I live in Albuquerque, NM where we have already had 3 school shootings since the beginning of 2022. Two resulted in children dying. One shooting took place in a middle school 3 days after school opened. The other occurred on February 25 near a high school where a high school junior was shot and killed by a 14-year-old student using a “ghost gun” (one which is purchased cheaply on the Internet and assembled at home).
In New York City, according to television station TV1, over 3300 weapons (guns, knives, and clubs) were seized at schools. This was an increase of over 80% from the previous year. Schools need to get ahead of the curve by preventing school violence not merely reacting to it. Schools need to provide for the mental as well as physical well being of students by providing sufficient numbers of school nurses, school counselors and psychologists.
My book, Preventing School Violence: A User’s Guide provides easy to implement suggestions such as – no one comes into any school unless they have a clear plastic book bag by having a clear plastic book bag, the weapons would be visible. This would not eliminate the carrying of weapons but would dramatically cut down on weapons brought into schools.