. It’s normal for them, and it shouldn’t be. KFF reports that school shootings also affect mental health and result in conditions like PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, anxiety, and higher suicide risk. Another site SIEPR reports that the biological stress system in children is affected after a school shooting.
Principal Tim Hodges speaks on his concerns about a school shooting happening close to home, stating, “Unfortunately, it’s always in the back of my mind. While I don’t expect it, you just never know in our world today. That’s why we have put the effort into our ALICE procedures and efforts into providing mental health supports for students as well. If there were a shooter in the school, I’d implement our ALICE procedures. I’d be working closely with law enforcement and emergency responders initially and then working with school staff to get students reunited with their families. My main role is to coordinate services and communicate what I can with families in the event of a school shooting.”
It all feels far away after being so normalized, but sometimes incidents are closer than expected. On March 29, 2023, a shooting took place just a few blocks from the High School and Elementary School. Although it wasn’t a shooting on school property, it was close enough to send the schools into a lockdown. By 3 pm, there was a sense of panic among students, especially those who lived near where the shooting took place. Bella Johnson lived close to where the shooting was happening, and she recalls how she felt during that time. “It was terrifying because I had been asleep when my mom called me without explaining the full situation. She only told me that the school was on lockdown because someone had a gun, and that I shouldn’t go outside. A few minutes later, she called again with more details, letting me know it was happening closer to our house than we had thought and that I should be extra cautious. Personally, with the limited information we had, it was a really frightening experience. I could hear much of what was going on outside, and a couple of helicopters flew over our house.”
There are obvious solutions to shootings like gun regulations, but there are also more complex solutions. One good solution is to have more social workers in schools to support students’ mental health, as that is a leading cause of shootings. Another way to solve this issue involving mental health would be better standard mental health screenings at doctors’ offices. Limiting or monitoring social media consumption can also help, as there are sites that have been said to “radicalize” students like Desmond Holly.
Schools also take precautions to try to prevent shootings before they happen. “The most effective thing schools can do to prevent school shootings is to create a positive environment for everyone. As a staff, we talk a lot about creating positive relationships with students. We have many supports in place for students who are experiencing mental health problems, and we work to recognize those and do what we can to help with students’ mental issues. We also talk a lot about safety and how to respond if an armed intruder is in the building (ALICE). We have worked with the Cannon Falls Police Department and the Goodhue County Emergency Manager on our procedures so we’re all on the same page,” states Hodges when asked about precautions he takes to try and avoid this worst-case scenario.
Stricter gun regulations are needed. It’s a fact. Students should not have to fear going to school or wonder if they are going home. A third grader should not have to practice hiding in the corner and staying quiet while the principal checks to make sure the door is locked. A high schooler should not be memorizing where the nearest exit is in every hall. For students to feel peace, to feel safe, guns need more regulations.
