A CALL TO ACTION: ONE STEP CLOSER TO KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS SAFE

By Kayla Markowitz – Editor-in-Chief 

For many students and staff, school is our home away from home. We expect to be safe in our own home. So, why should we leave our families every morning to attend school without a guarantee that we will come back?

The first school shooting in America dates all the way back to 1764, and since then, hundreds of schools have been the target of terrible massacres and so many lives have been taken. One of the worst high school massacres was the Columbine Shooting in Littleton, Colorado, which was the first time a brutal attack on a high school was covered live. According to the Washington Post, 417 schools have been the victim of this violence since Columbine.

So what should we do?

One step we should be taking to prevent school shootings is to limit the access of firearms kids are exposed to. The U.S. Secret Service analyzed nearly 40 years of school violence involving firearms, and found that an estimated three-quarters of school shooters’ guns came from their parents’ home or a nearby relative’s home. This tells us that by making guns less accessible to kids and teenagers, there is less risk that they will be used dangerously. 

Every household storing a gun should have a complete background check. Along with this, there should be increased education and enforcement on storing guns safely so that they are not accessible to anyone but whom the gun belongs to. 

If a child or teenager obtains their parent’s or relative’s gun because it was not securely locked up, the parent should be held responsible and face legal consequences. Laws like this will help deter parents from allowing kids access to their firearms. 

In the most recent firearm attack at Apalachee High School in Georgia, 14 year-old Colt Gray got a hold of an AR-15-style rifle. His father, Colin Gray is facing charges of two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children because he gave his son access to the firearm used. 

Every school district in America, including Milford, would benefit from providing families with educational resources about safe and secure gun storage. At the federal level, Congress needs to pass common sense gun laws that protect gun owners’ rights, but more importantly, protect kids’ lives.