By Gabby Bonds
Elm Staff Writer
On Thursday, April 17, a school shooting at Florida State University left two dead and six injured. For American students across the country, this violent nightmare was just another weekday.
By consistently failing to prevent injuries or deaths from school-related shootings, the U.S. government has effectively accepted this violence as a part of American culture and promoted the sentiment that the government values guns over students.
As a result, American students have subtly adopted this notion as well. According to Education Week, rather than feeling rage and the consequent inspiration to act after yet another school shooting, students feel hopeless and disappointed, albeit unsurprised, by their government’s unwillingness to protect them.
School shootings are not normal and should be treated as the entirely preventable tragedy they are.
According to The BMJ, reactionary efforts to prevent school shootings currently in place, such as active shooter drills and armed security officers, are ineffective and developed under the pretense that school shootings are inevitable. Rather, preventative legislation, such as licensing laws for firearms, bans of large capacity magazines, and the implementation of laws for strict safe storage and child access prevention, are crucial to the fight against gun violence
“Mass shootings are a uniquely American problem, particularly in relation to other developed countries,” assistant professor at William Paterson University Jason R. Silvia said.
The idea of experiencing a school shooting is a real threat that students across the country encounter every day.
According to The Washington Post, there have been 428 school shootings in the United States since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 that left 16 dead and ushered in an era of school shootings.
At least 493 people have been killed by gun violence on school property since Columbine according to Newsweek.
Students seeking an education should not have to fear for their lives while doing so. Underpaid and underprepared teachers should not have to use their bodies to protect students from active shooters. Parents should not have to mourn the loss of their children who were not afforded the privilege of surviving the school day.
No one is more aware of this than 22-year-old Stephanie Horowitz, who previously survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. According to CBS News, Horowitz bore witness to this nightmare again at FSU as a master’s student and instructor just seven years later.
Immediately recognizing the signs of a school shooting because of her past experience — belongings left behind and no movement or noise — Horowitz helped usher her students to safety as soon as she identified the threat.
“I never thought it would happen to me for the first time, and here we are. Unfortunately, this is America for you,” Horowitz said.
Although guaranteeing the safety of American children should be the bare minimum for the government, the responsibility falls upon American citizens to pressure them into meeting this expectation.
Getting involved with organizations such as March For Our Lives or Brady United Against Gun Violence, as well as contacting lawmakers and pressuring them to create life-saving legislation are two important, influential ways to start.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo Caption: American students have become desensitized to gun violence.