In 2018, there have been 65 school shootings as of October 4. According to an organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, this is defined as “any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds.”
North Carolina shooting
Imagine walking into school on an average morning and all of a sudden hearing a gunshot. A place where you thought you could be safe, suddenly the thought of not being safe anymore enters your mind. What’s going on? Will others make it? Will I make it?
On Monday, Oct. 29, after a fight broke out between Jatwan Craig Cuffie, a 16 year old high school freshman and Bobby McKeithen, a 16 year old sophomore. This fight which began right before first period, ended in McKeithen being shot by Cuffie using a 380 auto and later dying at Carolinas Medical Center. On Monday afternoon, Cuffie was charged with first-degree murder.
Other school shootings
The shooting at North Carolina high school makes it the 65 school shooting in 2018. Stoneman Douglas high school had the highest fatalities with 17 students that were killed.
On Feb. 14 2018, Nicholas Cruz decided to take the lives of students at Stoneman Douglas high school. He killed 17 students using a .223-caliber AR-15 rifle. This shooting has been the deadliest since the Sandy Hook shooting. There also seems to be a trend in the guns being used during these deadly events. He legally bought this gun himself a year prior.
During the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, an AR-15 rifle was used as well as pistols. 20 students between the ages of six and seven were killed, as well as six adults. He obtained these three guns from his house.
On May 18 2018 in Santa Fe,Texas, Dimitrios Pagourtzis shot 20 people, 10 were killed and 10 were injured. He obtained a .38 revolver that was legally owned by his father.
What would Cabrini do
Prior to the lock-down drill the head of public safety, Joseph Fusco, held six training sessions pertaining to this. A total of six students showed up. If there was ever a shooting on campus, those who have signed up for the E2 campus emergency text notifications, would receive a notification to lock-down.
The desktops in classrooms now have these notifications pop up on all Cabrini computers. This is to ensure those who may not have their phones out, make sure they get the message.
Public safety is not armed, they rely on Radnor PD for that.
“All counties near by will come if a shooting occurs, S.W.A.T. will come,” Joseph Fusco said.
They would instead help students who are out roaming campus take shelter.
“Our goal is to be safe and secure, we say run, hide and fight,” Joseph Fusco said. “If you can get out, run. If you can not, hide and try barricading yourself.”
Radnor PD reviewed public safety polices for lock-down procedures and agreed with them.
Statistics
In total there have been 297 mass shootings in 2018 so far, that is almost one a day.
- In 2018 there have been 47, 728 incidents regarding gun violence.
- 12,113 of those people have died
- 2,353 teens between the ages 12-17 have been killed
- Only 1,494 of those who killed others was due to defensive use
For more information on gun violence visit https://www.gunviolencearchive.org
Gun Controversy and Second Amendment
The second amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The reason many conservatives do not believe in changing the law is due them having strong feelings regarding the second amendment.
Some have suggested to have better security or armed guards to help reduce the possibilities of school shootings occurring. In 1999 at Columbine High School, they had armed guards and two boys killed 15 people and injured 23.
According to Cheryl Jonson, criminology professor at Cincinnati’s Xavier University, she studied if having armed guards would reduce gun violence in schools. She found little evidence to prove this theory.
The NRA’s stance on firearms is “Banning guns from law-abiding Americans based on the criminal act of a madman will do nothing to prevent future attacks.”
Possible Solutions
It starts with us.
According to David Hemenway, director of Injury Control Research Center at Harvard, buying a car is more difficult than buying a firearm. One possible solution is in order to obtain a gun you would need to have a background check and have to obtain a license with some basic training. There is also a suggestion to include a history that is shown when buying a gun that shows previous purchases.
Laws could be in place in order to restrict which guns people can buy. All military assault weapons, such as an AR- 15 rifle, be banned from purchasing.
Another suggestion is for all states to have a Firearms Restraining Order. This order allows a court to determine someone who may be at risk of harming themselves or others, to revoke their right to purchase a gun and ban them from buying firearms for a period of time. This order could also prevent someone from buying ammunition. Once this order it put against someone, it is put into a statewide computer system. Another improvement could be to make it nationwide.
so stupid, millions incidents who protected them selves and their family not shot the gun.