The Golden Trident

By Alexia Gallegos

School shootings have become a common occurrence and unfortunately, a concern to every school in the US. There have been shootings from elementary schools to high schools. What should be a safe space for children to learn has turned into a home for fear. The deaths leave society in shock and grief. Serious safety concerns have arisen which leads to questions on what is happening in schools that lead to shootings. These events have raised serious safety concerns and what truly happens in a school that leads to these actions. However, the question that has been asked for decades remains: what can society do to force the government to stop it? 

In 2024, 30 shootings resulted in injuries or deaths. This unfortunate reality is becoming the new normal. It takes the lives of innocent people. School shootings leave people living in fear of an event that could happen at any moment. We are left grieving the loss of bright futures cut short each time. Shootings are not just about the violence of a single injury, they create survivors who are traumatized. It creates a sense of fear in every community. Children have to walk into school wondering if they will make it home that day and parents worry that their child is next.

A broken system that values gun rights over human lives. Instead of stronger gun laws, we get excuses and instead of taking responsibility, we get promises saying they’re working to make changes, but they never come. How is it that one of the most wealthy countries in the world can’t keep children safe in schools? Other countries don’t have the same shooting problem we do because when it first happened, they took action immediately. In 1996, the most deadly mass shooting in Great Britain to this day took place with 16 dead and 19 injured. Right after the shootings, the public debated gun control laws and created a petition, called the “Snowdrop petition,” which produced two new legislation acts that banned the private ownership of handguns. Taking action immediately protects the lives of our educators and our students. In Colorado, the only rules for owning a gun are being the minimum age of 18 and cannot have a previous criminal record. Some kids could still be in high school at 18 while owning guns. 

Being safe is more than metal detectors or security. They are turning schools into prisons with police, security cameras, and lockdown drills. Yes, this is a way to protect them in case of an emergency, but there shouldn’t be a chance it could happen in the first place. Turning schools from a learning environment into a prison environment will make them feel trapped instead of having a sense of freedom. We are asking kids to prepare for the chance they could die in their classrooms. Drills help teach in a worst-case scenario but the reality of why they have to stay silent causes anxiety and fear. As a nation, we should be disappointed that children as young as 6 have died due to the flimsy laws we have over guns. 

 Instead of solving the solution from the source, we are punishing kids. We need to change the way we think about mental health resources and how we treat others. Creating an environment where students feel heard can lead to a decrease in bullying which, according to the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, is the leading cause of shootings. Students need to know that resources are provided for people when they’re struggling with issues at home or with classmates.  Many school shooters have shown signs of mental health struggles before like notes and lists with certain names on them. Making mental health programs more accessible and normalizing reaching out through schools can help prevent tragedies. 

Students who interact with the same classmates daily can grow friendships and notice when their peers are acting differently.  Warning signs, such as threats, drawings, and lists, have been displayed in the majority of school shooters. Creating a more welcoming culture of making reports can help students feel safe sharing information with an adult who can do something. Open communication can help stop feelings of loneliness and hurt that can lead to violent actions against the people who hurt them. 

The cause of deaths in school shootings, however, is guns. Gun laws are not strict enough in the United States which gives mentally unstable people easy access to lethal weapons. After a man with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun went on a 6-hour shooting spree, also known as the Hungerford massacre, the UK introduced the Firearms Act that expanded the list of banned weapons and increased registration requirements for other weapons. The right to bear arms is in our constitution, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of thousands of children in the country. When will the right to carry weapons outweigh our right to live? We need background checks, analyzing previous mental issues or crimes, and restrictions on assault weapons that have caused mass murder. Implementing better storage laws to keep guns away from children and teens could prevent the deaths of thousands. Creating simple laws can help stop this violence. The solutions aren’t a mystery. They are things people have been saying for decades but nobody will take action.

Each new school shooting is a tragedy but also a failure of leadership and accountability. While school shootings remain a concern, the conversation needs to stay about how we can prevent them. Everybody plays an important role and we need to ensure schools remain a place for learning. We always say never again to each shooting, but when will it truly be the last time? We need to take action to make a change and protect our educators and students.