America’s school shootings epidemic: When will enough be enough?

By La'Rena Coleman

Opinions Reporter

School shootings have become very disturbingly common in the US, yet meaningful change remains elusive. Lawmakers debate, yet communities mourn, then the cycle repeats. Thoughts and prayers flood in, but action remains stagnant.

This graph shows the shocking number of rising school shootings over the years. For more data from this site, visit here.

During school shootings, people do tend to feel a greater sense of safety and reassurance when schools are adequately prepared to respond to an active school shooter situation. 

“View it as a necessary and responsible step, believing that emergency plans, security measures, and staff are preparing themselves to save lives," Dominic Jackson said.

Schools should be places of growth, not fear. Until our leaders take decisive action, they are failing our children, and failure, in this case, comes with the highest cost: young adults and children's lives are stolen far too soon.

“When people attend school, they expect to make it there and back home, not lose their life. It's actually sad," said Dekyla Web.

Gun control is a prominent factor in school shootings. While no law can completely stop gun violence, stricter background checks, red flag laws, and limits on access to high-capacity firearms could make a difference. But that isn't only about gun issues; it's also about mental health, bullying, and the culture of violence we allow to fester.

“I feel like guns do play a big part in people's lives in general because people play with guns now and joke around with them," Web said.

School shootings have devastating short-term and long-term effects on students and families and entire communities. In the immediate aftermath, survivors often experience shock, fear, and trauma, struggling to process the violence they witnessed. Families of victims face unimaginable grief while parents of surviving students grapple with anxiety about their children's safety at school.

“I think school shootings can affect people in general in the short term. The traumatic shock, overwhelming grief, and acute anxiety experienced in the wake of experiencing something like that," said Taniyah Riddle.

Societal attitudes toward violence and conflict resolution play a significant role in the occurrence of school shootings. In a culture where violence is often glorified in media, entertainment, and even politics, some individuals may come to aggression as a valid response to personal struggles or conflict. The normalization of gun violence, particularly in the United States, contributes to the firearms that are used as protection tools of destruction.