One year ago today, 17 lives were taken at the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This shooting sparked a movement and inspired many high school students who typically stay quiet to voice their opinions to the rest of the world. Gun violence is something that every high school student has to worry about- over 400 people have been shot in school shootings and nobody knows when or where it will happen next.
So what has changed? Students got braver, stronger, and more powerful. The March For Our Lives movement bettered our world, but it has not stopped the fear each and every student faces as we sit in a darkened room, waiting for a lockdown to end. Whether it be a bomb threat, suspicious activity, or just a drill, it’s the same thing- we are not safe. Suddenly, we are on our own, responsible for our lives. Like Mr. Hoggs says, we are just children. We are not responsible enough to pay taxes, live on our own, or even have our own job- so why are we responsible enough to face a school shooting?
(From one of my high school students)
Our school is just over a 1,000 high school kids; with grades 9th-12th. All visitors have to go through the office and sign in. We have a system called ALICE. Which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Staff is responsible for deciding our best action in the case that there would be an intruder in the building. Here we do not do active drills. No we have not experienced any gun violence. In the case of a school shooting I do not think that we have enough counselors here to help. There would be a lot of students that need/ want to be able to talk through what has happened. With only four counselors they would be waiting a while.Currently I feel safe in my school. However with the amount of violence in the world today I am not sure. There are some people that have made comments about the way school works. So I do not know what would happen.
To prevent school shootings there should be a way to make sure that no weapons are brought onto the campus. There should be better security and the minimum age to purchase a gun should be increased. However, if the laws concerning guns are made tighter like people think, people will still find a way to get a hold of a gun. The problem of school shootings are a larger cultural thing not just a school or political problem. Politics make it a huge deal, but also the schools need to provide measures in ensure that their students are safe when they enter the campus.
My school has never faced any real gun incidents thank God. However, some threats and rumors of course had been made. Schools should be a place where everyone feels safe and doesnt feel as if they need to watch their backs. When you hear about school shootings, students often think it could never happen to them, but it is obvious this is something that is happening all the time and everywhere.
My school has not taught what to directly do if a school shooter were to come into a classroom but we have gone over lock down and black out drills many times. We have one resource officer, but i dont believe that one person could save the lives of thousands of students. School shootings are more of a political and cultural problem at this point. It is something that we need to fix globally. I honestly think sometimes you can expect something serious with a shooter and soemtimes there are no signs at all. Something needs to be done and that needs to be done quick.
Schools should be a safe place where students can go to get an education. School shootings should never happen. In this case, there were signs. He was posting questionable things on social media that no one took seriously enough to report. 17 people lost their lives because no one chose to speak up about the threats made by the shooter. Threats as serious as these should always be reported because you never know what could happen. Reporting things like this can and do save lives.
My school has been fortunate enough to not face any gun violence inside of our school, especially in a world where it has become common for events like this to occur. I am not really sure how often we have lockdown drills in my school but we do have them; these drills are put in place so if there were to be a situation that the school needs to be in lockdown, then the students and staff would know what to do. We have increased security, not like have metal detectors or anything, just like blackout most doors and they must be locked so it is only able to open from the inside, without a key.
Honestly, I think that school shootings are a larger problem in a sense that it has been happening nationwide, not in a specific area of the country, so obviously it is a problem that should be taken care of. Political activists against stronger gun control are not completely looking at the situation with an open mind; they strive to protect the second amendment, which I have no criticism against because it is written in the Constitution. They have to understand that better gun control does not strictly mean getting rid of guns or limiting guns. There are other ways to solve this problem than taking away guns, whether is it limiting ammunition or stricter requirements for people to meet in order to acquire the gun. It is a different time now and something has to be done about the thirty-four mass shootings that have taken place in 2018 so far.
Although my school hasn't faced any gun violence, we have gotten many threats from people who wanted to bring a gun into our school. I am very hurt by the shooting that has happened in Parkland, Florida because it makes me think, "What if that happened to my school?" and "What school is next?" I don't feel safe going to school anymore because the World is so unpredictable. You don't know what's going to happen next. Parkland Florida was only 1 out of 14 school shootings that have happened around or on school grounds in the past 3 months. I feel like students should stand up for their own safety and for the safety of others all around the US now before another devastating shooting happens again. We need to make a change and it starts with us as students.
Although my school has fortunately not faced any gun violence I believe that every school in the nation has been affected in some way by the school shootings that have transpired over the past couple months specifically. I feel as though my school is safe, yet I think that everyone thinks that. "Oh, that could never happen at my school". Yet sometimes it does. The recent shootings have caused my school to practice how we would handle it if a shooting was to happen at our school, yet is there really a way to be fully prepared for something like that?? Something needs to change because people cannot keep dying.
My school has not faced any gun violence in the past and i hope that it will never happen. Unfortunately, someone has committed another shooting and is going to pay the price for it. It is a very sad topic and it is really sad to see something like this happen.
No, my school has not faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents. I am grateful that we have not because it is terrifying to hear about these mass school shootings in the news. I know that there is a possibility that there could be a mass shooting at my school, but I hope it never happens. I can't bare the thought of seeing some of my friends and classmates being subjected to this horrible situation.
My school hasn't faced any sort of gun violence, but if it were to ever happen I would be in shock and completely afraid. It is very heartbreaking at what happened to the deadly shooting at a Florida High school. No one would want to be able to face that, or have it scar them for the rest of their life. If I were in that position if it were to happen at my school, I wouldn't be able to feel the same at school which is safe. Children our age want to be able to feel safe, not have to come to school one day and a school shooting happens. Its understandable that we may never know if anyone is ever planning on doing it or is ever gonna do it, but actions should be made as you can tell by how many school shootings have happened over the past 2 months which is to make students actually feel completely safe. Things are going wrong in this world, and having to hear that innocent lives are being taken to soon is certainly not an outcome we choose to want because no one wants to have to go through this. My condolences to the families who have lost their love ones in any of the past shootings!
At my school we do many safety precautions if there were ever a school shooter on campus. We do this 2 times a semester so we could have a good memory of what to do if this was ever to happen at my school. We have not increased our school security because nothing bad has ever happened at my school. There are plenty of counseling resources that we contact at any time which makes everybody feel that they could talk to them if they see a problem.
Our school has never faced any gun violence before but if there was a school shooting I would be Terrified. I would honestly be so scared and will lose my mind. I feel safe at our school well because nothing has ever happen to my school before. I can say I feel safe because I never experienced a school shooting in my life. I honestly don't think you can feel safe if there is any kind of attack at your school. Like if there wasn't an attack or you didn't hear an attack you will feel safe but when you hear or see an attack you will most definitely feel unsafe. When there is an attack it is hard to hide because the attacker will know you are in school and will know where you will be at. To prevent more school shootings we should be aware and look out for people that are attackers. We should have more securities to look out for the school and protect the school so there wouldn't be any attackers at our school.
As I was going on my social media account and as I noticed a video going viral, it was actually a student recording during the shooting. I've never felt so terrifyed for another, and it made me think to myself that this could happen anywhere. Furthermore, its terrifying to think that this could potentially happen at a school, my school perhaps. Something is being done wrong, and its sad to see that this is the outcome of it. 17 innocent lives were taken, during school hours. A area where us as students are "supposed" to feel safe. Seems like anywhere you go today could be a calling for death, and that's not a world where we should be living in.
I don't feel unsafe in my school. I think, however, that this is because my school has never experienced anything like a school shooting before. I also believe that the students at the schools that have now experienced a shooting, had never experienced anything like this before. I don't believe feeling safe is important in any way when preparing for any kind of attack. We have precautions of course, and they have worked for minor threats. But the more we hear about shooting, the more the world learns of how schools treat threats and the easier it is to find a loop hole in those plans. I think hiding does nothing, its the middle o the school day, of course they know that there are students in the classrooms. And I think that arming teachers is a good plan if we want more casualties and more chaos.
I believe that the problem of school shootings is more of a political problem. The government needs to make it harder for individuals to obtain any weapon and to adjust the right to bear arms because the law was placed when guns were not as advanced as they are now. Citizens shouldn't even be allowed to have semi-automatic weapons unless trained and tested.
I for one do feel safe at my school because i know that my school has the right precautions in place in an emergency like the one seen in Florida. However I think that in the case of Florida they should have taken more precautions pertaining to the students as telling them to report suspicious behavior.
What happened at the Florida school is a huge tragedy. Apparently, Trump isn't doing his job saying that he will keep our country safe. Trump said "We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again." He really isn't doing his job if he is still permitting the school shootings. "We will make America safe again", I don't think so because our own fellow Americans are attacking each other. Our own kids aren't safe in schools due to the school shootings. "We will make America proud again", most of us aren't even proud that our own country has the biggest school shooting rate than any other country. How can we be proud of our own country if nothing right has been going on especially due to the school shootings. It's sad that many kids die to the hands of our own Americans. I feel safe at my school but you never know if our own students might have a crazy idea and shoot the school. My question to everyone who the heck is making our country safe again??
I am only a freshman but there hasn't been any school shooting at the caruthers high school so far, and I hope not to see any in the near future. We do take a precaution and it is called a lock down drill. This prepares us by hiding in the classroom and being very quite so the intruder doesn't hear us. I do feel very safe in my school. In my opinion, there should be security guards around the school patrolling the perimeter. I believe, it is mostly a schools problem because would a former student come back just to kill adults and kids. My question is, Who is going to make the next move the school or the shooters?
- Do you feel safe at school?
Yes, My school, Washington Union High School, is small, but takes safety precautions to the max. Although I go to school in an area where major gangs and violence is popular, my school makes sure none of what occurs outside of campus is within the school grounds. We have many staffs that monitor the campus and even the police department visits the school occasionally. Teachers emphasis what attempts they would take to assure our safety, and we have safety procedures from earthquakes, fires, blackouts, and etc. Thus, I am well assured that when present in the school, I am secured.
My reaction to the shooting that happened in Florida was very sad. When I seen the videos of the shooting on Facebook it really broke my heart, to know that innocent teens had to die. My heart goes out to the parents of the students and to the families of the teachers as well, that were either injured or lost their life. On the whole situation with the student’s was very heart-breaking to me, but I didn’t respect how people were making up all these different types of excuses for the boy that did the shooting. This may seem unsympathetic but however, no matter what you go through in life or whatever your medical conditions have been, that doesn’t give you the right to shoot up a school full of innocent people period. No matter if it was at a school or another public place. I believe the situation should of been handled way differently than it was because I believe if it was a person of color then that person might of been killed on the scene. But however this situation was very different. Not saying that the boy should of died on the scene for killing the children but I feel like if it was another person of my race it would of been handled in a very different manner.
No my school has never seen any gun violence or imminent threat. No our school has not increased security and we have new protocols in place but i think they are not as effective as other alternatives. Our school has glass windows that run parallel with the doors that are about a foot wide and run the length of the door. In the event of a shooter we flip the tables to block these windows and lock the doors.
My first reaction is sadness and sympathy for everyone who was killed or injured from the shooting. I truly cannot imagine what it would be like to be a parent hearing that your child has been killed (or injured) at school because of a minor with a semi-automatic rifle. My second reaction is anger. Pure anger and disappointment in America. It is 2018. We are in the 21st century. There has already been over 12 school shootings as we go into only the third month of the year. When will we do something about gun control? When will everyone realize that something needs to change? When will we all demand gun control laws? When will I be able to go to school and not fear my life ending? When will parents not have to worry about not seeing their kids come home from school? When will Congress make gun control laws? When WILL something change? Something needs to happen. It shouldn’t be easy for anyone to get their hands on a handgun, much less a semi-automatic/automatic/assault rifle. Living in Texas where it is legal for anyone to carry around a gun at any time leaves me worrying that at any given moment someone could pull out a gun and start shooting. Just like that. We will not be done protesting, walking out, or fighting until gun control laws are made.
this is devastating. why would someone just kill innocent people. these kids had their whole life ahead of them and this guy just killed them because they he had "mental problems".
I don't understand why someone would go shot up a school to kill innocent students and staff members. Its all disgusting, parents send their kids to school for an education. Everybody's life matters. Bulling can be torture. Let people be, let them be happy and go on with your life. Everyone has a limit, and they can or will explode and it won't be good. I feel safe at my school. The teachers and staff are all so caring about our safety, and teach us drills in case anything happens. But hiding in a classroom under desks, doors etc, it can be helpful.
I feel its unacceptable for people to go around, and think they can do whatever they want sense they drop out of school. that doesnt mean you rob other kids education because you messed up, if anything blame yourself get yourself, together. Those kids life matter in this community there still apart in and would never be forgettable its sad how this/our community cant help each other. thats not what this community is made for. we all help each other. showing sympathy not empathy. i feel like the school shooter in Flordia should be executed for everyoneś safety. in this community. or have life in prison
After hearing this i do not feel safe at school anymore i think i should be homeschooled and not give teachers guns whatever donald trump is saying, i think teachers should talk to students more if their being bullied or their having a hard time outside of school and we should improve our lockdowns because the person that is threatening the school will already know the lock down presigers because she or he went to school, they could shoot the noob and easily get in the class and start shooting going outside won't help because what happens if the person has more friends or she or he is good shot and can easily shoot students outside.How did this 18 year old white boy get a AR-15 rifle we need to control our gun policy there should be no guns for sell on the streets or any where,there should be weapons allowed for the army and just for the army civilians should not have guns at all.
I have infrequently practiced lock down drills in school and school safety always becomes a popular topic of discussion at my school following tragic events such as the one that recently happened in Florida. I have become more and more angered by our national response to shootings and our reluctance to take actions that will stop actions like this from happening again. I think it’s important to focus on school safety to ensure that if a dangerous situation does occur all students know what to do and how to protect themselves. However, instead of focussing so much on the flaws in school safety I think we need to take a step back and look at the larger issue with our relationship with guns in this country. Personally, I think the events in Florida call for serious and much needed gun reform to prevent an event like this from ever happening again. Additionally, I think schools should encourage/teach students how to be advocates for stricter gun control. I would rather live in a country where I don’t have to worry about a mass shooting happening at my school and I am tired of having discussions about these types of mass murders too frequently.
I believe what happened in Parkland, Florida is very terrifying, horrific and just awful! No school should ever face any sort of Gun violence or gun-related incidents! and I'm truly grateful that I have not gone through such a terrible experience. no one should ever go through such a traumatic, agonizing, and just terrible experience! and then I got home and I found out about the shooting I got soo scared knowing that was very close to home! and then the following day I didn't go to school because my mom was very very concerned for my safety because my sister had shown her a picture of a boy with a weapon saying " Round 2: Florida" and she thought the boy was from my school making her even more frightened about sending me to school, even though it was later on confirmed the boy was from North Carolina and not our state. and I personally believe the government needs to actually do something instead of showing their “grievance” about the topic, we need to Terminate the sales of assault weapons to minors; like how have they not raised the age to own a gun after so many shootings, after so many innocent lives were lost due to someone's lack of critical thinking skills and not having the foresight to think if they carried out the attack they would be in prison for the rest of their lives ( since our country doesn't do the death penalty anymore) The US needs to do something about this issue and they need to do something about it quickly! Best wishes to the affected families
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To those who are in hard times there is always a good side to what your going through it might seem shady at the moment but the actions Nikolas Cruz took have no word no forgiveness to the tragic event sadly there is nothing to do but pray for good to come in all our lives but its life. life takes and gives and sometimes its not fair the way life works but we all have a reason to see what goes on in life and some might disagree with one's opinion but its just the way i visualized this tragedy
My school has never faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents, something I am extremely grateful about. NO ONE should ever have to go through a traumatic experience like the students did in Parkland. Up until learning the details about the shooting, I felt relatively safe at school. Upon reading the details of the shooting, I was appalled at the situation and it made me fully realize something like this could happen at my school. This thought scared me and now, I frequently think about my safety at school. In my opinion, the problem of school shootings is definitely a larger political and cultural problem in the United States. These events happen in other countries, but unlike the United States, people take action and change their laws. We need to follow the example of other places in the world that have achieved a safer school environment. We need to put the safety of children first, not guns.
I think that schools need to do something about their security. We need armed guards at schools during all school hours in order to defend off a gunman. We are never safe in school because anyone with a gun can come strolling in at any time of the day and we have no way to defend ourselves.
This tragic event brings so much emotion to me and many others. With all the recent school shootings, and all of them in general, I am still confused as to why nothing major has happened to try to control this. When getting sent to school, you go to get an education and assume to get home back safe, but now we live in constant fear that something may happen to us. Do I personally feel safe at school? How can I? At times I think this will never happen at my school, but that's what everyone thinks until it actually happens. I don't feel safe, with everything going on and the lack of practice/drills we get at our school, I don't feel prepared and I don't feel safe.
This is a very scary thing school shooting are rising at an alarming rate. We are to focused on how to prevent school shootings with gun control ,but we should also be focused on how to prevent it from the base. Obviously all these school shootings are done by people who either were bullied or social awkward in school. We should try and train better school counselors to know if a student is going through something. My School has never faced any type of gun threat I think this is because we have very good counselors and teachers are always on watch during our breaks. I feel like if the majority of schools were like this in the U.S School shooting can be prevented from the start.
I normally feel safe at school, and our school hasn't faced any kind of gun violence or gun incident either, but to be here at a time when school shootings still continue, it changes the idea that your school is still safe. Many students from different schools believe there will be no school shooter in there are, and hopefully, there will be none, but to know that the chances of the next danger is always there, you can't help but feel that many places aren't as safe as it used to be.
Our school runs annual gun safety drills in case that something like this does happen. There are different safety procedures in place that if it does happen, all students are protected. But no student of any school should have to worry about these things because they shouldn't happen in the first place. There has to be ways to prevent one before anything happens, not to keep another one from happening.
You know it's always sad to see death but what's even sadder is how it happened. These 17 lives didn't deserve to be taken away like this. No life is. What did any of them do to deserve this cruel fate. If you ask Cruz he'll probably say, "They were there. I saw them so I killed them." It sounds grotesque but that's only my theory. Now because of him, parents are afraid to lose their children when they drop them off at school. Children even try to stay away from schools not because they don't like it, but because they believe their lives are at risk when they step on campus. It's not only the students but the teachers as well. When they go off to work, they fear that they'll never see their loved ones again. This shooting has caused fear in the American educators who are responsible to guild the new generation of leaders. Probably our only solution would have to be stricter gun control laws. Just by saying that a lot of people hate me now but I could care less. If it could mean that children and teachers feel safe to go to school, then bring on all the hate you want!
I couldn't believe something this tragic would happen again. School is suppose to be a place us kids and teens should feel safe. Not scared out of our seats in reaction to the sound of a gunshot. Parents send their children to school so they can get a good education and make something great out of their lives. They shouldn't have to worry if their child will come home at the end of the day. Many precious lives were lost that day. Those who did lose their lives that day headed to school and had no idea that it would be their last. Something needs to be done about these horrible shootings not later, but NOW!
I know there is no excuse for the actions that are taken by school shooters but bullying comes into play when asking "why?". Kids are brutal. High School kids are worse. Holding back your 'jokes' and laughs and even doing nice gestures for others could possibly stop these things from happening.
will some of the students will move schools because of the actions that happened ?
No kid should feel unsafe going to school, no parent should worry if their kid will come home alive. Unfortunately this is the reality we’re facing, the statistic for a America alone is roughly three shootings a week. That is so many innocent lives either ended or permanently damaged from those awful things happening. I don’t like school because sure some people aren’t great but I don’t think I should have to be afraid that someone is going to burst through the door with a gun. I don’t really think banning guns will fix that because I’ve grown up in a household with guns but we don’t use it to hurt anyone. I think changing something to make it harder for people who shouldn’t have guns to get them would definitely help but people would probably get angry if they were taken away entirely. It’s awful and so incredibly scary that so many people are gone, it didn’t feel real when I first heard about it but after watching videos and reading articles it settles in that this is real. It’s not new, it’s real and it need to stop. It’s so wrong and awful that someone could hurt so many people like this no matter how they feel about it after the fact nobody deserves to die like that. Nobody deserves to have their best friend shot and killed right next to them, nobody deserves to sand out and wait to find out if they had just had their kid taken from them. It’s not okay and change needs to start somewhere and the sooner the better.
I think that security in schools should increase and there should be better, longer background checks, maybe even a mental stability test to get a gun. I do not think that outlawing guns is the correct thing to do. There will always be guns available illegally so all it is doing is preventing citizens from protecting themselves. Schools need better security and AR-15 might be a step too far. I am all for the second amendment, my family even owns an AR-15 and own a gun myself because citizens should be able to protect themselves. I think that AR-15 are a step too far because you can empty so many large bullets in a quick amount of time. Shotguns are perfect defense against a home invasion and pistols can also be used for self defense and concealed carry but in no senario do I see myself using an AR-15 to protect myself. I think that outlawing all guns is not the answer. I think that we need a harder process to get guns especially in loose gun law states like Texas, Florida, Utah, Idaho and so on. In California it takes a takes a thorough background check and a month to get a gun. That is not to say that tragedies like this don’t happen in California, but there are MUCH less that in states like Texas or Florida. I also think that bullying is a huge part of school shooting. If you look back at the last 10, almost all of the shooters were bullied or are getting revenge on the school in some way, shape, or form.
Bailey Grace
After hearing about the shooting I thought about it for a long time. Why would someone think those thoughts? What drove that person to do those things? School should be a safe environment for learning. When you go to school you should be 100% sure that you will be going home to your family, but it’s hard to do that with all the school shootings happening all over the nation. Social Media can be used to point out that whatever is being done about this growing issue is not doing what it was meant to do. There should be a more rigorous process to retain guns such as having an authorized document from your doctor saying that you are mentally stable enough for a gun. Then background checks showing that you don’t have anything dealing with gun violence. I am disappointed that the adults in this country are not doing more to prevent these issues.
This was a devastating tragedy that occured, I hope that everyone can feel safe within their school. Watching the videos and reading about this was painstaking and I wish it on no one. I don’t necessarily think we need teachers with guns on them for protection, I think that’d lead to more fatalities and not really help the case. If anything there should be no guns on campus whatsoever. I think that we can raise awareness to the situation and bring attention to what needs to happen. Guns should not be accessible to kids easily at all, we need to change our laws according to that to help prevent further tragedies. We need to start making changes now.
This devastating misfortune that occurred was painstakingly hard to listen to. All of the young lives lost and heartbroken families left after this disaster makes you really wonder if you are safe. Kids should feel safe when entering the campuses of their schools .The sad thing is this could happen to anyone at any time and we all have to be ready for it. If we do more lockdown drills and and have higher security I fell like that would be best in order for kids and parents to feel safe. I am not saying that staff should have firearms to protect but we should definitely have someone on guard incase a potentially dangerous person decides to take it too far.
I see other comments talking about how we shouldn’t be talking about politics in a time like this, how we should just be feeling sad. What they need to realize is that simply being sad isn’t going to do anything. We are sad, which is why we don’t want this to happen again. This isn’t just politics, these are peoples lives. The issue of gun control needs to be discussed and acted upon, to prevent things like this from reoccurring, and just feeling sorry for ourselves and others won’t help at all. Something needs to actually HAPPEN, but the saddest thing of all is that nothing IS. Everyone says that we can’t change anything, that we aren’t old enough to be worrying about this stuff, and some people believe them and stop trying. When these things are happening to us, it is our right to be able to discuss it and have our opinions be heard.
I think it is crazy that someone would ever do a school shooting and that people should stay woke and realize that this could happen to your school. I really feel bad for the families who lost their kids and society needs to change the gun laws because nowadays you can get a semiautomatic gun way too easy. People need to protest because it is huge problem in America and a lot of innocent people are dying from it.
I feel safe at school in general, but I think most people aren’t very concerned with an event like this because we all think it would never happen at our school until it does. At a certain point if anyone really can get a gun there is no real way to feel 100% safe anywhere. I feel like at school and with what we are told to do now in this situation makes us vulnerable Like sitting ducks. The thought of being told to sit in a big group in a classroom where the shooter may be coming through the only exit makes me feel very unsafe. I think automatic rifles like this should not be sold period. As for better background checks for selling smaller and less dangerous guns I think that should also take place. The thing is about people saying it is not the gun it is the person is that it is very easy to resell guns like this putting them into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and there is no way to prevent that. I am just left with questions, what is the need for an automatic rifle or other guns like this? Does this overpower the importance of safety of students, educators, and people all over the country?
The tragic event in parkland that lost 17 lives of innocent teens I hope inspires change to gun control in the US to prevent more tragic events, as there has already been 18 school shootings this year, and it's only february. My school has never had a gun situation I can recall. But my school does nothing to prepare for a possible school shooting, we have no shooter drills, and my school has no security I am aware of. There is only one counselor and she's always busy so no, my school does not have enough counseling resources. I don't feel safe at school knowing if something like this were to happen, we have done nothing to prepare. At my school there is only one Exit and one entrance, so escaping would be a mess. I think getting Gun Control would not only help prevent school shootings, but also help shootings and armed robberies in general. I think school shooting is overall a larger political and cultural problem.
Something needs to change because if not then dragities will continue. Kids should not feel afraid at school it should be a place where they feel safe and not constantly having the thought in their head that someone could hurt them.
It's hard to walk through school today and not have the same question in my head, "What is the fastest, easiest way out of here?" and it's hard to ask myself that question and not follow it up with "Why do I have to ask myself that?" It's something too many people have gotten used to, and it's something that needs to change. School is already such a hostile environment for students, but now it's almost unbearable. Seeing my little sister go off to school each day and having to even consider that anything could happen, and I may not see her again, is something I don't want to have to do every time I walk out of the house. But it's something too many people are forced to do. The saddest thing though is everyone knows what can be done about it, but too many people oppose it due to the possible risks. When the truth is the risks we face each day going to school are much greater, and always will be.
A question I have for the other students or adults that are reading my comment is ‘what are you doing to prevent school shootings?’
It's sad to hear about the tragedy that has gone on in Parkland, Florida and it is just unacceptable that these types of tragedies keep repeating. My school hasn’t not faced and gun violence nor do I even want to think about it happening here. Lockdown drills are how our school prepares for such an act to take place, but sometimes I feel like if something is actually happening the lockdown plan may not work. Personally, I feel my school needs to be better prepared for such thing to happen, or even implement an evacuation plan. School is a place of education, to better the knowledge of future leaders of society. It shouldn’t be a place where you feel scared or even hesitate to attend. I feel safe in my school, and hopefully every other student does too. I have two friends that go to Stoneman Douglas and thankfully they are ok, but knowing what they have been through, they may not feel safe at school anymore. If something like this were to happen at my school I know my view may change.
Many people believe that banning assault rifles or guns is the answer to the solution but I don’t think that is the case. The government needs to make obtaining guns harder, maybe by investigating the customer’s past medical records, or even making them take a test to see what their mental state is. Sending condolences is not enough. We need to take action to stop these tragedies from happening.
I feel okay at school but not 100 percent safe, I feel like we definitely need more security guards. We have about four ways you can enter the building and i feel as though sense the dangerous person can come in either way there should be guards around the building, not just one. Also, we should have way more lock down drills especially because we go to many different classrooms throughout the day and the incident can happen any time of the day we should have an idea of where to go in almost every classroom.
These are comments from my Third Period: It’s messed up because 17 children died. I feel safe because the security and the teachers are everywhere. There are bullying and hate against each other. It’s sad how easy it was for the kid to buy a gun. I feel gun stores should be more cautious when it comes to selling weapons to teens. It’s sad 17 people died because a teen can simply buy an AR-15. I was sad and heartbroken. I felt scared because I wouldn’t know if a bullet would hit me. Two years ago, there was a guy walking around with a gun. School shooting is becoming a large cultural problem because now kids are getting guns or being bullied, so they start shooting at school. It’s very heartbreaking that innocent students died. It’s sad because that cop could have prevented that. I feel sad and upset because nobody deserves to be shot at. I don’t feel safe because the teachers and staff don’t know what to do. I was surprised and sad. My reaction to this shooting was very disappointed about how this world has become. That kid should not have done it. Don’t let assault rifles be sold since they’re mostly used for the military.
Hearing about another shooting is just so sad. I was crying watching videos of the survivors talking about their stories of what happened and watching the actual video of the shooting itself. It's crazy how something like this happens, but at the same time we are in a sense "used to" this kind of violence. I kind of feel safe in school, the only reason why I wouldn't is because my school is not in a good neighborhood, other than that feel safe.
The deadly shooting at a Florida high school is just so sad. My first thought was why and how did this happen. In my school I'm not sure if it's safe if anybody were to get in with a weapon, our cafeteria is pretty much in the open and too loud to hear an announcement. I feel as though every high school should have increased security just in case and also actually get the kids to take the drills seriously.
Masterman has a metal detector which every high school student has to go through. They hold many different drills throughout the year but I have never experienced an active shooter drill here at masterman or anywhere else. Since the school shooting at Stoneman Douglas, I haven’t noticed any increased security. I believe there are enough counseling resources with the counselors available and peer counseling.
School should be were you feel safe not were you fight for your life. With things like this going on in the world it's hard to feel safe.
At first, I wasn't super surprised or shocked about the shooting since they have been happening too frequently since the beginning of the year. But the more you think about it the worse it seems. It is unimaginable to have to go through something like this, and the government should be doing more to prevent it. I feel safe at my school, for I am around teachers and students that I can trust.
These are comments from my Second Period: We are going to work on this all together. Things are going to get better. I was shocked that this kid killed a lot of students. It has become a larger, cultural problem because, just like bullying, the shooters feel like they don’t belong here. The world is going crazy. We should be nice to everyone and kind to them because maybe we can prevent a school shooting. Condolences to those who were lost. May their family and friends get better. They are now in a better, peaceful, and safe place. I felt sad. I feel safe because we have security and police in the front. I don’t feel safe at school because it is such a toxic place. Bullies, drama, unnecessary knowledge, and now school shooters… I don’t feel safe at school because people are --------. It is very messed up learning that 17 people died and that school is not safe. Even though we have some incidents, it rarely happens. I do feel safe here because I trust that I’ll be okay in school if something like that happens. We need to have a safe learning environment and try to stop bullying from happening. There has been an increase, and it’s sad because America is supposed to be a wonderful place, but now it’s not.
These are comments from my First Period: People should open up if they hear anything that would hurt others. They were just kids. They had family, friends, dreams. It's so sick that this is a now normal thing. Why doesn't the government enforce school security and safety to protect against shooters? I think the shooting in FL is sad because 17 innocent people died. People don't think about other people and how many families it will hurt. People don't think about the people and families they're hurting. I feel safe and don't at the same time because we are in a classroom. A lot more people nowadays have mental health disorders and they are bullied or treated bad at home or in their past, and they can't let it go or they hold that anger and make rash decisions. Shooting has become a large cultural problem because a lot of schools have shootings. I was horrified. I don't know the true story behind this, but why are people like this? People just need to understand that not everyone's life is perfect. Stop bullying! It's scary and I don't want it to happen to us. I was shocked and it was scary. This shows has fast every school can get shot at. [I feel safe] because I have a lot of friends who can protect me. It sickens me that someone would do something like this. We faced gun violence when we were in 7th grade. No person should have to deal with a problem like this. I can't believe someone shot all those students and staff members. It's stupid to give a gun to a 19 year old.
It's a terrible feeling reading this article. Knowing 17 innocent students/teachers died in this school shooting. One thing i can say it's for everyone to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Our school has never really faced gun violence, last year we did have someone put on social media that they had on gun on campus but he was just joking. However, it was still not right for them to joke about something like that. I just think it's sad that at this point in time we have to be scared of someone coming into this school and shooting up the place and now we have to do drills just in case it ever does happen.
Our school does have drills in place for any dangers that may face the school. But our school has not hired any extra security personnel that may help with an active shooter on campus. We have a security guard that deals with normal high school occurrences, but I don't know if 1 security guard can protect a whole school in case of an emergency. I do believe we have enough counseling to help us with any concerns we may have.
I can't express how I feel exactly about this. It feels me with so many emotions one being sad very sad and fear a lot of fear knowing that one day you can lose a loved one or you might go to school and not go back home.
It's sad to know those students and teachers had a whole life ahead of them. Knowing that they couldn't achieve their hopes and dreams. It's really hard to accept the fact that no one is safe. Especially when in this country, it's easy for an 18 year old to have access to military-grade weapons.
Its very hard to see another shooting has accorded ,but yet nothing has been happening to gun laws. I think if the gun laws change the whole environment will change like less crimes. In school they say were safe ,but with no change in the gun laws we will always be scared everywhere we go.
It's sad to see that things such as these happen in our world. How one person can take so many other people away from their parents, siblings, family and friends. It's sad to not being able to see one of your loved ones ever again because of a person judgement and actions. No one deserves this. The victims didn't deserve to die. They had ever right to live just like anyone else. My reaction is just shocked. Why would anyone do this? People need to think before they act. To be reasonable, and maybe these things might never happen. To the victims I pray you Rest in Peace.
In my school we have practice lockdown drills for when there is a shooter in the school. We also have a metal detector and a police man at the main door. Our school security hasn't increased since this shooting. Although, there are enough counselors, I feel that my school needs little more security at the doors since there is only one door with has enough security but the other 3 doors aren't always locked.
I think we should reconstruct gun laws and make many changes. I think this is more of a political problem. The NRA is paying government officials to not talk or do anything about gun issues and I find that very shameful towards the government.
I cannot properly say or express how i feel about the tragedy that unfolds in a school shooting. It is something that just seems to only be in a movie. I can't honestly say im safe at school because anywhere tragedy can hit but I can say it does feel good to hear our teachers talk about it and give us proper knowledge on what's going on. I do feel comfortable coming everyday to school knowing that adults have what it takes to do what ever it takes to defend the students. We have practiced on school shooting here at my school.
I feel sad for those who didnt have the chance to go back home with there parents and for the parents who lost there son or daughter. I am angry at the person who started this but also angry at the schools and other people because there were signs showing them that there was something wrong with Cruz and didnt bother to look deeper into that maybe if they wuldve maybe he wouldnt have done what he did. I think that to prevent more shooting school should monitor more who goes in the schools and what they bring inside and to pay attention to those who need it so they wont do things that will result in a tragedy. In my opinion i think its a large political problem in the US.
Hearing that another school just got shot up is really traumatic and devastating. School is a place where students should feel safe and never scare of going to. Still so young and to have your life strip away is such a sad and terrible thing, that lunatic deserve the worst of the worst punishment. Tears are shed and pains are built, such an awful thing to have happened. Every school should upgrade on their security and have arm guards that are willing to put their life on the line to safe these students.
It is very hard to perfectly express how I feel about this. I am sad for those who could not return home to their parents. I am angry at the person who hurt others out of cowardice and hate. I am angry at officials who can only say that this is a tragedy that should have never happened yet continue to do nothing about it. I have never experienced a school shooting and hopefully never will but our school has drills to prepare in case one happens. We don't really have security to protect us, just some staff who patrol to keep students from ditching. We do however have amazing counselors and an on site counselor to talk to about our concerns. I believe that school shootings are a political problem since they have the power to set laws and rules with guns. One question I would like to ask everyone is ... What actions will you take to prevent this from happening again?
When I first heard about it, I wasn't as surprised as I was, around, 3 years ago. These acts of terror are more common and students are becoming more afraid. In my opinion, I think that the behavior and safety of students largely depend on school procedures and the directions of the staff therefore schools should place more importance on these.
It's saddening for the killer and the ones who were killed. For the killer to take such dangerous actions to hurt another human being and for those who were killed not knowing that they were going to die on that day.
This just shows that no one is really safe anywhere. You should always stay alert and pay close attention to your surroundings because you never know what can happen anyplace, at anytime.
This is just terrifying knowing that shooting have been happening a lot more lately in these few months that have passed. I feel that something needs to really be done fast. We need to work on the law to be changed so teachers are allowed to have guns for protection. I think what has to do with some of these shootings is kids that got bullied or that just had some problems with other students or even teachers
What happened at a Florida high school was a tragedy that no one should have experienced. My school has never faced any gun violence or incidents. No we don't have active shooter drills but we do feel safe. In my opinion, I believe the problem we have with school shootings is a political problem arose from mainstream media.
In my opinion I believe the school shooting isn't just a school issue but has more to it than just a "school situation" . We shouldn't ignore any serious comments or any threats given through their social medias . To prevent more school shootings there needs to be a change in the system . We shouldn't let this situation or many from the past just get passed us. We protect many other places filled with security guards and high surveillance but not the schools were innocent lives are expected to come home.
All these shooting happening back to back. We need to take action quickly because if not these attacks will continue and we wont know where or when it will happen. Like some of the parents said that school use to be a place where you can be safe and now it's different. i can't imagine how the love ones of felt, this why we need to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands.Taking varies restrictions on who can have a gun or not.I do feel save at my school you have to be very cautious about where you are and whos around you.
i think i do feel safe in school because i have to be positive, i cant be coming to school with fear,
Those kids had soo much ahead of themselves. They were just wee little lads in highschool. Yet to taste the fruit of adulthood. The reason for that is that just like a flower they were snipped at. They're lives cut short. Now yes the man did use an AR-15 to kill. That does not mean they should all be labled as dangerous. They being prejudiced. Just cause they're some bad AR-15's out there it ruins the image for all of them. Like the whole deal with 9/11. People began to label all muslims terrorist. People are judging them based off what people who they aren't even related to have done. Just cause they're a few bad apples they decide to punish the whole patch. Instead they should routinely inspect the fruit before hand and take them out. Remove them from the patch. Like Teachers today that punish the whole class for a mistake one student made. Should they really face the same punishment just cause of what a classmate has done. Instead snip or weed them out. Remove them from the patch before they spread like the plague and wipe out the rest of patch. Infecting them
I feel like something needs to be done about the gun laws in the United State, so many people are getting killed and injured, families are losing their loved ones. There needs to be gun laws that make it harder for people to access guns.
This is just devastating. When I first heard about this I just could not believe what I was hearing. There have been so many shootings these past two months, it is so unbelievable. Now in days you have to care more about your surroundings. It should not be like this. You should be able to feel safe at school and not worry about someone coming and shooting up your school. That should never be a fear for anyone.
I personally believe that in order to prevent more school shootings we need to get stricter gun regulations as well as more security stass. Another thing that can be done is make sure all students are okay.I believe school shootings are larger political problem.
In my opinion, school shootings are mostly related to school problems, whether its by bullying or revenge or other factors. School shootings will always be a tragedy that occurs.
I definitely feel safe at school. Not only because all of our teachers have given us more than one lecture on school shootings but because they have reassured us that with them as our teachers they are our first responders and they wouldnt let anything as tragic as a school shooting happen to our school. We have been briefed with everything to do in case of a school shooting.
Something really needs to be done about this, and fast. If not, it's likely that tragedies like this will continue.
When I first heard about this tragedy, I was angry and upset. It's sad to see as our country over the years has turn into a violent, angry, and divided nation.
My reaction was shock and I felt a bunch of sadness.How is it that we are in 2018 and have 18 school shootings this year.It is only February!The country seems to be divided right now over losing some of their gun rights or ensuring the safety of our future.This is disappointing and We should stand up as a united country and ensure we are safe.
Thank you to the NY Times for providing so many resources in one place. Young people led our country out of war in the 60's and now I'm hopeful that young people can lead our country toward safe policies on gun usage. Other countries are way ahead of us on this topic.
It’s crazy how when shootings like these occur, people spend a few days mourning, then the general public completely forgets about it, as if it never happened. This habit is what is causing these tragedies to happen repeatedly; instead of action to prevent it from happening again, we talk about it, “pray”, and move on. If people became more assertive about gun control, laws could get passed to ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands.
My reaction to the deadly Florida shooting was disappointment. I saw this statistic that we have already had 18 school shootings this year in 2018. I am disappointed in the fact that our government is not stepping in, and making changes to stop these school shootings from occurring. The shootings have happened too often. We need to learn as a county that it is more important to keep our youth safe than it is to protect the second amendment. I know there are alot of pro gun people out there, but we need to make the right decision here. Kids lives are on the line.
Most people believe that they probably won’t be affected by a shooting, but it is growing more common by the second. If we don’t change something soon you could be affected. And no one wants that to happen, so we might need to change our gun laws. Do you want your kids to be in danger, or lose your gun rights?
What is your reaction to the deadly shooting at a Florida high school?
I was very shocked to hear about the shooting because it was first announced on Valentines Day which is usually a happy day. During the moment of silence I was quiet and thought about why it had to happen on such a day. Wondering about if it was a coincidence or because of some relationship thing that had hurt the shooter, I became a little frightened.
When I heard of the tragedy that unfolded in Florida my first instinct was to swear, there were no other ways for me to describe how i was feeling. It is mind blowing that all of this pain and anger can cause someone to do something like this.
The anti gun politics have exploited this tragedy as a way of gaining leverage. All they want is to use this to take away semi automatic weapons and that is not the answer. A 30 30 pump is going to be just as deadly as a 5.56 semi automatic rifle.
My school hasn't faced any gun violence and I hope that never happens. My school has been taking all the precautions that are necessary. Yes, we do have active shooter drills at school and the security in the school has also increased. I believe, that my school give us enough counseling about shootings. We talk about school shootings all the time at school. Me talking about school shootings with my teachers and classmates makes me, understand things better and also be prepared if it were to happen. Talking about this is important, because you need a plan ahead before something terrible happens. I do feel safe at my school,because my school is not in the city and it feels really calm. My school is in a small town and it has a homey feeling. I believe that, school shootings are a huge political problem. It's a political problem,because use they need to put more restrictions for people who want to buy a guns. The gun sell-shops should do a background check on the person buying the gun.The government should,also do something about, gun laws and make a bigger change in the word. There should be a stop to gun violence, because there's thousands of innocent people being killed. Also I think,that they,shouldn't sell a rifle to an person especially, if they're under 19 years old. Are you prepared for what to do if a shooting happens at your school? Do you have a plan or have you talked about this with your teachers? Why can a teenager own a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle?
The moment I got the news that another school shooting had taken place, I was devastated. I could not believe that another event so heinous had taken place. I have always felt safe in my school but the more I think about the dangers that are luring because of the laws set in place, I become a bit more pensive about my safety. I am disgusted that many conservatives claim to be pro-life, yet they are still backing up the legality of military weapons. Military weapons, weapons that are used in war. How are teens/people getting these guns? Legally. Completely legally. While banning the weapon may not stop from it being sold on black markets, it will lower the amount of shooting, even if it is just by few. That I know of, my school has never had any gun incidents. I feel like security in schools must be increased. I also feel like police officers should be on campus. I do not think my school has enough protection in the building. I am generally disgusted and appalled by the open arms policies. I am 17 and I cannot get a license, but if I chose to, I could walk into a place that sells guns and buy a rifle. The laws set in place are a complete joke. Gun control measures must be taking. If you are really using your guns to hunt or protect yourself, you do not need the availability of a military weapon, and there is no reason to have a weapon that armies are trained to use. Lets rename schools uterus, so people actually care about the kids dying inside of them.
When i first heard about the shooting, the first thought that came to my head we’re “when are these mass shootings going to end?” I’m new to my school this year so I haven’t had any instances so far but I’ve heard about gun threats in the past. I personally don’t think much is being done to prevent school shootings. I truly used to feel safe at school but now, any one can interfere with that, even if the school decides to lock all of he doors or flood the halls with staff anything can happen. Things that should be done to prevent these shootings in the future are unknown and I don’t think there’s much things that school systems can do about it. I believe it’s more of a political problem and how we need to start fighting for gun control because normal teenagers should not have access to mass shooting weapons to begin with. Once again I don’t think there’s much schools can do about the situation but things we can start with are ; making everyone on campus feel safe and making sure if their are any signs of a school shooter, action should be taken immediately. Questions to ask ourselves that will protect ourselves and others are “am I being fully aware of my surroundings”
“Am I making anyone feel let down or bad about themselves” “should I have access to a military gun at my age” or “should I pay more attention to my children and be more involved in their life”.
I was completely outraged to hear that yet again there has been another school shooting. I hope that the government will finally realize that we need stricter laws involving guns. I feel so bad for the high schoolers that had to be a part of this tragic event. After I found out about the Florida school shooting I was so upset that the government could let this happen. Now I always feel a little anxious going to school.
When I hear about the Florida shooting I felt sad for all those kids parents thinking what if they shoot my son or daughter. What should be done to prevent another school shooting is that the government should make school security better like having an trained officer or put metal detectors in the main entrances
to prevent another shooting because how many more shooting there has to be before the government actually does something about. Instead of them debating about what to do they should is do a background check and not sell any type of firearm to a mentally disabled person. How many more lives have to be taken away from kids in school shootings before the government does anything about it.
When i was on social media i heard that there was a school shooting in Florida and right away i went to the news and saw the picture of the school and the assault rifles the shooter was using. It was sad because 17 students and 1 teacher died at the school and every student was scared and they were crying. Our school never faced any sort of gun violence but once we had a lock down drill because there was someone that escape jail and the police was looking for him. Every month we do a fire drill or lock down drill practices so when somthing actually happens we know what to do. Now every school should have a police officer around so if anything happens he could call for back up and the FBI would be there right away and now since there has been alot of school shooting i dont feel like school is safe because out of no where there could be a shooting at your school and no one will know what's happening.
I think that they should have more security at the school for example for people that aren't students at the school they should have some kind of scanner hen people enter the office and it can detects if someone has a weapon or not they can also have a officer at the school,they should also make it harder for people to access guns because it is dangerous.
When I heard about the shooting that took place in that school, I was really worried because they were talking about a school, and there were really students. It's a disgrace that things continue to happen like that because the government is supposed to take care of that, that people with problems do not carry weapons and less if they are minors, many people blame God for everything that is happening but it is really our fault and our government to continue allowing the sale of weapons to people with problems or adolescents, only my reaction was sad and not of amazement because every day that passes there are more shootings, it is just sadness and concern for society.
i think that are school never face that because
how your school is protected because of are students
and some students at your school know how to deal with
because we have classes that are criminal justice and
the teacher techs them moves and when i heard this i
was very sad because the kid were innocent and this was
a random thing that kid did.
I don't really care about the shooting because they don't protect. Parents send their kids for one reason because they know their going to be safe. They need to have someone to check for guns. They should check the students for any type of weapons on their packpacks.
I think that it was very hard for the family of the students and staff members that were killed in the shooting.
My school has not faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents. My school has precautions like a escape route. We also have alarms if their is an intruder to the school. We do not have school security and their is enough counseling resources since our school is pretty small so we have a lot of with anything we need.I do feel safe in school the teachers and students here are very kind and they really care about everyone's well being. What should be done to prevent or prepare for more school shootings is keep anyone who has a gun to have it locked. In my opinion, it is manly caused because of teens or people in general who where being treated wrongly and people who are following someone elses instructions. Would you doing something like this not smart decision?
This is horrifying to known that this has happened to Florida HIgh School. To know that families have lost there loved ones and families know that there children are in there hearts. Innocent people have lost there lives because of the shooter in Floridazzz. A lot of people are not safe because of the deadly shooting in Florida. There should not be easy access guns for younger people.
I think that the mass shooting in the Florida High School was very horrific. There has been lots of shooting in out country and i believe that no one is doing anything about it. People shouldnt be selling guns to underaged people even though the shooter was 19 years old. But, still I believe that things should be change very stricyl so that everyone can feel safe again.
Our school has never faced a gun shooting ever. Not that I know of. The precautions that our school takes is that we lock our doors from the outside. This is good because the shooter wont be able to get in easy. The doors are also are made from a material that is metal. This could make it harder for someone to knock it down by hand. We do not have active shooter drill. I think we do not have enough counseling for our school.I feel safe at school. I think what should be done to prevent school shooting is have a metal detectors and have a quick look at peoples backpack.
no well i don't think so. Are school don't do nuthin like shooting drills all we dois go to class and work and go next class and work yes i feel safe at school because you would like only enter through the office.there should be less able for people to get guns and have schools get more security.
bru they can go over the fence or use some cutters to get in with their supplies and you can't fell safe at school because it can happen any time.
When i heard about the Florida shooting it made me feel sad because of all those kids who lost their life for no good reason they didn't deserve that. my school has not faced that kind of violence. My school makes us practice once a year so we could be ready for an situation. We do have drills.I don't know about the increased school security. Yes there are enough counseling resources. I do feel safe at school. There should be more laws about getting guns for sale because it is very dangerous.
My school has never had shooting happen before. We don't have a shooting drill that I know but I think we do. I actually feel safe at school because there hasn't been anything dangerous here. There should be more security at schools and live cameras to see what is happening. Shooting problems are affected by everybody because it might happens at your school. Is ti scary after the shooting?
1
When I first heard about the school shooting in Parkland, I didn’t really care and thought that these mass shootings happen all the time. Once I started to learn more about the shooting, my feelings shifted. I felt a bit sad for the victims and I was shocked by how easily a shooting like this can occur. I even felt worried about how apathetic I was before learning more. Now, I believe that shootings in our country needs to be stopped immediately.
3
What happened that day was a horrible thing. For that to happen at a school is even worse because school is a place to feel safe and not worry about anything.
3
I think that the shooting was really sad. If i had a kid that got killed in the shooting i would want the kid that did it to go into prison with a life sentence. But people are saying that it could have been avoided, they were saying that he was posting about him shooting up the school and he called the police on himself. He told them that he was going to do it months before it happened. The cops just left him alone because they thought it was a prank or a joke.
3
My reaction to the deadly shooting is horrifying because it makes you think if that will happen to your school . When a day you think it's going to be safe and a good day to learn can turn into a horrible day . The thing that broke me the most was the life of those victims taken by one person . Family members crushed knowing the will never see there kids, husbands , and wifes ever again . The school will never be the same again being scared that this could happen again . ZZZZZZzXX
1
I think that the school shooting in Florida is really sad because the parents whose kids died never knew it was going to be the last time they see their child and it is sad that the government doesn't even do anything about the shootings that have been going around. I also think that the government should make a law or something to prevent shootings./'n
1
My reaction toward this horrible event was a deep rage at the shooter, feeling like he should be executed or worse, but the second feeling I had was a great sadness toward the victims of this unforgettable nightmare which they have experienced. These feelings were not the only ones I experienced but the main ones that I have felt.
1
My school has not faced any gun incidents and I hope we will never experience it anywhere in the future. Now that I keep hearing about all these gun shootings, I feel like it can happen to me any time in any public location. I don't understand why people do this. It's not like killing a bunch of innocent people will solve their problems.
1
I am horrified that things like the Florida School Shooting even happen. The thought that school, which is a place you go to feel safe and learn, could turn into something so horrific. I was devastated when I heard about what happened because that event could have easily been my school. Hearing about the students, teachers, and coaches that got murdered in this event, broke my heart. In my opinion, this can be helped with taking away the stigma around mental health and putting a ban on assault rifles. If the proper help is given to the people who need it, and if it is impossible to purchase a gun that can do so much harm so quickly, then I feel like the amount of these horrifying school shootings will go down.
It surprises me that events like this still happen in our country. I believe that we should definitely ban the use of guns, unless absolutely necessary (like for the police or such).
This was definitely a very horrific event. It makes me feel a lot less safer going to school and very worried. The shooter shouldn't have been allowed to get an AR-15 or any gun for that matter. Something needs to be done and people need to start stepping up to the plate to do so. Innocent lives were lost, one too many times!
To prevent more shootings I think there should be no easy access to guns, if someone is posting something on social media that could lead to a shooting then police should intervene, and that there should be a least one person, such as a counselor, that knows if the student is going through something that could harm himself or others. Easy access to guns is a big thing though because anyone could get a gun. I think school shootings are a political problem because people are continuously writing letters and making speeches about how the government needs to do more to prevent gun violence since certain laws, like what age you can get guns and easy access to them, are what's helping situations like this happen.
One major thing that people need to think about is that school shootings, or really any type of gun violence can occur anytime in any place. Therefore, gun violence needs to be controlled much better because since shootings can happen anywhere, it makes it seem like no one is really safe. So it is a good thing that many schools, including mine practice lockdown drills every once in a while in case we do have an emergency where there is a shooting of some sort. That way the student and adults can be safe and feel safe every day when they are coming to school every day. One last thing that I noticed that is used in my school to protect our safety, is having a metal detector to make sure no one in the high school is carrying some sort of weapon that can be used to harm someone. We also have a police officer who sits by the front doors every day to watch out for any intruders, that they are not coming in the school to harm anyone.
When I heard about the shooting, I was shocked and horrified to read about so many teenagers and school staff members who had lost their lives. To prevent school shootings in the future, I believe schools should have stronger safety precautions at the entrances, such as metal detectors. Also, I believe that the shooter should get therapy while in prison, to help clam down whatever was driving him to do something like this. In my opinion, we need gun laws to be stricter, to make it harder for people to get their hands on military-grade weapons.
When I first heard about the Florida shooting I was in shook. I was devastated when I heard about all of this. I was shaking with goosebumps when I heard the news reporter say there has been 17 deaths and many still in the hospital. The reporter later interviewed some of the kids that attended the high school. They just couldn’t believe what was happening. The descriptions they used were inhumane. I could never imagine this happening to my school. I read many reports of the shooting and about the teen that did this. I really believe this could have been prevented. The teen was reported to the FBI because of a youtube comment he made saying “I’m going to be a professional school shooter”. This should have been a huge red flag. There should have been something done about this. Another thing is that he was expelled from school because of “Aggressive behavior”. Also, just being 19, he bought 10 guns including the AR-15 he used in the attack. Guns laws need to be changed. Kids at 18 are able to buy guns. Most high school seniors can purchase guns whenever they want. This is not okay. This boy was not in a war, he should not need a machine gun. I send my prayers to everyone in Florida.
My reaction consisted of sadness and astonishment at the lack of action taken by the government officials in our country during the past few months after several mass shootings. Why would senators think about representing the citizens of the country when you are allowing those same people to suffer from these acts of violence? During my one and a half years at this school, there have not been any gun incidents. In our school, every so often we have a lockdown to practice what we would do to protect ourselves if something ever happens. However, I do not think that the procedure would prevent much damage to take place by just sitting in our classrooms in a corner in the dark when people can carry semi-automatic guns. I do feel safe at school because of the slim chances of there being a school shooting, even though the probability of there being one is more than in most other countries. I think that laws should be passed relating to gun control to ensure that people cannot obtain and purchase guns as easily as they can now, and have semi-automatic weapons.
it is just auful
As a high schooler, hearing about the Florida high school shooting hit home. The 17 people who lost their lives were exactly like the people I walk the halls with every day; a football coach, a teacher, kids my age. It was shocking, heartbreaking, and makes me scared. After the Florida high school shooting, our local county school board met and admitted there’s no way to prevent every single scenario. Stoneman Douglas High even had multiple and rather expensive safety systems in place to prevent something like this from happening and they all failed. Douglas has locked gates that surround the school and a code-red system that automatically locks classroom doors if someone suspicious gets through the locked gates. The school even expelled the shooter and he still got in! He timed his arrival just before school got out so the surrounding gates would be unlocked and he pulled the fire alarm which overrides a code-red so any locked doors would automatically unlock. Has my high school increased security since the shooting? No. We are one-third the size of Douglas High with just 1,000 students compared to 3,000 and we have double the amount of armed police officers on our campus daily. Is the problem of school shootings a school problem or a larger cultural problem? Isn’t it now everyone’s problem? One school board member was asked if this could happen at one of our local schools and he said that’s the $10 million question every school in the country is now trying to figure out.
When I first heard about the school shooting in Parkland, I didn’t really care and thought that these mass shootings happen all the time. Once I started to learn more about the shooting, my feelings shifted. I felt a bit sad for the victims and I was shocked by how easily a shooting like this can occur. I even felt worried about how apathetic I was before learning more. Now, I believe that shootings in our country needs to be stopped immediately.
I think that this was a very sad event. Many children have died and so have teachers. I think that the shooter responded to his problems in the wrong way. He lost both his parents so he probably has some depression. Many kids now have lost some friends and some people have lost brothers or sisters. One teacher even used his body to shield some students so he was very courageous to do that. His caretakers did not know about his gun and he even texted their son before the shooting. I think he need to get therapy in prison or something because he might be very depressed. He shouldn't have been allowed to get a AR 15 when he is 19 years old when he isn't even allowed to get a pistol.
When I heard of this school shooting, I felt bad for they young kids loosing their life, and the kids who didn't. It occured to me that this is starting to be the normal. Kids are growing up with this happening about every year, as if it should. It's just nature to them, that shouldn't be nature to anyone. I don't believe i could've even been within a mile of a school knowing I lost my friend because the government won't but a ban on military-grade weapons. And they still won't do anything about it. It's sad, nothing else to say.
When I heard that there had been another school shooting I was devastated. Shouldn’t our government have fixed this recurring problem by now? To many people and teachers are getting killed and hurt by school shootings. I think that it is great that students at that school and other schools are speaking out about gun violence.
My school hasn’t had any gun violence inside the building. We had a lock down drill in September. We only have one school officer protecting a lot of students, but there are many counselors that are always open for conversation.
Any shooting in the U.S. needs to be addressed by the government. The government could easily solve this issue with gun reform. The 2nd amendment says that you can own firearms for protection, but you don’t need to have a semi-automatic weapon to protect yourself.
I could never imagine walking into school one day and having to deal with the pain and suffering that these kids experienced just a few days ago. It makes me wonder if I am safe when I step into school. I always thought of school as like a force field for everyday life, that I was safe from anything in the outside world from harming me. This event has opened my eyes into seeing that no one is safe and that this tragedy could occur at any school at any time.
In my opinion, this tragedy should have never happened, and it could have been stopped last September. According to USA Today, In September 2017, the FBI received info about a comment on youtube by Nikolas Cruz. The comment said, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter,” According to the FBI, they conducted review and other checks and could not identify the person who posted the comment. In my opinion, if the FBI looked further into this investigation, then they would have found out that he was in possession of an AR-15 and could have stopped him before anything even occurred. More background checks must be put in place so the mentally unstable like Cruz himself never come in possession of these weapons.
1
The school shooting in Florida broke my heart. I was devastated to hear that there was another school shooting. I don’t understand why an 18 year old was able to get a gun that they use in the military. He shouldn’t have been able to get any type of gun. In my school we have lockdown drills and we have an officer that I trust with my life. We have had real lockdowns before because of a person with a gun in a school across the street. However, this does not compare to what has happened in Florida. There has been too many school shootings in a short period of time and this needs to come to an end. Something needs to be done. It may take a while, but I hope the students, the families, the school, and the community can heal from this tragedy that has happened.
Q: Has your school ever faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents?
A: No, not that I've heard.
Q:What precautions does your school take to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting? Do you have active shooter drills? Do you have increased school security? Are there enough counseling resources?
A: We have at least one lockdown drill a year, and we talk out plans for the strategically best place to hide in the room, and when we have the drill, we go to that spot in the room.
Q: Do you feel safe at school?
A: Yes.
Q: What should be done to prevent more school shootings? In your opinion, is the problem of school shootings mostly a school problem or is it a larger political or cultural problem in the United States?
A: Shootings in general are a governmental issue (though the government doesn't think so) and big companies like the NRA need to be stopped, and stronger gun laws must be enforced.
Q: What questions do you have for other students — or adults — who might be reading your comment?
A: What are you doing to aid control of this horrible epidemic?
My first reaction to heraing about this tragic event that happened I was sad but not surprised. A lot of people weren't surprised as much as they should be because it happenes so often now that it's just "normal". Many people have been sharing their feelings and thoughts about gun violence and what they think should be done about these tragic events. I'm glad thta people finally did start to voice their opinions but does it really take 17 people dying for people to start sharing their thoughts. Nobody, much less a kid should have to go through a tragic event such as this one. Losing loved ones, close friends, tecahers. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims families and friends and there teachers that were killed or injured in this terrible event. You will never be forgotten.
School is one of the safest places I can be at I feel. I'm surrounded by plenty of teachers and students that I know I can depend on. There may only be one security guard at my school but I trust him with my life. When entering the building everybody that walks in that doesn't attend the middle school has to pass a metal detector. On top of my already high sense of security we also are required to undergo a lockdown drill in case we ever have to do a real lockdown. Throughout the year we also have multiple assemblies to ensure we're ready for an emergency if there ever happens to be one.
Q- What questions do you have for other students or adults who might be reading your comment?
A- My question for people who might be reading my comment is what will you do to help prevent shootings and prevent many people from dying each year by gun violence.
My reaction, sadly, was "Not another one". Yet after hearing about the protests and the hard work that the students are doing, I personally have realized that gun control is what we need, and I hope a lot of other people are changing their minds. My reaction now is, it's a terrible thing that it took this long for change to happen, but the change that is happening now is tremendous.
To prevent more school shootings, there should be gun control. This is a problem with the U.S. Everyone who has power wants to talk about how they hope this never happens again and their thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s families yet they don’t do anything. They are letting the citizens of America die because they don’t want to lose the money that they’re getting from the NRA. I don’t understand how they could be so heartless and cruel. Thoughts and prayers won’t do anything, but action will. I think the government needs to stop sending thoughts and prayers and start caring about the fact that children are dying in a place that’s supposed to be safe.
My school has never faced any gun violence. However there were various times where we had multiple lock downs due to the community college right across my school.
Unfortunately we did not have any gun invasion drills, we had lock down drills. We also have wonderful peer counselors at our school that helps us with personal problems.
I wish I could feel safe at school because most people from Community College chose to bear arms into their school.
To prevent more school shootings in the US Danold the duck should take action instead of praying, praying gets us no where.
I don’t feel completely safe, but I don’t feel worried. I am concerned that by the weeks go by, more and more people are getting killed due to how easy it is to get guns. If the government does not change the way this country runs, and fast, there will definitely be more worried people. As more and more people die by guns, more and more people will decide that it’s time for change. We, as citizens of the United States, will get this law changed, like how women got the right to vote and how civil rights were enforced for all American citizens.
I feel to prevent more school shootings we need to prohibit the use of any gun more powerful than a handgun. This is not a school problem this is a political problem. I think everyone knows this is a political problem too, and I am disgusted by the fact that nothing has been done on the sole basis that money is being fed to these politicians by the people that want to keep gun laws the way they are. When a group of kids that have just gone through a school shooting walk four miles just to support one bill and it doesn't even get debated because of a landslide vote you know something is wrong. The politicians in Florida who voted to not even debate the bill are not fulfilling their duties to serve the people. When it is so obvious that the people want gun reform and it doesn't even get debated it shows that in politics as long as you have money you have all the power and it is a horrible but sad truth
It’s just horrible what happened there. Everybody just loves to complain and feel bad, but they will die in vain if we don’t do something about it. Gun reform is the only way. Speak out and truly show that you care about the kids that died. Anyone can get there hands on a gun and we need to stop that. Protests, marches, and anything else to speak out.
I believe that teachers and adults should educate children about guns and gun laws to help people know how dangerous they are. Also I believe that background checks should be increased to keep people away from guns that are dangerous. I think that school shootings are important and should be talked about politically because they are a serious problem that destroys many people's lives and families.
I can remember waking up bright and early in the morning, on my way to church for an early seminary. Upon arriving, the day seemed a little out of the ordinary, faces not as positive and calm as usual. To my surprise, I soon learned of the mass shooting in Florida killing 17 people and one member of the LDS (Latter Day Saints) church. My heart was immediately filled with grief, knowing how many people lost their lives to yet another shooter, and the fact that one of the victims, Alaina Petty was no longer able to serve God and her family due to one, unstable killer. I don’t care about the politics of the situation, and for any person to be thinking about politics in a time like this is absolutely absurd. Best of wishes for those who experienced this trauma, losing a loved one or not. We will fight these emotions of sorrow together, and defeat this battle as one, large family.
4
The shooting that occurred in Florida wasn’t something that we see in the future of schools. Those kids had life's to live and dreams to accomplish. During the shooting a kid decided to video tape the teen shoot in the room. That wasn't something smart to do instead he should have called for help or put his phone on silent that way the guy wouldn’t see him. This right for people to own guns should be for bitten from all states because things like this happen. No one should be allowed to have a gun if not trained or tracked when the gun is being used. I feel so bad for those kids who died. People need to realize that shooting around with a rifle isn't safe and if they do decide to attack a school where kids are involved they should be sentenced to years in prison or death because of those murderer's many children die and many life's are ruined.
I think its good that they are fighting against it and them telling their story. Teenagers might still be just kids but they can have a big empowerment. They can stand against bullies and help the ones who needed help. It was a tragic part of their lives and now some teenagers are having courage about telling their story. Its good that are trying to be more safe and adding things about how they can prevent from it to happen again.
I thought that it was such a terrible idea to let a 19 year old even buy a gun as well as not noticing that he had to take medication for his own problems. No one should be allowed to have access to ridiculously high-powered weapons and then release a rain of bullets among innocent people. I really feel bad for the amount of students that had to go through this and the amount of parents that lost their children because of the NRA allowing a teenager to gain access to an assault rifle. Too many lives have been lost and too many lives have been altered in this situation. Such a tragic event cannot be tolerated and we must act upon this immediately. We need immediate change in gun laws and better security for people who want to buy guns and better security in schools.
After hearing about this, I feel sad and frustrated. Despite the fact that this was the 18th school shooting of the year, the government hasn't done much. I'm not surprised. Do they even care about the lives being taken by these shootings? We are all so used to hearing about these school shootings. Do they want this to be part of their daily lives? We are also so used to feeling angry towards the shooter, but does feeling angry help? In my opinion, the background checks and gun control laws are not going to make much of a difference. Violence may decrease, but will school shootings ever stop? The things that you are doing in your communities, promoting safety without government action, supporting others, providing help for people who need it, and spreading knowledge and ideas will probably make an impact. Whatever the solution is, something must be done.
Q: Has your school faced any sort of gun violence or incidents?
A: No my school has not faced any gun incidents.
Q: What precautions does your school take to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting? Do you have active shooter drills? Do you have increased security? Are there enough counseling resources?
A: Kids have to go through a metal detector when they come to school in the morning. We have a lockdown drill, but it’s not only for shootings. We have one officer that watches one of the main entrances, but it’s not the only entrance. We have 3 counselors and we also have peer counselors which are high schoolers so we can relate with them.
Q: Do you feel safe at school?
A: Even though we are not the world's most secured school i still feel pretty safe knowing that i have good teacher and a police officer protecting us from what is outside the doors of the building.
Q: What should be done to prevent more school shootings? In your opinion, is the problem of school shootings mostly a school problem or is it a larger political or cultural problem in the United States.
A: To prevent more school shootings, we should have metal detectors for every school to make sure no one is carrying a weapon. Also, schools should hire professional psychologists to help these students mentally. I think school shootings are a political problem in the U.S. because the National Rifle Association is one of the reasons these shootings keep happening.
In my school, I feel like we have enough counseling resources, with our regular counselors and our peer counselors. I think it is good that we have peer counselors because we have people that is a little closer to our age and they can relateto us more. I think that the reason for school shootings is people going through things and wanting to take the anger on other people. I think that if we stop bullying, then it will be less shootings.
I just want to start off by saying that I was shocked that yet another incident related to gun violence had occurred. I think that the amount of shootings that have occurred this year is unbelievable and that it should stop immediately. In my opinion I think that our school has a pretty good protection from shootings except for the school doors not being secured. We usually have shooter drills or lock downs only when there are actual guns around but we typically only have practices for fire drills, not lock downs. Yes, I think that there are enough counselors because there are certain counselors for certain people with different last names. To prevent any more school shootings, I think that our school should have lock downs/shooter drills more often and have more security for the entrances to our school. In my opinion, shootings are more of a United States issue rather than a school issue because there aren’t only school shootings; there are shootings in general as well.
I think that the school shooter needed help and he got kicked out of the school so he got fed up. That still doesn't make it right that he shot the school up. Many lives were hurt that day and the government should stop this from happening. I think the government should make sure they do background checks on people when they buy guns and make sure that people aren’t going to do anything bad with these guns.
Has your school ever faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents?
No, we have had shelter in place because there was a gun across the street in the community college.
2. What precautions does your school take to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting? Do you have active shooter drills? Do you have increased school security? Are there enough counseling resources?
Our school has a metal detector to see if high schoolers have weapons. We do not have active shooter drills. We have a police officer that sits in front of the doors that lead into the school. Yes, I do think that there are enough counseling resources because we have three adult counselors and a bunch of peer counsulors.
3. Do you feel safe at school?
Yes, I do feel safe at my school.
4. What should be done to prevent more school shootings? In your opinion, is the problem of school shootings mostly a school problem or is it a larger political or cultural problem in the United States.
Something that should be done to prevent school shootings is to have stricter gun reform. I think it is mostly a school problem because the guy that shot up the school got expelled and I think that is why he did it.
5. What questions do you have for other students — or adults — who might be reading your comment?
If you are saying that you care so much about gun reform why don’t you go out and get it done?
I feel 50 50. I mean we do have a school police patrolling and good security, but I still feel unsafe. We still have some other entry ways that are open, but aren’t watched. During 8th period, high school students are allowed in and out. I feel as if that shouldn’t be allowed or somebody should be watching the doors. A random person could just walk right in. We need more security.
My school has not experienced any sort of gun violence but there have been a few lockdowns because of something outside of my school. My school has had some lockdown drills to prepare us for lockdowns. We had active shooter drills and even faced a real lockdown drill in my school. We have a metal detector that checks the high schoolers and a police officer, but other than that there are no other security. There is enough consoling and we have lessons that the consoulers teach us every Thursday. I feel safe at school because I think that the school takes enough precautions so a shooter doesn’t come in and kill/injure people. I think more consoling options should be available and also I think there should be more security measure to ensure that this doesn’t happen to my school or any other school. I think that school shootings are a big political problem in the U.S because there has been a lot of shootings recently in a lot of the states. The recent shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School is a good example of this. The students there are starting to protest at the capital of the U.S. My question to the people who are viewing the comment is that are you just going to sit there and watch more shootings happen, or are you going to do something about it?
When I first heard about this tragic event I was stunned and immediately felt something hit me. It was sorrow that hit and I was curious. First my family had on CNN and I saw the numbers of those injured, hurt, and killed. There was one word that just kept repeating in my head, and that was “why?”. “Why would someone do this?”, “How could they do this?”, “How did this happen?”, “Who did this?” Bunches of questions are floating and bouncing around in my mind. I believe that my school should take more precautions to prevent school shootings. We do take lockdowns and practice but I feel that you cannot do enough to be prepared for a tragedy such as this. At school, I used to feel safe but now I question if I should feel safe. I trust every adult at my school and I am in trust of those that protect, inform, and support us. There are enough counseling resources to depend on. Those who struggle with mental illness have very unique expressions in their feelings, a common way can be through art or literature. I believe this is a larger more political problem than a smaller school problem because the school cannot really be prepared and under the blame, where the government can be. The part that I think they should be blamed for is gun control and how to protect yourself. It is not necessary to have an AR 15 or a semi-automatic rifle to protect yourself. Thank you,
Seventh Grader Kevin M.
In my school, gun violence and accidents hasn’t happened as far as I’m concerned, but many occur all over the world and many don’t worry as much as others because they are used to it happening. My school does take safety precautions to prevent school shootings. For example, our school contains a metal detector which checks to see if there are any unwanted weapons. We also practice “lockdown” drills in case the is an invader wanting to hurt people.
To prevent school shootings or any shootings in general I think we need to pay attention to obsessions with firearms or change the Second Amendment and and limit weapons such as guns. I feel somewhat safe at school because in school there are more safety equipment than I do at home such as a police officer.
When I heard of the shooting at a Florida High School, I was shocked and stunned at this. It seems like the shootings are happening more and more frequently now. Will it happen to us?
At my school, we usually have lockdowns to prepare for a possible school shooting. I used to feel safe at school because we had one security guard at the front door, but now after I heard of the shootings that had happened, I don’t feel safe at school anymore. It just makes me feel sick that someone would do such thing. To prevent school shootings, I think there should be more counseling at schools because kids can express their inner feelings and thoughts. In my opinion, I think school shootings are mostly a school problem because the schools are treating the students with mental illnesses badly. There isn’t a lot of help for people with mental illnesses that are unknown and warning signs for health issues are usually overlooked. Students can express their feelings in art or literature, so there should be more experienced art and literacy teachers. Some people would probably say, "Why don't we get more security guards?" Well, what are the security guards going to do?
Why do people need to buy semi-automatic guns instead of a handgun to protect themselves? Why is it easier to get semi-automatic guns than handguns? Is there anything we can do to stop all the shootings? Is there anything we can do before more Americans die? There are so many questions out there, but so little answers.
When shootings at schools were first happening, people were astonished and sad and wanted to do something about it. Now, all people say is “oh there was another shooting that’s so sad,” and then they move on with their lives like nothing ever happened. Since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, over 400 people have lost their lives in more than 200 school shootings. I bet that most people didn’t know about it because I know that I certainly didn’t. I think that more gun control and gun reform laws should be put in place because so many people die because of it, and we could’ve saved a lot of those lives just by making guns harder to buy for someone at any age, not just 21 or older. The problem of school shootings is mostly a US political problem because our government is too blind to see that there are bad things happening in this country, and whether you want to do something about it or not, you’re going to have to because it's going to be your fault when more and more people buy guns and shoot them randomly at schools. One question that I have for other students is are you going to do anything about it like the students in Florida, or are you just going to stand by like everybody else?
I was very surprised and devastated after I heard what had happened in Stoneman Douglas High School. I could not believe that something like this had happened again, even after all the effort made to forward gun reform. I wonder what politicians supported by the NRA were thinking when they heard about this. Were they thinking, “Oh wow, that’s terrible but its not my fault, I couldn’t have done anything,” or were they thinking, “Is this my fault?” How can people still deny that the NRA, gun laws, and mental illness are the reasons for school shootings?
Surprisingly, I was not too shocked when I heard about the Florida shooting. So many shootings have been happening such as the Las Vegas shooting for example. I feel really upset and angry that the 19 year old just walked in and killed so many good people on Valentine’s Day. Those 17 people that passed away had such bright futures ahead of them and were innocent. In my school, we do lockdown drills every couple months to practice for a situation like what happened at Stoneman Douglas High School. Our school does have an officer but we only have one so anyone can easily get in because the doors aren’t locked and it is hard to keep track of who goes in and out. I hope that our politicians do something about these gun control laws so incidents like these can be prevented.
— As far as I know my school has never faced any sort of gun violence directly towards it.
— We have lock-down drills in case of a school shooting. We have had not had security increases so far. I think there are enough counseling resources.
— Yes I feel safe at school.
— I think there should be gun restrictions to try and prevent school shootings. I also think it is both a school and cultural problem.
— I don’t really have any questions except will the shooter ever be forgiven by you?
My reaction to the school shooting was that I was surprised I saw the number rise from two to seventeen. I was surprised at the fact that a person could enter a school with nobody there to supervise who is entering the school. And the shooter’s ability to get his hands on a Colt AR-15 was such an easy thing to do. In the end I am just shocked
My reaction to the shooting was wow, another mass shooting resulting in the lives of innocent people but this time young highschool students. I can not believe the government has still not done something to help prevent all of these shootings like take away guns or make stricter gun laws to take them away from dangerous people with the minds to kill. 18 school shootings have taken place in 2018 and were only the second month. Thats too many lives being taken and it's just not right.
The shooting made me realize that nobody cares about how us as children. If the FBI knew about him months or years ago how come they didn’t put a stop to it? It’s crazy because they can kill the blacks but cuff the whites. Throwing somebody in jail after taking so many young lives who were the future I didn’t know the person who was responsible of the shooting there lives can still continue breathing. They to need to stop two up and stop saying they got it but actually put a stop to it. My prayers go out to the families of everyone who lost a friend, sister or daughter. I’m being aware of my own surrounding at school when that shouldn’t be the case because school is “Safe”. They need to put a stop to gun violence and children even getting access to weapons.
- I feel somewhat safe at school, I do not feel like something bad is gonna happen but kids who do feel things like this will happen they should talk about the issue.
- My school does not partake in active shooter drills but however we have lock down drills sometimes because of a school near us sometimes brings guns in. I also feel my school has enough resources or counselors but my school fails to address the issue.
- To prevent more school shootings, There should be more security guards and even if you ban guns people are still gonna find a way to get them. I feel school shootings mostly happen when a kid gets bullied or kick out of a school and is so mad he uses a gun to pay back for it. I feel shooters can be anyone or race it depends on what their background story is so we know what made them do it.
- Some questions I have for people seeing this are, Is it okay to forgive people who do this? Is it ever okay to joke about this? Should we get rid of the second amendment?
Aidan Connelly 7th grade student J.R. Matserman
After hearing about this shooting, I was shocked and frustrated. I thought to myself, "how many more shootings have to occur before our politicians do something about gun control?" It makes me sick that politicians keep accepting money from the NRA instead of speaking out for gun reform. They're no better than the shooter himself. I can't imagine how the victims of the shooting must feel if I, a mere viewer, am feeling this way.
This shooting convinces me furthermore that we should put more resources in assessing children for mental health issues and have actual doctors to analyze them. Treatment for mental illness also should be made incredibly easier to pay for.This is definitely a culture thing and giving ideas to young, impressionable, and mentally tormented children. This has become a way to release all their tension caused by our society failing to accept them and making it out like mentally ill people are evil. There should be a large action for guns but an even bigger one for mental illness.
When I heard about the school shooting in Florida, I automatically thought, "Oh, just another shooting at a school." Deep down I did feel bad that yet another school was attacked and that more students or staff were killed. But the more I started to research this shooting, the more I became aware of the violence that is steadily rising in this cruel world. We send our soldiers out with bulletproof vests. Now we're having bulletproof book bags made, which makes me wonder: Are we sending children out to war instead of school? I am angered because how much is it going to take to bring this insanity to a grinding halt? How many bodies are going to have to pile up to make people realize that we are not doing anything to stop this? I may not have been in a school shooting, but I still don't feel safe at school due to the fact that a shooting could happen at any school at any time. Something needs to be done about this. I am tired of seeing lives lost to rage that is not always directed at one person.
My reaction to this was wow, I can't believe another shooting just happened. All we have to do is take away guns, but the NRA are no better then the shooters themselves. In other developed countries with much stricter gun control laws and they rarely have shooting and now we have shootings every other day. Either way this is extremely sad and none of the victims deserved this.
Imagine expecting something great and different out of a day that signifies love, then later gaining PTSD from even the thought of February 14th because of a school shooting. And the result of all this pain and suffering? The result of this stomach-churning event?
17 people are dead, and the murderer of all 17 is being called a "mislead child" in court; meanwhile the entirety of America argues for the 100th time on whether buying a gun should be illegal in our country or not.
I can't pretend to even be feeling a fraction of what the children involved in this shooting are feeling. I'm so ashamed of how Americans are handling their rights as citizens. I'm distraught, disturbed, and as a sophomore in high school- i'm absolutely terrified. I have been brought into an America that consists of revolutionary thinking and discovery; and yet, I have also been brought into a world where Nuclear War is a meme that eradicates the seriousness of the issue and our American President yells about meaningless problems on a social media platform whilst joking to fellow perverts about how he seduces women.
I'm frustrated, i'm angry and i'm afraid. 18 school shootings have occurred in America in 2018. 18 school shootings in the course of 2 months. What has to be done for Americans to do something about this issue? How many people have to die?
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When I first heard about this event I was stunned. This is the 18th school shooting this year alone. Recently there has been an outbreak of people sharing their opinion about gun violence. Yes, something needs to change but it shouldn't have taken this long for people to notice. School shootings have been happening for a very long time, they are not a new occurrence, so why did it take 17 people dying for us to finally realize that something was wrong? I'm glad people are starting to protest about guns and gun violence but we should have realized the threat earlier. This was a tragic event and my heart goes out to all of the lives affected by this event and the families that lost a child due to the sickening actions of Nikolas Cruz.
When I first heard about this it made me sad and frustrated. I felt sad because so many innocent people were killed and this brought sadness to the families who had friends and family members who attended this school. It also brought some frustration because it causes me to wonder why someone would do this. All of these kids and teachers woke up with the idea that they were just going to have another normal day at school with their friends and students but this all changed in a nick of time. It all changed because a former student decided to shoot up the school. Today in school we've talked about the shooting and when you talk about it, it is really hard to think of a solution that can solve this. I feel like something should be done about this and many feel like banning guns will solve the problem but I don't think so. I feel like this would just cause people into finding other ways to get hold of a gun and it will just CREATE another problem instead of solving it. I feel like the shooter is wrong for doing what he did because so many lives were lost and they didn't do anything to get killed. Along with the pain of all the people who lost friends and family in this shooting, fear has also risen. This causes people in their schools to wonder if they're really safe? If the people around them are safe?
As much as it pains me to see my students hearts break, it's encouraging to witness their noble reactions. Many are devastated, outraged, and passionate to do something that will help put an end to these senseless and tragic killings. They are anything but complacent.
I think their experiences commenting on NYT articles have strengthened their voices and they truly believe they can and will make a difference. They won't allow those precious 17 people to have died in vain.
I know my students will make a positive difference. Talking about this tragedy leads to talking about how to create a more compassionate world. One student emailed the teacher of the Exceptional Children at our school, asking how we could connect with them. He expressed his sadness that her students sit alone at lunch. He and his friends want to change that. And I know they will. They give me hope.
* students' hearts
When I originally heard about this horrific event I was on social media and I immediately started looking for more information on what happened. In class, our teacher showed us a video where the students that went to Stoneman Douglas High School were able to catch what was going on on their phones. By then I knew that the shooter killed 17 teachers and students, but watching the video and being able to actually hear the gunshots and see how everyone reacted was truly horrifying. I am fortunate enough to go to a school that has never had something like that happen before. I don't know how I would react if the shooter went to school with me because it's such a small school and you know everyone. As some teachers put it, we act like siblings because we've been together for so long. School shouldn't be a place where people are afraid to go every day fearing that something like what has happened in so many other places could happen to them. it should be a place where one is able to share their ideas without getting criticized and learn new information so that one day they could create a positive impact on the world.
I am appalled, that after Sandy Hook in 2012, not enough was done to stop further school shootings. People and the media mourn the deaths of lives cut short, yet in the past little action has been taken. Politicians have spoken out, protesters have gathered, and look where we are today: back at square one. Myself, as a student, along with many others are at our breaking point with this violence. There was something especially pungent and heartbreaking about this tragedy. Maybe it was the young adults who were so close to the finish line, or the aloofness of the law enforcement, but the damage done to the Parkland community is the last straw. We need change. The president needs to call for a bill to enforce gun laws. A million speeches can be spoken and news talk shows hosted. The only thing that can stop this madness is to ensure that in the future a mentally-disturbed monster cannot purchase a semi automatic rifle.
I am disappointed that this happened to innocent people. It's not about the shooting taking place on Valentines day, but how this happened. Why did this person have to do this? This person is someone who people will remember forever as a terrible person. He should not be able to get away with this. No parent should ever have to deal with the pain of someone killing their child, no person should have to feel the emptiness of loss. No emotional counselor will ever be able to make that pain go away, they might help make it bearable, but it will never go away. I truly hope people will increase security in schools so that this will not happen. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims, and everyone affected by this tragedy. Action really needs to be taken, and fast.
This was very heartbreaking to read and just awful to think someone would take the lives of all these innocent people. Deeper background checks would help this by not selling these guns legally. Also, banning semiautomatic weapons because it made it easier for the 19-year old to shoot easier. Semiautomatic aren't necessary for hunting or just to have fun.
This is a very scary thing and I think that this is not a very easy thing to stop, and I think that we need to come together as a group and set aside our differences and together as American citizens come up with a solution to this horrible thing happening now.
This was truly was heart breaking. I couldn't even fathom how these people feel. I really hate that this kind of stuff still happens today. I believe that guns shouldn't be apart of this nation any longer. Some people are just not responsible enough to carry around guns. The gun laws aren't strict enough, so making even stricter laws won't solve anything. If anything it will makes things worst. I just think that guns should be banned all together.
This event was an awful event filled with tears and tragedy, like it's predecessors. The world is getting worse every day with the environment deteriorating and people getting angrier and angrier. We have riots and shootings almost everyday. It's time to stop this though, WE can make a difference, WE can stop it. One person CANNOT. We have to give better security to schools. We need more cops, more protocols aiming at stopping this. In general we need to interfere with illegal gun purchase and need to give better background checks on mental, physical, and criminal records. WE can't ignore the issues, we did with Cruz and now 17 people are dead while one sits in a court room and prison cell. People outcry about how awful guns are and that we should remove them, but that hurts those trying to defend themselves, discredits our second amendment and more importantly is too unrealistic in America. We need to help those with mental health issues, stop those with issues and history towards violence and violent thoughts to be able to purchase guns and limit the guns able to be used, nobody needs to defend themselves with an AR15, rather a shotgun or pistol. WE can make that difference, stand up for what you believe in and fight for that right, fight to stop your siblings and your future children and your neighbors and that person on the other side of town you haven't met yet, but are extremely important from being killed. Stand up and share your opinion... I just did mine.
When I first heard about this shooting, I was in the car with my dad driving to school in the morning after, we were listening to our local news radio station and they started to talk about a shooting that happened in Florida. Then it went on to state that 17 people died. This just went into my dad and my heart. We were having a pleasant conversation and then it all just depleted, hearts devoured. I all of a sudden had a gut urge to pray for the victims and the people at the highschool. Once I finished praying the radio was talking about the ways that this should of been prevented, some people were on the ban all guns perspective and others were on the opposite side of the spectrum. My dad and I went to the conclusion of saying that not all guns should be banned and that the legal age of owning a gun should be risen. We think that semi-automatic weapons should be banned and that owning a gun should be raised to the age of 40. But if we keep going the way that we are going, shootings will just be an everyday thing for us which is awful to think about...
When I heard about this my heart sank. I kept on thinking of all those innocent people being killed when they did nothing. I also thought about my sisters and my dad who go to this school and if a shooting happened here I couldn't do anything. My school hasn't had a shooting yet but we are really close to a lot of banks , so there has been some robberies near my school. We don't do that many shooting drills and our school hasn't increased it's security in any way. School's should increase security and provide counseling to teachers, students and parents. To prevent school shootings maybe the government should control the distribution of guns. So that way we don't take the right to bare arms for people and would lead to more detailed background checks.
As a teacher, I want my students to feel safe and know that I would give my life protecting them.
This was truly horrifying. I watched a video about the incident with my history class at school, and we were all close to tears. Incidents like this make me wonder what our world is coming to. What on earth could possess someone to go and kill so many people, many of them classmates, and many of whom they probably don't even know? And they're not just bringing harm to them, but they're also causing unimaginable pain for the family members and loved ones of those victims. It's heartbreaking. I strongly believe that steps can be taken to improve security at schools, and to keep stuff like this from happening. I do not believe that gun control is the answer though. It is not the guns that are killing people, it's the people behind the guns. There are evil people in the world, and if they want to kill people for some twisted reason, they're going to find some way to do it, with or without guns, and they can cause just as much harm.
It is very scary to hear about 17 peoples life being taken. Due to a school shooting. If you know them or not. I think it is very important to be prepared for situations like this inside of your school. In the video shown, there is videos of shots being fired. It is unacceptable for a teacher to let that happen. The students should be quiet and not be on their phones unless they were getting help. I also think that schools should have more drills that prepare the students for these types of situations. Students should be able to go to school and not have to worry about getting shot. I know for sure when I go to school. The last thing that I want to be thinking about is "What if one of the people I know was to pull a gun out and start shooting at people". We should go to school to have fun and get an education. If you are living your life thinking about going to school and getting shot. You are not living right.
As we all know, this tragic shooting happened a few days ago on February 14. Though once I absorbed it for the first time, I moved on with my life. I went to school the next day completely fine, went to baseball practice like I normally do, and sat down and hate dinner with my family like always. The only time it came up was around the school, at dinner, and talked about it at lunch. I have become so used to these shootings, and didn't even realize it until nearly a week after. Right now in my world history class, we are talking about it, and this is truly the first time I have really put all my attention into it. About 10 minutes into our discussion, an unexpected fire alarm went off. I have never been quicker to the door for a practice fire alarm in my life. Walking the hallways to go outside seemed like the longest walk of my life, as I am solely thinking about being shot. Everyone is saying this should not happen, and that America's next generation of thinkers should not have to think about this, which is true. Though the only way something will change is if we can agree on a solution. Let's find some solution to this problem, and do it fast.
When I first heard about this shooting, I was in class and I was listening to a podcast and one of the topics that they brought up was the shooting. When I had processed what had happened, the first and only thing that I could thing of was, "What laws and law makers are working to abolish this recurring issue?"
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To think that in a day of love, someone like this could shot a school make's me feel disappointed in the US government, there is no freedom in the US, there is no freedom, equality or justice for the victims of gun violence. "My thoughts and prayers"? I have none, I think I am done thinking about this, there is no such thing as justice in the US if people are allowed to kill and our goverment is doing nothing.
AR-15 and shoot 17 kids. To speak in other words the NRA basically put bullet holes in kids that were trying to learn and have fun in order to fulfill their lives. The NRA put the dirt on the coffins, the NRA put the tears on the victim’s family’s eyes, The NRA put the blood stains on the floors and the holes in 6 year olds. But the Parkland shooter did not act alone he had 52 senators on his side and the president as well. As a student in the Parkland high school said adults are swayed by money, kids are swayed by feelings. The precautions my school takes in the event of a school shooting is that we have a officer in our school everyday along with a metal detector and a machine that allows us to sign in to school. In the event of a shooting my school performs a lockdown and we practice this drill a couple times a year. We have counseling available for anyone in the school as well.
No, I feel anything could happen at any time and that kids take things too seriously when they are not and people are capable of anything.
Too much to say could have been done. It is a national problem. Adults are choosing money over a child’s life over innocent people’s lives. Their children don’t get affected by this due to money so really there is no way to end it quickly it just grows and grows and it is becoming a trend now to where people seem as to having competitions on who could kill the most.
It is truly devastating to see the affects of the Florida shooting on students that live in Florida. If school shootings continue to happen, it will be 9/11 year round. People will continue to die and the government will say their condolences, but then do nothing. The NRA is becoming a terrorist group that expends lives at the risks of other's well being and that is not OK. America has a strong government but the president is no stronger than those school kids. A bullet could take his life as well.
It is sickening that the shooter was able to acquire ten semi-automatic rifles in one year. It is also terrifying that a college-age student was able to walk into the school, no questions asked, and open fire on children and teachers.
I am horrified that someone would do that to a school. I thought schools would be a safe place to learn but not all of them I guess.
We have a police officer and a metal detector. We do not have shooter drills. I think there is enough counseling resources for children.
Sometimes I get the feeling that I am not safe but most of the time I feel safe.
I think they should be more security in all schools. I think it's a school problem because it happens in school.
The Florida shooting is really really horrible but I feel shootings are normal now. School shootings come and go, some get noticed others don’t. But this shooting, I think is having a huge effect on everyone because the students are the ones who are protesting, and giving speeches, and even making a march called Our Lives. This is all getting attention of parents, adults, and politicians but the politicians won’t actually help unless they have been affected directly. This is sad and unacceptable.
Do you think that this shooting was planned to be on Valentines day or it just happened to be Valentines Day when Nickolas Cruz decided to go in to that school and shoot at random?
This is insane. I am shocked. If thoughts and prayers are enough for lives lost, why can't it be enough for the owners of guns? The middle schoolers don't have to go through any certain precautions. The system is broken. How it is that you have to be over the age of 21 to purchase a simple yet powerful handgun but only have to be the age of 18 to purchase military grade assault rifles. There's a loophole, for sure. We have counsolers which are great because we can seek help.
I was scrolling on social media when I saw a tweet about the shooting. I was shocked. I immediately closed my computer. How are you supposed to process that even though you, and others have written hundreds of letters, nothing’s changed. At that point, on February 17, 2017, there were 18 gun-related instances on school property in the US. 17 Innocent people are gone. I had to go and do research. For the next day or so, I was constantly on youtube, watching as much as I can. You need to learn to prevent mistakes, so why not learn now and prepare? We have to be broken records in a world of streaming content to be noticed. The only way to stop it is to do something, but we don't have the power for that. I still have one question for you, world:
How will we be able to use power for the good in times of dread?
After hearing to all of these mass shooting, I don't feel as safe in my school as I did before, and I believe other students at other schools feel the same way. It's hard to imagine that you wake up, thinking you are going to have another school day, like all the other days, and then a during the hours, a shooting happens and possibly your life is taken from you. Shouldn't we be able to feel safe at school, feel protected? Shouldn't we wake up to a bright and happy day, not to a day full of sorrow and pain? Us kids are the future generation of Earth, we will be the people that decide what happens in the future. Imagine your own life being taken from you, the chance of going through life just, gone. WE HAVE LIVES TOO. WE MATTER. SHOULDN'T WE ALWAYS FEEL SAFE, ALWAYS KNOW THAT NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN.
I remember being in 5th grade and hearing about the shooting at Sandy Hook. My initial reaction to the news was to go and pray, pray for everyone who had been affected by the unthinkable event that had occured. My reaction to the Florida High School shooting was no different. Valentine’s Day, a day supposed to be filled with love, turned out to be a day filled with inconceivable grief. Very fortunately, my school, in the time that I have been here, has never faced any gun violence or incidents, but that doesn’t mean that it will never happen. February isn’t over and there have already been 18 school shootings. School should be a place where parents send their kids for the betterment of their lives, and not a place in which students and staff have to fear for their safety. I have been hearing all about walk-outs and marches that are going to occur in support of gun control, and I am in complete support of it. Things need to change before they get any worse than they already are. I, fortunately, feel very safe at my school. Doors to most of the classrooms remain locked throughout the day, and we have drills that show us what to do in case of an emergency, such as a school shooting. In these drills, we all go to the corner of the room, the teacher covers the window in the door with paper, and the lights are turned off.
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I completely agree with you Emily. Very well said.
I really disapprove of this. I can’t believe somebody would be as cold and heartless as to be thinking of money over lives, but of course that is what many senators do today. I find it atrocious that a child could buy a military grade weapon and go in and shoot high schoolers. I am literally speechless. I don’t know what else to say. Everything that everybody has done seems to be useless, and i just feel hopeless. What would happen if our school was shot? I can’t imagine the horror of a person being shot, the sickness of the shooter, or the coldheartedness of the senator or NRA member who allowed it - what can I say?
A question I have for adults specifically is why does this continue to happen? Why don’t the adults, who have even the smallest fraction of power compared to most, not speak out? Why do you brush away the issue as if it were a norm in society? In being honest, it’s quite disgusting how we no longer try. It seems as if we no longer care for anyone other than who we care for. We no longer show sympathy or empathy to anyone we don’t know. It’s very sad, but it seems true. I wish for that to change, but it’s a seed of hope that just doesn’t have enough water to sprout. It may never grow, but if it does, a beautiful flower of peace can flourish.
NY Times Questions
My reaction to this school shooting is that I am heartbroken. To think that a person would have to go through the grief and remorse, it’s despicable. Just to think, my best friend could have gotten shot and because of our lazy and inconsiderate government. It baffles me.
Precautions that my school takes are that the high schoolers at my school have to go through a metal detector. However, the middle schoolers don't take any other precautions which worries me. We should up our security so that we can prevent shootings from happening in the first place not taking it to precautionary measures after it happens.
I feel as though I tell myself that I am safe and I try to believe it but in reality none of us are safe. We can up our security but people will still find a way to go against the system.
I think we can try our best to make sure that our school is safe by making middle schoolers go through metal detectors. These shootings are not just a school problem but a political problem. The fact that school shootings even happen are because politicians let the people have guns.
A question I would like to ask is: how do you handle something like this?
In my opinion, gun reform and gun control will stop school shootings. I can not believe that after all of these shootings that there is no gun reform. It is unbelievable that anyone can buy a gun. I am not sure if the government really knows what a gun is and how it can kill so many people. Gun control will make it that random people, like the person that caused this shooting, can’t buy guns. I believe that this is a political problem because the people in the government have the power to stop school shootings but will not. It is so ridiculous that literally anyone can buy a gun. The government knows that gun reform would fix this happening in the future, but for some reason will not act. I think that our president needs to get his head out of the clouds and take action on ending school shootings and violence all together.
I believe that there should be a total elimination of the NRA and riffles. How does no change come after mass shootings like this one, Columbine, and Las Vegas then no change will come and everyone will end up being shot. I think there is hope. I think with all the outcry from these teenagers and from there families that maybe something might change and we could live in peace.
There should be more security to prevent school shootings. I believe shooting like this are neither a school problem or a political problem. I think it is more of a personal problem and peers of the shooter should be more aware if someone is showing signs that they will shoot up a school.
I believe that somewhat stricter gun laws should be put in place to prevent school shootings, but I don’t think it would help completely. People always find ways around things that are harmful to themselves or others, such as drugs. In my opinion, the problem of school shootings is a larger political or cultural problem. People of higher authority protect others with guns, so banning them most likely won't be effective. Just like most other weapons, guns cannot act by themselves. I don't think that guns should be completely banished, but there should be stricter laws. Whether they would help or not, I'm not sure.
If you really think this through, I believe there are only 2 solutions. One, the NRA and the government get it together and finally decide to end these shootings once and for all. Two, the government (or the people, for that matter) shut the NRA down and ban guns from the United States entirely. These automatic weapons should absolutely NOT be in the hands of anyone, much less a 19 year-old.
I remember 2 of the shootings vividly. During the Las Vegas Shooting, my phone buzzed and I went to see what it said. It said that over 50 people had died. I remember the incredible feeling of pure sadness and how it must have felt to be there. I also remember the Florida shooting very well. I got the notification on my phone and went down to my mom. I said to her "For all I know, my school could be next." It was such an intense moment and I will remember this for a very long time.
My condolences are with the victims and the traumatized. I am in disbelief for the inactivity of the government concerning this topic.
Guns are not bettering this country in any possible way. The thought that some groups of people think that guns are great, sicken me. These people are despicable and need to learn the true meaning of guns.
A question I have for students and adults is why will people only try to do something about a school shooting if they are personally affected. I feel that everyone should try and do something about this recent school shooting in Florida even if they were not personally affected.
When I first heard about the mass shooting in Florida I wasn’t surprised or astonished because this happens so much. It is terrible that the nation isn't surprised. Why do I live in a world where people aren’t surprised when a life is lost due to something preventable. It is crazy, and everyone should be doing something about it because that could have been you. It could have been you at that school, at a music festival, or in that church. What is more horrifying is that our government has done nothing to change the gun laws. Thoughts and prayers aren't going to help stop another mass shooting.
I don't think that there was much you could have done to stop the shooting once he got in the building. But there could have been a way to stop the shooting before. First, why didn’t the police arrest Cruz for domestic violence against his own mother? Also, the school should have been on alert once Cruz was kicked out of school. Bringing machetes and endlessly talking about violence and guns should have alerted everybody at the school. Finally, once Cruz got in the school, there should be a police officer at public schools in which there have been kids that are troubled. But since there wasn’t, without doing anything before the shooting, there isn’t much you can do to stop the shooter.
I’m not going to even try to understand what the survivors and family of the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shooting are feeling right now. I know that whatever I imagine will not even come close to what it really feels like. But even if I can’t comprehend the recent events, I am not going to be one of those people who just stands by and lets horrible things happen. This isn’t acceptable, but it’s beginning to be considered so. When school shootings take place, I should experience shock. I really should. But as a child in this generation of violence, I didn’t. One of my friends just shrugged when she heard. This is our reality, though it doesn’t have to be.
The answer to preventing this issue seems so simple to me: banning guns. I don't see how a weapon could ever be helpful. It's so easy for someone to get their hands on a gun, and it's so easy for things to go wrong. Why not just eliminate this threat? It really just doesn't make sense to me why it's so unbelievably hard to save lives and change things. At this point, you are either are or are not a murderer. If you stand for guns, you're allowing people to be shot; there's really no other way to put it.
My reaction to this event is neutral. To be honest, this was inevitable; it would have happened sooner or later. Consider all of the tragic events that have happened in the past two years alone. There was essentially no retaliation against the root cause of those events from our government, so what were we supposed to expect? It's sad, but that's the truth of it.
My school has never faced gun violence during my time here so far, but we've done one lock down two years ago when there was a gunman at the community college across the street during the school day.
We have one or two lock down drills each year, lasting about five minutes each. During the one last year, no one took it seriously and were whispering to each other and laughing; if that had happened during a real school shooting, we all could have lost our lives. That makes me think that mentally, students are not prepared for a shooting should it happen to our school. We do have counselors, metal detectors and one security officer; but if was a real shooting, that wouldn't have been enough. I feel safe at school though, mostly because I don't see any threats inside school during the day.
I think we should have more lock downs and advocate for gun law reforms if possible; it's definitely a political problem in the United States. The government doesn't recognize the threat of firearms in schools; that combined with other factors ultimately led to the death of those seventeen people that day.
I used to wonder why this happens. I wondered why anyone would ever do such a thing. Now, since shootings are happening more often, I am done wondering. On February 14th, while I was busy with my own life, a mass shooting was occurring. Seventeen students and teachers were killed by one person. My reaction to this is I am horrified and glad students are speaking up about it. This has actually happened and it is astonishing and upsetting to think about the lives that were ended. I think that Emma Gonzalez was speaking the truth when she said that if our president did not change anything when the new schools were in danger, do u think he would change something now that there have been shooting at the schools? I wish he would, but unfortunately, I don't think he will. So, this means that everyone else needs to start speaking up about it.
In my school there isn't much security with only one person keeping an eye on many doors of the school, but I feel as if I'm very safe. It might have to do with how I've never experienced having the threat of crazy people with guns. I also think that school shootings are not the school's problem that crazy people can just get a hold of military grade weapons. Instead it's the government's fault.
I think that shootings in general are terrible, as do many many other people. After things like this happen I think in my head "why do people do things like this." I am always stunned by how many people get injured and killed and I also can't help thinking that the person that was shooting in the school meant to do it. It's so insane the things that go through some peoples' heads. you have to be a terrible person to walk into a situation and think to shoot people.
17 innocent people, students and teachers, have lost their lives on Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated for love and compassion for others, at a high school in Florida. A 19 year old, still considered to most as a child, walked into his former high school with a gun, a semi-automatic AR-15 Rifle.
Our school, Julia R. Masterman, has never faced any gun related incidents, but we do take precautions by having lock down drills every so often. These lock down drills may not ensure that there will be no damage, but it will surely give us more time. These lock down drills help prepare us in case an unidentified person enters the building.
For me, school is like second home. I have loved ones here who I care about and am willing to protect. With them here, I do feel that school is a safe place for me to be. We have one officer, Officer Taylor. Overall he’s a really nice guy and a good officer, but with just one of him, there has to be some blind spots where a shooter can just slip through.
It is infuriating how no one in a seat of power is doing anything to prevent these shootings from happening. People don’t listen to children because they think they’re too young to understand anything, especially how the government runs, but this is not the case. They don’t listen to the children, but they’ll listen to the NRA. They rely on the NRA to run their campaign, but they rely on the children’s parents to vote for them.
Why haven’t the government officials done anything about this topic?
It makes me wonder how much us as students are being effected by the society that surrounds us and how much kids are being protected in a place where we are supposed to feel "safe"
People dead, families broken. Don't they think about others. What about your family? How would they feel if there family was torn apart because of a shooting? The speech Emma Gonzalez said really touched me. It made me realize that we can always do something. Even if it changes a very little thing. We can still make a change. When I first heard of this, it was when I was coming out of school. I was in the car on my way to my house when my mom called and told me about the shooting. She said that there were 17 killed people. My friend was next to me. I looked at her. She noticed that something was wrong. I told her everything. It was very shocking for both of us.
I agree and I believe that you will make a difference.
I think its true what Emma Gonzalez said that if our president did not change anything when he new that schools were in danger, do people think he would change something now that more school or being shooted. I think that if our president would have cared for us I think that he would have changed the law right there when he new that schools were in danger. I think that if our president cared he would have changed something I think things would not change at all because if so many shooting have been happening and they had not changed anything I think that nothing would change now.
17 people are dead. 17 innocent lives. Words can’t even begin to describe the horror that Douglass High School endured. Students, parents, and teachers started their day with hearts full of love and ended it with eyes full of tears. Valentine’s day, a day dedicated to love and compassion, was instead filled with grief and utter sadness.
I remember clearly how I first heard about the tragedy. I was in my room doing homework when I was startled by the TV’s sudden increase in volume. I crept to the living room to see what was going on and froze. First seeing the CNN headline on the TV, “17 Dead at School Shooting”, and then immediately turning to meet my mom’s gaze. She was pale, the blood drained from her face. Behind her misty eyes, she stared at me with a look of sheer panic. I had never seen my mom seem so afraid. I couldn’t comprehend the extent of the tragedy till that very moment when I saw my mom, the strongest person I know, break down and cry. She then slowly opened her mouth and said to me in a quivering voice, “A mother should never have to bury their child. Never.”
We cannot just ignore the catastrophe in Florida. Something needs to be done to stop these mass shooting. It is the only way we can honor not just the lives of the victims in Florida, but the 13, 286 gun deaths that occur in America every single year. As American citizens, it’s our job to stand up for what’s right. Nothing is going to change unless we the people do something about it.
1
Kate,
Your eloquent words inspire action.
In order to stop school shootings congress must finally put their foot down and make better gun laws. Instead they didn't do anything because they are sponsored by the NSA. This annoys me because members of congress care more about making some easy money then the people that voted them into office. School shootings is a school problem and a political problem because most school shooters have been bullied (school) however they can obtain semi-automatic military grade guns (political). If gun reform was enforced then school shooting would almost be gone. I say almost because you could still buy guns on the black market if you pay enough. I always feel safe on my way to school, during school, and after school so why shouldn't everyone else.
Our school does take precautions to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting. We have lockdown drills, metal detectors, and a school police officer. However, we only have one lockdown drill every school year. The students in the school don’t even take it seriously. They are so used to hearing about tragic school shootings on the news, that most don’t believe that it could ever happen to them. If the lockdown drill were real, we would have all been shot to death. Our school police officer, Officer Taylor, is very good and nice. He would never do anything to jeopardize the safety of Masterman students or staff. Our metal detectors do work well, and we do thorough searches of every student every morning. However, they are only done for high school students, which is understandable, but I do believe they should be done for middle school students.
My school has only had an incident with gun violence when they thought someone had a gun at the community college. We had a lockdown for about thirty minutes.
Precautions we take for school are a lockdown drill every year, to prepare if anyone did actually come into the school. We have a metal detector that everyone that comes into the school must go through if they are in highschool or older.
Overall, I do feel safe at school. I don’t think anything bad will ever really happen.
I think it is a combo of both.
I feel very sorrowful about the Florida shooting as it is very sad that many innocent lives were lost and we have these incidents in our country. These are examples on how rules and laws should be enforced on how guns are used and how to acquire them. But these flaws and mistakes help make our country stronger and we can learn from them so that these incidents will not occur in the future.
The gun control laws in this country are horrific. No one else has this many mass shootings or as many guns. Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since 1996. Why is a nineteen-year-old allowed to have a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle? That just doesn’t make sense to me. How many casualties need to happen until someone actually does something about it? No civilian needs a weapon like that. People always say that gun control laws shouldn’t been written because of the second amendment. But you know what, when the second amendment was written, we didn’t have these semi-automatic weapons. If you have psychosis or are prone to manic depression, you shouldn’t have a gun! What if you become sad or angry, and to feel better, you pull out your guns, and start shooting innocent people? That’s not okay! Going to school should be a thing that makes you nervous or terrified that you are going to be shot. Magazines should be limited to ten rounds. If you are keeping your gun for safety, after ten rounds, if you haven’t already killed or wounded the person, you didn’t get enough practice and shouldn’t have a gun. We should crack down on gun trafficking. They did it with drugs and prostitutes, why not guns? You don’t know whose hands a gun could fall into. Prostitutes can’t kill people. We should pay police officers more to keep them on the streets and deter gun violence. I mean, that’s their job, to keep us safe. And for that, don’t you think they deserve more money, to keep doing their job?
I think it is horrible that this has occurred. The government never does anything though. They just sit around give their “prayers” and “thoughts”. What we really need it change and action. Think about how much money the NRA gives to our government. I just see that they are giving and giving but there is not action. I think part of the problem is our president. He is quick to come up with solutions to things that are unnecessary. For example, the wall. Trump had wanted to spend billions and billions of dollars, but everyone said that we did not need it. Now there is a problem that everyone wants, and he just sits around giving his prayers. Giving your prayers will not bring back all 17 of those lives that have been lost. Your prayers will not have any affect on another school shooting. How many people have to die before the government realizes they need change? How many lives need to be risked before they realize they can not sit around and do nothing? I don’t know the answer because our government is reluctant to change our laws.
When I first found out about the Florida shooting, I wasn’t shocked. Not because I didn’t care or because it didn’t affect me directly. Because I have gotten used to hearing about mass shootings that it has become a new normal for me and for many other people who live in the United States. This is extremely unfortunate that kids my age and younger have to deal with the fact that, “Yeah, there may be a mass shooting, but we have dealt with stuff like this before.” It is a shame that this is the life that we are living, and have to live. But we have had drills. We really only have a drill once a year, and if I’m being completely honest no one really even takes them seriously. Also, we only have on school police officer, and our counseling resources are limited.I think part of the reason why I feel really safe, is because I don’t really believe that something bad is actually going to happen to me or my school. As a student I really don’t think that there is much we really can do, as we sit in our little classrooms, typing away at our laptops to set out the next letter to the next congressman, hoping that this one will actually read our letters and answer our questions, and not just write one broad letter and copy and paste that on to 33 letters to send out to students. These shooting are more of a political problem in my opinion, so my question is what are all of the “Big-Shot” politicians doing to stop death by guns in our school, besides writing the same letter down 33 times?
The problem with the school shooting isn’t necessarily that the school isn’t safe or that it has bad security. This is happening again and again and nothing is changing. How do we expect to prevent this if we’re the ones letting it happen? Anyone can be a victim and any school could be the next potential site for another shooting. What we need right now is change. The government needs to make stricter gun laws to prevent dangerous people getting their hands on a gun. If you look at statistics from other countries where they have stricter laws, there are less incidents happening. If a 19 year old with a mental illness can get a semiautomatic rife, how safe really is our country?
My reaction to the Florida shooting is that it has been taken way too far. We have to stand up for what is right, reinforce rules that strictly make it so that only military related people can get military grade weapons, we should also make sure that no people illegally sell weapons to anyone. We have to have safer schools and make sure our kids know not to let anyone in from outside. In our school we only have one precaution, a single lockdown each year. Our school security is pretty high, we have high schoolers go through a scanner kind of like in an airport to check their bags and clothes for any metal, we also have some security cameras and our own security officer. I do feel safe inside my school, but when outside it, in the city I never know what is going to happen, one time the college across our school had a shooter, no one was harmed but being across the street we had to have a lockdown. To prevent school shootings we should just not sell guns to any old person, we should look at their records, make sure they don’t have a mental problem, ect. School shootings are definitely a big political problem, it is not the school’s problem that some man decides to shoot down the school, it is the government's problem that these people have guns in the first place.
Although my school has never been through any gun incidents, there have been many school shootings. Hearts are broken but nothing is changed to prevent this from happening again. I personally feel safe at my school, but my community I think, is pretty safe. This is more of a political issue. Gun laws need to be stricter. The school shooter has a mental issue yet he could get his hands on a semi-automatic rifle. Plus, he is only 19 years old. That's insane!
I feel terrible for the people who have lost a loved one due to the Florida. Those students went to school that day not expecting something horrible like this would occur. I find it upsetting that people can’t go to school, movies, church, etc without worrying about their safety. So many innocent lives are taken due to these shootings. The boy who had shot up the school had so many problems going on in his life, yet he was still able to acquire semi-automatic rifles. This is not acceptable. We have had so many mass shootings and lost so many lives but nothing has been done to help prevent this. My school hasn’t faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents but we have had lockdowns do to gun activity in surrounding schools. Some precautions my school takes to prepare for a possible school shooting are lockdowns. Although my school has lock down drills, I still think we aren’t prepared because we only have them once a year. We need to have stricter gun laws so that we can prevent something like this happening again.
It is depressing that things like this are still happening even though, many times, people have been killed because of the lack of control on gun violence laws. No one should feel the pain that comes with losing a loved one. I feel bad for the victims and their families even though I know it is not enough. There have been 18 shootings or, as our politicians call it, incidents and no one in a seat of power is doing anything to help! I personally feel somewhat safe at school because it is in a relatively safe neighborhood in the city and we do have a school police officer who does his best to check everyone. I regret that not everyone is as lucky as I am. What happened on Wednesday was horrific and something no one should go through. Too many times families have suffered the loss of their children, their parents, their siblings, and their loved ones.
I feel terribly bad for all of the students who are apart of this shooting (especially since it was on Valentines day). Many factors play into this event however.
1) lock down drills: At my school what we call a "lock down" is turning off the lights, locking the door, and hope and pray that the shooter doesn't find you. This is not an effect lock down drill. What should happen is that the students barricade the door by putting a chair under the doorknob and then covering the door with some of he heaviest things in the room. That way the shooter won't get all the students in the classroom with just one go
2) Gun control: I always think it's ridiculous when the leaders of the country send their condolences to all of the families but then proceed not to do ANYTHING ABOUT IT! I also think that it's funny how this 19 year old isn't able to buy a handgun but for some reason can buy this military class gun! The government is once again thinking of the minority and not the majority. Millions of kids are dying just the government is only thinking of one club. Just, WHY? The government thinks that words are more powerful then action and are just afraid to stop working with the NGO.
It is a shame that students like me have to constantly see all of these horrific stories and constantly worry about stuff like this happening all the time. But at least these amazing teenagers might be making history. I have faith that they will.
When I received the notification from my iPhone's "News" app that this shooting took place, my heart sunk as I couldn't begin to imagine the fear rushing through the minds of the parents, teachers, and students whose lives were in jeopardy. While my school has not faced any gun violence, I do recall a time in middle school where a student brought a bullet in their backpack to school-- I was petrified. In seventh grade after the Newtown incident, I was too scared to go to school for a few days. Guns-- ARs in particular-- absolutely terrify me and it blows my mind how it takes this many gun-related deaths to heed attention of the country. My school has practiced lockdowns and mentioned the training of ALICE drills but we have not been trained, and this scares me because I would freeze up and not know what to do in the case of an active shooter. I do not believe there are enough school security precautions nor counseling resources in my high school. Honestly, I don't feel safe in school anymore. My town is incredibly safe and the "odds" might be low of a school shooting, but this does not mean that we'll be free of any gun violence as this has been the 18th massive school shooting in 2018 alone. I don't feel that it's a problem with my school but more a larger political/cultural/governmental problem in the United States, because schools did not face these same acts of violence in earlier years. I am hoping to attend the March For Life on March 24th in Boston Common to protest.
I believe that nobody should have to go through that experience. I believe that everyone should have a right to feel safe at their school/workplace. If you have a gun, than you should go through a mental illness check up/background check. If you use a gun, than only use it a a range with professionals not at a school.
Gun violence was already a bad thing, but this just shows how out control it actually is. This school shooting left families without children and children without siblings. This school shooting was an act of a teenager, a reckless irresponsible teenager. The media says that the teenager was mental and has been addressed by the police before but never arrested. This teen had full access to a military grade gun because the human being who sold it to him said that he wasn’t aloud to have a handheld gun because of his age. These rules for guns are ridiculous. They aren’t supported and they sure aren’t respected. My school hasn’t faced any direct gun violence activities, but we have had a lockdown because of the a gun activity across from our school. Our school only does one lockdown drill a year so the students in the school knows how to handle a shooter in our school. In my opinion security should be upgraded, not only that but gun control should also be supported and upgraded as well. That’s all I have to say about this shooting, that took place in a school full of children and teachers.
I would like to start off by sending out prayers to the families that lost a close one in their lifes, but making guns illegal won't help. Think of it this way; many drugs are illegal and people still get them, so if guns become illegal people will still find ways to get them. If I could make a solution it would be to give more in depth background checks.
This is an issue that is deeply rooted in American culture that does not seem to have a single solution. While the FBI has prevented many people inspired by these terrible events. There is always a black market for nearly anything. So banning certain guns will not stop a highly motivated individual, however, I am not opposed to banning certain guns such as the AR-15 or Tech-9 (or any sort of semi-automatic gun capable of firing multiple shots in a couple of seconds). Banning these guns would cease the production of them, and therefore reduce their availability. Another form of gun control that could be implemented is required fingerprint activation. Therefore only the legal owner (or whoever else they put on it) can fire a shot. This would most likely help reduce the mass shooting rates, as most of the firearms used are stolen from parent's closets or friend's houses. In this case, the 19-year-old legally purchased a firearm that--in my opinion--should not be legal in the first place. Preventative measures could also be taken on the mental side, as it is not JUST about the firearms used, it's also about the mental health of wielders. Offering free counseling and mental help nationwide would be a great help.
Personally, I do not feel safe going to school knowing these events happen on a (near) weekly basis. While there has never been any gun-related issues at my school that I am aware of, I feel the government does little to prevent these events but give their condolences.
— Has your school ever faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents?
No, though there were small problems nearby.
— What precautions does your school take to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting? Do you have active shooter drills? Do you have increased school security? Are there enough counseling resources?
We do lockdowns once a year(shotter), shelter in place once a year(natural disaster), and fire drills once a month. We have a school police officer and a good amount of counselors.
— Do you feel safe at school?
I do feel safe at school, but mostly because nothing has ever happened to this school.
— What should be done to prevent more school shootings? In your opinion, is the problem of school shootings mostly a school problem or is it a larger political or cultural problem in the United States?
There should be more gun reform, or writing letters to senators, the problem is with the government, a 19 year old should not be able to buy a semi-automatic rifle.
— What questions do you have for other students — or adults — who might be reading your comment?
I wonder if there are any protests coming up.
The shooting is, to me, horrifying. This is the second ‘major’ shooting since the start of the school year in September, and it’s only February! I feel that what group that are ”trying to prevent” people from shootings are not doing their job correctly. I don’t understand why the NRA aren’t trying to prevent the killings of these innocent people. Even worse, this kid is only nineteen years old, but he can buy a freaking SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE that’s MILITARY GRADE. My school has had a lockdown, but only because a college student across the street had a gun.
Our school has a lockdown every year, and I’m not sure about counseling and security. I do feel safe at school, even though people are being killed all around Philadelphia every week, either from guns or being stabbed. This is what I think should be stopped: people under 21 should not be able to buy guns, and freaking semi-automatic rifles like M14s shouldn’t be in people’s hands. Buying guns for your safety makes your household more dangerous!
— Has your school ever faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents?
No, not that I know of
— What precautions does your school take to prevent or prepare for a possible school shooting? Do you have active shooter drills? Do you have increased school security? Are there enough counseling resources?
Our school does lockdown drills once per year. We have security officers and I feel that we have enough counseling resources.
— Do you feel safe at school?
Yes I feel very safe at school
— What should be done to prevent more school shootings? In your opinion, is the problem of school shootings mostly a school problem or is it a larger political or cultural problem in the United States?
The problem of school shootings is mostly a political problem in my opinion because a 19 y/o should not be able to buy military grade AR’s
— What questions do you have for other students — or adults — who might be reading your comment?
How do people handle school shooting ?
My school never had a shooter in the school rather across the street at our city's community college last year there was a man with a gun, luckily, I believe no one was hurt. We commonly have lock-down drills were we turn off all of the lights close the blinds of the door and hide where we are safe from anyone looking through our door’s window. For the most part, I almost always feel safe until something like this happens and I start to question it. I feel as though it is more of a political problem of our senators accepting NRA donation to avoid gun reform.
The problems with guns in schools should not be happening. My school has been on lock down a few times for incidents happening at a college across the street. Other than that, our school has not had any gun violence. We have one lock down drill and one shelter in place drill per year. When an active shooter is in the school, we go on lock down, which we do have drills for. We have metal detectors for the high school students, and a school police officer, and our doors are locked from the outside. However, when someone is coming out of school, someone can easily slip in the open door before it swings shut. We also have a 3 counselors, each with ⅓ of the student body.
I feel safe at school. In my time at my school, there has never been a shooter in the building. Had there been, I may feel less safe. But given that I have never seen someone with a gun, I feel safe.
Gun control is obviously bigger than schools. This problem lies with the American culture and legislature. There needs to be laws that prevent these kinds of things from happening, because it is not okay.
My school has never been directly attacked with guns but we have had lockdowns due to gun activity at the college across the street. Even though we were indirectly part of the incidents we had a lockdown anyway and many kids were worried about what would happen to our school.
Masterman has lockdown drills to prepare for for possible school shootings. However we don’t have them often, they’re usually only once a year. Our drill includes all the students going to a specific corner of the room and the teachers close the blinds on the doors so that no one can see inside.
Masterman does have active shooter drills but we only have one drill every year. I think we should have at least 3 three shooter drill a year.
To be completely honest I usually only see security at the front desk which leaves out three other entrances possibly open for those who wanna come in unnoticed
I think my school does have enough counseling sources.
Most of the time at school I do feel safe. In my opinion our front desk has good security ,especially since there is a metal detector but I do think we should have more security around other areas of the school.
In my opinion the problem is mostly a political and cultural problem. The reason is because I believe the government needs to be more conscious about who they allow to own a gun. Most schools do their best to prepare for a shooting but that can be difficult when any random citizen could have a gun whether they are mentally stable or not.
My school takes a lot of precautions to prepare for a school shooting. However, we do not do any active shooter drills. Our school security is not increased, and this worries me. I do feel safe at my school, but after an incident like this, my head is always on a swivel to know my surroundings. Our school has all the high school students go through metal detectors, but they are rarely on. Someone could sneak in with a weapon when these metal detectors are not on. This security must be fixed. I believe that they should take this intensely and check every student.
I believe that there should be more security at schools and hopefully some better gun laws. This problem of school shootings is mostly a school problem I believe. Although, there are some political things that need to be fixed, to me, it is a school problem. Security must be better and there needs to be three to five school police officers at each school at once. Hopefully our country can make our schools have better security in the future to help prevent these massacres from happening.
At our school, we have a school policeman who makes sure that people check in when walking into our school. We also have a metal detector that high schoolers have to walk through when they come to our school. We do have active shooter drills but, we call them to lock down drills where we lock all our classrooms and windows and we hide in the place farthest away from the door but 33 kids and a teacher is a lot of people to try to hide in every classroom. I do usually feel safe at my school because nothing major has ever happened- although one time when I was in fifth grade there was gun threats made at the community college across the street from our school so we went into lock down and that was a bit scary. I think one thing that could be done so easily is to just enforce gun laws- make it so that it is much harder to get any type of gun and the military grade weapons shouldn’t be in the hands of normal people. I think that this is also more than just a school problem, I think this is a political issue that needs to be addressed.
I think that there should be stricter gun laws and be more strict about who can actually get the guns. I don’t think anyone should have to go through that experience. My school has a lock down drill once a year. I do feel safe at school. I think the problem is a political one that involves the entire US. Because some of the political leaders we have are against gun reform, that makes the security and requirements to get a gun really weak.
My school practices a lockdown drill per year. We don't activate shooter drills. No, there is not increased school security. We only have one officer named Officer Taylor and he is a great guy, I just don't know if he is enough. We need at least two more officers around our building if possible! There are about 3 to 4 counselors in my school and they are helpful when someone is stressed out or has a problem with a teacher. I do not know if they would be ideal for a life changing crisis.
Yes, I do feel safe at school. I trust our officer to protect us, I feel as we should have more great people like him protecting our school right beside him. I just fear that one day I will enter school and there will be a shooting and I will not ever see my parents, or loved ones again. I feel as if this is a worldwide feeling; some children have this feeling more than others, though.
To prevent more school shootings, we should practice lockdown drills more often, have much more precaution, and have our counselors have meetings to detect people who have emotional and behavioral issues at school. I believe school shootings are mostly a larger political/cultural problem in the United States. Since the NRA pays President Trump, and other political figures, there is a low chance of there being gun reform. The NRA basically bribes our elected officials and it needs to come to an end. This is a huge part of the reason why rifles are being given to 19 year olds with mental disorders.
—What is your reaction to the deadly shooting at a Florida high school?
I was shocked, I didn´t even know there was a shooting until later in the day. The fact that a former student came into his former school with a semi-automatic rifle, a military grade weapon was the most shocking and then he wasn´t arrested because he had mental issues. I don´t think that matter when innocent people died because of his mental issues. If it was a person of color I can tell you now, the shooter would be put into a jail with worse consequences than this guy. I think there was definitely color bias when choosing consequences, just because he faced mental issues doesn´t mean it was okay to kill people, there should be worse consequences than what he got.
The shooting at the high school was very devastating and tragic. It’s brought so much attention from the people but not the politicians. People are now bringing the attention to the politicians about the event and gun laws. I believe that the politicians now need to start working on the gun laws to make a difference in this country and to stop these horrific events from happening. My school has never faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents but there have been places near my school that have had it. What my school does to prepare for a school shooting is just one lock down drill a year. Also the high school students have to get their bags checked and walk through a metal detector. I do feel safe at school because we take precautions in case of an event like this. What should be done to prevent this is better and different gun laws. The second amendment says that we have the right to bear arms but that was written in a time where people had muskets and would only shoot one bullet at a time. Nowadays there are more advanced weapons that have magazines and clips of bullets. I believe that the problem is based on a political and cultural problem, not the school because the people who are able to make a difference aren’t doing anything besides showing their condolences to the victims. The questions for the people reading this comment is to please help make a change and participate in anything that could help make difference in the society we now live in.
To all the people that were impacted by this horrible event may you heal and grow stronger through it and remember those who were tragically lost. In my opinion, the issue of these growing number of mass shootings falls in the access to extremely deadly weapons and the lack of on site security to help stop the shootings that take place. If there was police on the school grounds and the gun that the shooter used was only a pistol then the attack would have been easily controlled and contained. This is not an issue as much with the mental issues of people because there are many people that are not violent like this who do have mental illness and labeling those people is not a solution.
What happened in Florida was awful and is a reason why we need better gun control laws. Nikolas Cruz wasn't allowed to buy a handgun, but he was allowed to buy an AR-15?! I really don’t get it. None of the politicians do anything to stop it, because they get money from the NRA. I get that they want money, but I think that they would be just fine without the extra money, especially our current president. My condolences are sent not just to all the families who lost someone in Florida, but all the families who lost someone in any of the (18!) shootings since January 1st.
My school has never faced any sort of gun violence/incidents. Our school has metal detectors, a security officer, and a teacher who told us not to hold the door for anyone because “you never know who could be a school shooter”. We have one lockdown drill per year, and one shelter in place drill per year. There are three counselors at our school, who are all very nice (I’ve met them but never been to them), and I feel relatively safe at our school, except that people talk way too much, during class or during a drill. I think that our politicians should stop worrying about extra money so that they can help prevent this in the future, instead of being “sorry”. This is definitely a national problem, not a school problem!
What has happened to a high school in Florida is absolutely unacceptable, but sadly has become normal. This is just another example of why we need gun reform. 17 innocent lives were taken due to a mentally ill 19 year old who owned an AR-15 rifle. It blows my mind to know a 19 year old can purchase a military level gun. Since there hasn’t been gun reform laws yet, there are many precautions schools now have to take. A precaution my school takes is a lock down once a year. We also have a shelter emplace drill. We do not have active shooter drills. There are a few counselors at my school that help kids who are not in the right state of mind or went through a tough time. I think that is very helpful because it allows kids who need help to get help. I do feel safe at school but at the same time, you never know what can happen in our society so there is always that fear in the back of your head. I
It is a nightmare that no one needs to ever experience, no one should ever have to go through, but I can't help to feel that the problem doesn't so much lay with gun control laws than parental control and a failure of the so called system that doesn't work for the underprivileged or a health care system that sucks. Before the late 80's stuff like this was rarely ever heard of,but once kids were allowed to play video games where there is uncontrolled violence,prayer removed from schools,and music talking about killing people who have made someone mad, that's when things started happening. The issues ahead of us is not going to be corrected by stricter regulations on gun control, " guns don't kill people, people kill people " the question is why ? Lawmakers and legislators should look closer at the real issues and stop trying to blame a tool instead the users and the so called systems that has allowed our children to slip through the cracks of society and become a tool for their political views. The idea of tougher laws on guns isn't the answer, fixing a broken system is a better start. When our children suffer at the hands of a drunk driver are automobiles blamed? Children are products of their environment and when legislators and lawmakers want to blame guns for the problems we face today all I can say is look a little better at the real issues and stop trying to place blame on an object that can not do anything unless it has someone to use it.
What happened Wednesday was horrific, and a serious sign that we need gun law reform. 18 lives were taken from this world at the hands of a murder who should have never been able to grasp the weapons he used to cause this destruction. Along with the many who agree with this idea, there are also ignorant opposers who suggest the guns have nothing to do with the problem and it is all the person's fault. Accept these exact same people are raged when background checks and mental evaluations are mentioned as solutions.
Contrary to what these pro-gun people say, guns have allowed 18 school shootings occur before the end of February. On average “ 6 children or teens are killed per day by guns in the U.S.” Semi-automatic guns which were made for the sole purpose of killing humans shouldn’t be allowed to be handled by everyday people. The gun used in the recent shooting, an Ar-15, can empty up to 800 rounds per minute leaving tens of people dead in seconds. If these guns of horrible mass murder were never allowed into the hands of the public these shootings could have been stopped without such large casualties, and maybe even prevented.
The time for gun reform is NOW, the time for change is NOW, the time to act is NOW. For the sake of children and adults across America SPEAK UP.
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What happened Wednesday was horrific, and a serious sign for the needed gun law reform. 18 lives were taken from this world at the hands of a murder who should have never been able to grasp the weapons he used to cause this destruction. Along with the many who agree with this idea, there are also ignorant opposers who suggest the guns have nothing to do with the problem, and it is all the person's fault. Accept these exact same people are outraged when background checks and mental evaluations are mentioned as solutions.
Contrary to what these pro-gun people say, guns have allowed 18 school shootings occur before the end of February. On average “ 6 children or teens are killed per day by guns in the U.S.” Semi-automatic guns which were made for the sole purpose of killing humans shouldn’t be allowed to be handled by everyday people. The gun used in the recent shooting, an Ar-15, can empty up to 800 rounds per minute leaving tens of people dead in seconds. If these weapons were never allowed to be in the hands of these terrorists, the shootings that have happened could have been ended easier and even prevented.
The time for gun reform is NOW, the time for change is NOW, the time to act is NOW. For the sake of children and adults across America SPEAK UP.
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What happened Wednesday was horrific, and a serious sign for the needed gun law reform. 18 lives were taken from this world at the hands of a murder who should have never been able to grasp the weapons he used to cause this destruction. Along with the many who agree with this idea, there are also ignorant opposers who suggest the guns have nothing to do with the problem and it is all the person's fault. Accept these exact same people are raged when background checks and mental evaluations are mentioned as solutions.
Contrary to what these pro-gun people say, guns have allowed 18 school shootings occur before the end of February. On average “ 6 children or teens are killed per day by guns in the U.S.” Semi-automatic guns which were made for the sole purpose of killing humans shouldn’t be allowed to be handled by everyday people. The gun used in the recent shooting, an Ar-15, can empty up to 800 rounds per minute leaving tens of people dead in seconds. If these weapons were not allowed into the hands of the public these shootings could have been resolved easier and even prevented.
The time for gun reform is NOW, the time for change is NOW, the time to act is NOW. For the sake of children and adults across America SPEAK UP.
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You will make a difference. I know it.
First and formost my condolences go to those individuals who lost a family member or a friend in this massive school shooting. NO ONE deserves to feel this pain and terror. Being the 18th massive school shooting in the year of 2018, I truly believe that this issue is beyond the control of society. Those held accountable for these type of malevolent situations are politicians. It is understood that the 2nd amendment of the United States is that every person has the right to keep and bear arms. These laws can not be infringed, but my question is to what extent of GUN VIOLENCE outbursts does the society have to face in order for politics to realize that this right is being used for ferocious purposes? How many more deaths of innocent people do we need for gun control to happen? This is obsurd! Besides gun control, guns aren’t entirely held accountable for, the individuals obtaining them are! A gun doesnt shoot unless a PERSON pulls the trigger. This ties into the massive cultural problem we face in the U.S, rhetorical-stereotypical systems are aspects that also oppresses society, reason being that all 18 massive shootings were caused by a white person, because it’s a white individual there isn’t justice done!If it were a Latino, Black, or Muslim person committing the crime the consequences would be severe. Colored people would be called “savages” “terrorists” meanwhile a white person called “broken””troubled”, nonetheless these systems need to be changed for lives to be saved.
No gun violence that i know of had happened at my school. We don’t do drills or anything but we have security and i think we should take more caution. It is also nice we have counseling which i am in where they try to teach us how to deal with different controversies throughout life. This is one of the big issues of our society that we let children and people that don’t need guns have them i get if its for hunting or fun but this is to intentional harm people, they should at least have a background check. Why don’t we do more that analyze and watch we should have some sort of action .
I don't think guns are the problem here. I think that the customer should be checked out and observed closely and tested by certain individuals with no mental illness. Then it can be decided whether they can pay for it, or they have proper training and all that jazz. This is a sad subject and I wish for the best of the victims of this incident but I wish that you don't blame guns.
Innocent young men and women lost their lives to crazy psychopathic man who didn’t seem to like people. I feel that this could happen again any day and who will save us, you never know when you are going to die or what from but 17 young teens lost their lives to gun play. On the other hand Trump’s making this whole thing no better legalizing the purchase of guns to mentally ill people. There is a problem that needs to be solved now before it gets to out of hand. Before it gets worse than it already is. There should be laws and security for schools regarding the past shootings, more specifically school shootings. When are we ever going to be happy. Every day I look at the news with my mom and seems like crimes won’t stop. What is wrong with this world? Why is he world do harsh? Why do innocent children lose their life every day? WHY? Is the question that most of the world has. And the other part of the world is just thinking about what can they do to harm others and to make things worse. And that is what we are afraid of. We are afraid that this will all be inevitable and that is indeed why change needs to come. And it shall come upon us now.
Nobody should have to experience anything remotely close to this, especially people who have done nothing to deserve this. I am 15, and I now fear for my safety at school, I have nothing to protect me, one corporal isn't gonna save me. You never know when it could be you, they surely didn't know it would be them, they deserve justice, we as a whole, as a country, need to change and fix the problems. The first problem is the gun laws itself, we need gun control laws in place, so no unstable 19 year old can go purchase an assault rifle. Its actually so mind blowing how money hungry congressman are that they'd rather receive and collect money from the NRA, then do what they signed up for, which is to run and protect this country. I can't vote but if I could, I would stop putting these uneducated people in office who do us no justice, and barely care enough to fix the problems which are clear as day to everyone except them. They need to stop trying to give out their condolences and actually wake up and do something about this. No other country has these problems, we have had EIGHTEEN school shootings in this year, ALONE, and counting, we are literally 2 months in, that says a lot. I emailed Trump along with Marco Rubio and I doubt either will be read but it was still worth a try. I don't know how many more incidents need to occur before they realize. I pray that no one ever has to go through this, and I am so sorry to anyone who has had to, hopefully one day things will be right.
I think the FBI could have prevent this by investigating and by knowing who they give a gun to. They need to have the control and ask for a medical application or summary so they can prevent things like this and many others. It's so sad to see how devastating was the way Nikolas Cruz took the life of many young students, who were innocent and didn't have an idea of how cruel a human can be and that had a life and a future to live and success. Instead of making grievance about this the government should put more secure and put effort to investigate and take care of their citizens, instead of worrying about irrelevant racial indifference the government should be worrying about young citizens that are ruining America's future. Instead of worrying about color and social classes we should be worrying about how to solve THIS, about how to end corruption, how to end VIOLENCE. This are the most important things, to protect our country.
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Aye I agree My Fellow Classmate
I think that we need to tighten up security. There is no reason that we should be having this many school shootings and mass shootings. Instead of building a wall between Mexico and the United States we should be trying to help the people that need help. We have the resources to prevent events like this from happening but we aren’t using them. We are focusing on things that won’t effect anyone’s safety. The students who have recently died in this school shoooting shouldn’t have died. Too many lives have been lost because we can’t protect our own citizens. Tighten up on gun laws. We can’t be handing guns to anyone.
First of all, being an international student from Oman, we never have lock down drills or safety precautions because these mass shootings never happen in my country. Guns are illegal in Oman which means that no one owns guns and I've also never heard of a shooting in Oman. However, studying at a boarding school in the U.S introduced me to the idea of lock down drills. My school has some safety precautions to prevent possible shootings. Just like fire drills, we have lock down drills that prepare us for this type of incident. We also have good security and doors that are only accessed by students and faculty key cards. So yes, I feel safe in my school.
On a day that is known for spreading love, a school full of innocent children and teachers were shown hatred and fear. On February 14th, a 19 year old man began shooting up a school in Florida with an AR-15 rifle. Seventeen people were killed by gunshots and everyone else was severely traumatized.
You may look at this story with pity, but at the end of the day most people have the mindset that something like that could never happen to them directly. This is not true. Every school has the potential of being the next victim of a school shooting no matter how many precautions are took. Lets try and put ourselves in the shoes of the families who lost people they loved to the shot of a gun and send them our thoughts and prayers.
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I think that the most important thing to remember when talking about school shootings and what we as a nation should do in response to a school shooting is that we are talking about people's lives. Weather we are talking about the actual people who have died or the families that will forever be affected by the shooting all of the decisions that we make revolve around people's lives, and that is what I think lawmakers need to remember. Shootings can always be republican thing or a democratic thing, or a gun control thing or a mental health thing but all in all it comes down to how we need to save lives and make sure that no more lives are lost.
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There are so many things I want to say about this tragedy. There is so much grief, so much anger inside of me that inundated every other sense I felt on Wednesday. So many words I want to say to the gunman, to the high school students who were all irreversibly affected by him, to Congress. But I feel like I can't anymore. I am so exhausted. So inexplicably tired of the needless and terrifying violence that has gripped America, that we've become despicably desensitised to because it happens so often. So tired of just "thoughts and prayers," and idleness, when already over a dozen school shootings have occurred since the beginning of 2018. So tired of mass shootings being chalked up to mental illness, when mental illness is an issue globally, yet the U.S. is still the only nation where this regularly happens. So tired of hearing "guns don't kill people, people kill people," when we should be fixated on the fact that people are being killed in the first place. So tired of seeing that an amendment that was written over 200 years ago is being protected over the lives of children who didn't deserve this. So tired of every single victim of gun violence being overlooked, not given justice, and forgotten about because our government puts them on the back burner. I am tired, and ashamed of this country and the people who run it. Weapons should not take priority over people any longer. Things need to change. And they need to change now.
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I am afraid. When I walked into school on Thursday I couldn't help but think of what I would do if someone started shooting up my school. Would I live or die? Would my friends survive? Would I have the courage to help injured people? What would I do. It's terrible that I and a lot of other people had thoughts like these running through our heads the mornings and weeks after these continuously occurring tragedies. What's even worse is the innocent lives lost. People with so much to live for gone in an instant. People who would still be alive today if our government would pay attention and DO SOMETHING about it. I'm not saying that I have all the answers and that my opinion is the solution to this epidemic (@Olivia Lain from Wrightsville Beach) but I know that something needs to be done. If I had it my way I would do away with guns. I know that this is an unpopular opinion and that it is virtually impossible to get rid of all the guns in the United States but that's what I would do if I could. At the very least we should do with automatic assault weapons, which by definition are used for infantry use, and have better mental health screenings for people trying to license their guns. I hope that as a nation we have a revelation and make an effort to prevent another tragedy like Parkland from happening again by snuffing out this epidemic from the source.
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If you ever run for office, you have my vote.
This could have been prevented. There isn't an easy way to talk about how dumb our lock down procedures are. In most places they will have you huddled together closely on the floor. That is just plain stupid. You have no clue what is gong through the mind of an active shooter. However there is one thing that the individual wants, and that is mass numbers. Schools are now making it easier for them, by putting us in one spot making a clean sweep for the shooter, now getting on average 10 hits for the five seconds they are in each room. This is why I dispise lock down procedures. They only teach us to hide and just take it, rather than build a barrier with those desks and beat the kid with something. You will see how that will lower the casualties by substantial numbers. Many people will argue how you can't fight a armed perosn with something as simple as a bat. One thing I know as a gal who has expeierience in marksmanship is that ammo doesnt magically fill its self. Also as we reload our own shells it is very common to have one that doesnt fire. So as you can see there are times in which you can ambush a person who is armed. As you read this comment you might be thinking that this gal doesn't have experience to tell you how things need to be done. Well you are wrong again as I have shot 270s,243s,AR-15s,PC-40s, and it just keeps going.
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1st it could have been prevented had the FBI followed up the warning they got twice. 2nd It's a terrible thing everyone starts knee jerk screaming gun control...NYC ,Detriot,Chicago, Baltimore and other cites hae the toughest laws around. Need another answer laws don't work and as a law abiding American that loves shooting I do not wish to give up the 2nd Amendment. Also we send kids 18 years old to fight for this country, they sewe things much worse. Our kids are stronger than we think. Treat them accordingly. Work to find a solution. 1st find out how the FBI dropped the ball
When I first heard about this shooting I felt so sorry for everybody affected. But when I saw some footages of the shooting,that was when anxiety hit me a little bit. I wasn’t afraid to go to school but I was so worried about my old school and new school yesterday. I can’t even imagine myself going through a tragedy like this. I think to prevent this from happening we need to get that law of people with mental issues not being allowed to touch a gun back. This way, we can all be safe!! These 17 people were innocent. Nobody deserves to die especially on Valentine’s Day. :(
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In America, mass shootings have become an epidemic. What is the appropriate response to an epidemic? Eradication. When smallpox was an issue, we did all in our power so that no one could get smallpox ever again. Vaccines weren’t given to a select few, they were given worldwide so that absolutely no one would suffer from it, and there hasn't been a case of smallpox since it was officially declared eradication in 1980. Action was taken by those in power to eliminate the disease, real action, not just their “thoughts and prayers”. The phrase “thoughts and prayers” should be used in cases of unpreventable destruction, such as an earthquake, and not the destruction that could be solved by the passage of legislation by Congress, preventing such deaths. Banning all semi-automatic guns and assault rifles at the very least would prevent the mass shootings we see all-too-often today. Another phrase that gets tossed around often in the wake of a mass shooting is “guns don’t kill people, people do.” While this is true in a sense, you could kill a lot more people at once with an AR-15 than with a knife.
Thankfully, I get to live in a world where I have no fears about smallpox affecting me or my family, or anyone at all. I hope that my children get to grow up in a world where gun violence is a thing of the past, and that they never feel any fear for their lives while sitting in a school classroom or wandering the halls.
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I believe that the FBI should have followed up on this kid if they received a phone call about him. I don't think that a semi automatic is a defense gun either.
Too many times families have suffered the loss of their children, their parents, their siblings, their loved ones. Too many times have schools been affected, students traumatized by shooters who barge into their classrooms, with the sole purpose of hurting. Seventeen innocent lives have been taken by GUN VIOLENCE. It is tiring looking onto social media to find people attempting to compensate the shooters action, and still continue to protect guns! On a day of love, happiness, and life we've had to experience hate, sadness, and death. The issue here is that this can happen in any school, no matter how many “precautions” anyone takes. What we need is action, and we need it fast. How many innocent children, teens, moms, dads, teachers need to be killed before our government realizes that we have a problem? How many lives will it take before we get action, not thoughts and prayers that will not resolve anything? I, like many others, know that no school is safe from shootings until our government changes our gun policies. Increased security, drills, and counseling resources won’t be enough. What we need is change. What we need is action.
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Do not let all these innocent people die in vain. Take responsibility. Grow up- pass laws, take precautions, change things. Enough is enough, and we crossed that line years and years ago now, lives and lives and lives ago. You are at fault just as much as the next person who will pull the trigger.
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Do I feel safe at school? Most of the times I do. But, if anything were to happen like this at my school I don't believe it'll end up any better than the shooting in Florida. My school has never practiced a lockdown this year nor had a serious announcement or assembly. We've been warned a couple times to not open the doors to students, teacher, anyone that try to come in, since it was the office's job. We have these certain rules eg. no food or drinks are allowed to be brought into the school after lunch or so. (We do have teachers who check) But, most of the times they just give you a good scan and allow you to come in. There has been many students who brought food in or drinks into class, so I don't get how if they can't stop kids from bringing food. What luck do they have with a school shooter?
The desensitization to, and in some cases romanticization of, school shootings is a plague to our society and without a doubt contributes to the slowly increasing number of these tragic events every year. The number of kids I know that make jokes about these topics that have no reason to be made light of is unnerving and is a legitimate cause for concern about student safety. If someone can go so far as to completely ignore the tragedy of a shooting that happened the day before just to get a laugh out of their friend group, then we can’t be sure that this person won’t see the potential role of an anti-hero these shooters are given by the media and be tempted into committing the act themself. Of course, the vast majority of the people making these jokes are kids that would never be seen showing sympathy or any sort of emotion, but it only takes a single person to actually go consider and go through with it to ruin many people’s lives. As far as the media goes, they’re far from exempt from criticism. It’s been brought up many times that they need to stop sharing the name of the actual shooter and focus on the victims, yet all you see on the news is a picture of the killer’s face and name while they refuse to give the victims the same luxury as they’re turned into just another statistic.
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After this tragic event the government really needs to work on stricter laws for gun control. That and high schools should work on better sercurity to make students feel safer going to school. After school shootings happen there is always a sense of uneasiness that floats around schools. Schools should have regular lock down drills, instead of having one a year. The last time I think my school had a lock down drill was like 2 years ago. That doesn’t make kids feel the safest.
It's disappointing to see yet another shooting happen, it's even more disappointing to see kids who have been in previous school shootings reach out to the students and Florida to help them cope with the situation. What is the purpose of meaningless thoughts and prayers when we aren't going to do anything to stop this from happening again. Children's safety and education should not be compromised
I wasn't surprised when I heard this news, but it is still very heartbreaking. I can't believe people have the heart to do such things. The fact that guns are so easy to possess, is a big problem we have and the reasoning why things like this continue to happen. We need to more gun restrictions in order to have a safer environment and country.
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My first reaction when I saw that yet another school shooting had happened my first thought was why and how. After hearing more my emotions changed to combination of sadness, anxiety, and anger. This is especially since this marks the eighteenth mass shooting of this year and it's only February, which most definitely means there is something seriously wrong.
I was sad and anxious because as high school students this could happen to any us and any time there is a major shooting like this I was feel myself slipping into the victims shoes, and this breaks my heart that this tragedy has happened yet again. Moreover I was steaming mad, I learned from watching the news and hearing from other reliable sources that this ex-student turned shooter had been caught with bullets in his backpack prior to him being expelled later during his high school career. Along with the comment that he "allegedly" (This is in quotes because they didn't prove that he posted this even though the user who did's username was the shooter's exact name.) post on YouTube where he said he planned on being a professional school shooter. These should have been larger red flags than they were. I can't help but say that the school system should take some responsibility for not doing something more. Along with the school system should be the imbecile who did see the madness behind his eyes when he sold this young man an AR-15.
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What I learned from is that clearly none of these schools are really as safe as they claim to be. It's unbelievable that there has been 5 school shootings this year so far, and this shooting occurred in what was voted to be the safest city in the state. Their should be a stricter enforcement on not allowing on just anyone to get of a hold on guns. The school isn't the only blamed for the incidents that happen they do hire highly trained security, but they cant always relied on for safety on a large quantity of students. I personally experienced a bomb threat at my school, but nothing that risked anyone's life has occurred. I hope that this tragic event is put into consideration and provides changes for the US, so that we don't have to live our days in fear each time we leave our house.
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I'm a high school teacher in East Los Angeles and my students heard that schools are going to start practicing lock down procedures. My students think this is a good idea because we need to prepare for this because you never know what can happen.
This is such a sad thing prayers out to families.
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I heard that students were Snapchatting their experience during the whole thing. And that people are calling them out and saying that what they were doing was stupid. Which is very insensitive since the students didn't know what else to do. One student said that they were all calling 911 and 911 told them to stop calling.
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17 people. That statement hurts me so much. 17 different families. 17 different tastes in music. 17 hearts and many more tears. I can't even begin to image what horror the kids at this school or in this town are feeling. This situation happens way too often and needs to be stopped. This issue is directly linked to how guns are too easy to get. If nothing happens to gun laws things will get worse.
I heard that there are schools that are preparing for lock down drills and turning the lights off and taking cover. This is scary for every teenager in the LAUSD district that's why we have to stay safe at schools and everywhere you go in life.
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Schools need to be better prepared. this why teens should get off their phones they just screamed and couldnt even run away this is the school problems for not having security at their school or some cops that were hiding like cowards
but I do hope that those that lost their kids in the deadly shooting recover soon.
I have to start off by saying this was very tragic event that happened on valentines day, I give my prayers to the families whose loved ones passed during the shooting. The way people obtain guns need to be restricted, or harder to obtain, I know the 2nd amendment is the right to bear arms, and people take that law very seriously, but nowadays we really don't need the weapons. Also many people use the weapon for bad uses like murder, or intimidating people and that's increasing many crimes. According to the article it says the man was using an AR-15 assault rifle and according to the laws of gun control you can purchase an AR-15 when your at the age of 18 with a license but you have to be the age of 21 to purchase a handgun. That doesn't make much since from the fact that an AR-15 can be more deadly than a handgun. I hope someday we can fix this problem happening in America.
After reading more about Florida shooting, I personally believe that there probably could've been something the school could've done to prevent matters from reaching the circumstances it did. This event has even made me cautious when I go to school, but it is good for me to know that the entrance of my school is always blocked off by multiple security guards; only those who possess the ID of the school are allowed inside. However, that still doesn't assure complete safety because you never know, it could be when of the fellow peers who could be the cause of harm; as I read, an eighteen year- old that attended the high school was the shooter. There should be new changes or additions made to the system of schools to assure the protection and prevent situations such as this from occurring.
That I know of, my High School has never experienced any gun violence or gun related incidents. Saying that. my school also hasn't taken any student-related preparation in case of a shooting. We haven't had any shooting drills, as Marjory Douglas High School was described as having. On the other hand, I am almost certain that we have an armed officer on campus at all times. I'm not sure what one man can do in this type of situation on such a large campus though. We have sufficient counseling resources currently, but I think teachers should be trained to spot students who are at risk for causing violent incidents.
Despite the fact that I've never been through any shooting-drills at my school, I still feel safe there. It might be naive, but it's hard to be wary of a place that's never been anything but secure to me.
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My school has not faced any gun violence/incidents, but they very well might happen. My school hasn't done any training to prepare for an event like this which is pretty foolish on their part since there were 345 mass shootings last year alone. In response to this event, the school has enforced the rule that we have to wear IDs on campus at all times, but they should take more steps to increase security on campus like implementing metal detectors and security guards at the doors. I feel relatively safe at school, however most of my peers don't now after hearing about this event and I don't blame them. The government shouldn't change any gun control laws, but rather force schools and public buildings to have security guards and metal detectors at the exits/entrances.
A couple years ago there was a gun incident at my brother’s school—a kid brought a gun to show off to his friends, it accidentally went off. It was chaos for awhile, people didn’t know if it was an accident or not. All my family knew was that a shooting had occurred at my brother’s school, everyone was so worried. At my old school, a kid brought a gun to school this year and went running through the halls with it. He didn’t shoot anyone, but he escaped campus and caused a big police chase. A lot of fear in both of those incidents when families were still figuring out what was going on. Every year we have to watch videos on what to do if a shooting occurs, and they always remind us of the genuine danger that schools can present these days. It’s frightening to have to worry about friends and siblings whenever there’s an incident. Especially in my state, where guns are really easy to obtain, there’s a lot of worry.
Wow, that is so scary. I think that if something like this happened in my school, I'd be too panicked to breathe. Even in these "nonviolent" gun situations, it just shows how terrible and how easy it is to sneak a weapon into school. I read something a while ago that a student wrote. She said that it was against her school's policy to wear a tube top, but the students were allowed to carry a weapon under 4 inches. I don't necessarily know if this is true, but I wouldn't doubt it with all the weapon and gun violence that has been happening recently.
I'm lucky to say that my school hasn't faced any serious gun issues and hope it never will. My reaction to the recent mass shooting shocked me; My dad was the one who told me right after I came home from school and I didn't think twice about it. I just shrugged my shoulders thinking "Oh another one." It wasn't until a little later that it dawned in me how awful these situations have become. I used to live in Florida, not to far from where the school is located and when I was 10, my family and I moved to NJ. I could've been in that school had we never moved. I've become to accustomed to all the mass shootings and I've become insensitized to the true horrors of a mass shooting. We must do something now before it's too late.
It’s obviously not right what he did and what all the other school shooters did. The government needs to actually do something instead of showing their “grievance” about the topic. After the Columbine Shooting every town had to have a security guard or a resources officer but as we can all see that has done absolutely nothing. The Florida high school had multiple guards at the school yet he still got in the school, pulled the fire alarm, shot multiple students/ teachers, AND pretended to be one of the students that were trying to escape. The fact that he was able to buy an AR-15 LEGALLY is not good at all. It shows how easy it is to get an AUTOMATIC weapon even with the mental troubles that he as a child and into his teenage years. The US needs to do something about this “epidemic” and they need to do something about it quickly.
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This is such a tragedy. People need to start realizing that this can happen anywhere. Lock Downs are not enough, most of the time the people initiating these school shootings are students themselves. We all know the lock down procedures which is why I don't believe it is enough. We need stricter gun laws. It is pretty easy for people to purchase guns. There definitely needs to be more thorough background checks. Not just checking for criminal records but also including mental health records and if people have ever been in trouble or even reported to the government.
Yet another school shooting, just one of another many of them we have gotten in the past few years. It is still a tragic event that could have been prevented with proper past government interference. I feel safe at my school, although it is important to be prepared in the event of a similar incident. Proper security is needed because there is a lot going on this world, and being prepared could help a lot. Do you think gun control laws should be implemented into society to prevent further events like these? We already have security, but should it be increased?
I can't believe stuff like this is still happening. I still can't believe some people have the heart to do something like this. There needs to be more gun restrictions and schools need to be more protected. I think the shooter deserves to spend a very long time in prison.
The fact that there was another school shooting is not the surprising part.There has been at least 4 school shootings this year,and no doubt in my mind that there will be more.The shocking part was the amount of people killed in this shooting.People across america are getting used to the fact that there are more and more people going rampage on schools and are getting numb to the idea that other schools are targets.School is a place were children should feel safe,not a place were kids wonder if we are the next target.
This event is very tragic and states should have really strict gun laws. In our school we have lockdowns every quarter to prepare for future situations but we have never had gun incidents. I feel very safe in my school, we have secruity that checks our ID's to make sure that anyone can not just enter. In order to prevent more school shootings their should be security in every school. Another thing would be to have strict gun laws in every state. I think the problem are the laws and the people who buy the guns for bad intentions, some don't have strict laws.
My reaction i was not shocked at all but yes this was so crazy. And everyone she begin to raise more awareness on this situation . School is supposed to be a safe zone you should feel safe not have to scared.
More and more shootings occur, and with each one i feel less safe in school. the fact that some person could break in and start shooting is terrifying. and, as stated in the article, it was a safe neighborhood. even the safest of places are still at risk.
First let me say that something should be done about guns. I am not saying take away them as a whole but make them more difficult to acquire, do more background checks. Why would someone feel the need to shoot up a school is the question we should be asking. All it does is bring pain and suffering to this country and the people in it.
I cannot imagine how the people of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are feeling right now. I wish for them to come together. It is an awful thing that has happened and it just puts more questions into our head such as: Are our schools not even safe anymore? Should teachers be able to own weapons? Or even, should the mentally ill be allowed to own weapons? We as students can never be sure if we will go home that day because of the risk of things such as these to happen.
According to the article the first thing the students heard that morning were the announcements that started out with "Life supports me in every way possible". It is scary to think that this can happen anywhere and I mourn for the people that fell during the incident on Valentines Day.
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I do not feel safe at my school. We should have an officer or two on campus at all times.
This deadly shooting that’s occurred in Florida on wednesday is very frustrating and upsetting to me. The 19 year old boy took 17 innocent lives, who belonged to sisters brothers moms dads uncles aunts etc. Not only did he take 17 lives, but he ruined 100 other lives as well. The gun should not have been in possessions of this teenager who most certainly had the intent to do this which shouldn’t have taken place. Guns shouldn’t be given to people just because they want one, they should only be given to people who NEED them. This horrible event disgusts me and I am very sad for the innocent lives taken along with the families ruined.
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As of right now I haven't seen or heard of any gun violence or incidents happened at my High school. The school does at least one active shooter drill in each month, and they have cameras placed in the halls, stairwells (behind the stairwells too) and outside the school. Even with all the cameras placed in here, I somewhat feel safe. Our school lacks metal detectors and I really wish they implement them in soon.
Thankfully, my school has not faced any sort of gun violence within the school but the fact that the idea of gun violence or school shootings has become more popular goes to show that all of the students, teachers and staff have to take extreme precautions. We have done few lock-downs in our school, meaning that we should do it more so often. I don't think it is the schools problem that starts things like these, I believe it's the person themselves that creates the problem.
I feel as if we know that these shootings will keep happening because no one in the congress wants to fix something about it. I truly believe the best thing to do at this point, is to be prepared.
When I heard about this I was upset, but I wasn't surprised at all that there was another shooting.
It's crazy that a 19 year old isn't allowed to drink alcohol but is allowed to obtain a gun. School should be a safe place for both staff and students. Blaming the school shooting on mental illnesses and sending thoughts and prayers doesn't solve the problem. The problem will only be solved when gun control laws are made that satisfy everybody.
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I feel safe in my school because there is secuirty everywhere, and we have to show our IDs before we walk in.
My first reaction when I was reading this was how did this 19 year old kid get a rifle and my second is how did he get into the school with it. I feel safe in my school because there’s a lot of security and cameras and a police department is not to far from the school. We do drill but I feel like if it were to happen no one would know what to do.
In my opinion school shootings are the worse thing to ever happen to a school. School shootings have be came a recurrence throughout the US and we need to stop this. I feel that Gun Control laws should be much stricter and harder to obtain a gun. A 19 year-old shouldn't be able to have a semi automatic weapon. Schools should have better security to protect the students if anything like that happens. Or should have better plans to deal with a school shooter like a escape plan. We need to focus on the bigger things on hand
It's terrible that shootings keep happening. I can't imagine the fear i would feel for me and everyone else. Tragedies like this need to be prevented from happening. Guns in the wrong hands is a major problem and it is something that has to come to an end. Even with shooter drills many people can get seriously injured and that is why more schools need better security. I feel safe at school only because I haven't experienced anything like this, but if I did fear would prevent me from wanting to learn and talk to my friends. School shootings are only the beginning, these events can lead to more dangerous disasters. Something must be done to fix this as soon as possible.
As far as i've been here my school hasn't had any gun incidents. We have lockdown drills which count as shooter drills I dont feel too safe because as safe as my school is, theres been so many school shootings to the point were we could have one too. We should have gun control and tighter regulations against guns so that something like this cant happen.
The school I am in right now has not faced any sort of gun violence or gun incidents. However, the closest thing my old middle school has faced in terms of gun violence, would be how a kid brought a gun to my school when I was in 6th grade. Fortunately, before he entered, he was stopped dead in his tracks because of a metal detector we had at our school. For the school I'm in now, which is high school, there are precautions such as drills and lock downs. Lock downs count as shooter drills. In terms of security, there are police officers and guards walking all around the school. We do have guidance counselors as counseling resources, or you could talk to any teacher about a problem, but that's about it. For the most part, I feel fairly safe at my high school. In my opinion, there should definitely be more freedom of expression and a lot more counseling in order to prevent school shootings or any massacre. It is definitely a school as well as a cultural problem.
When I found out about the shooting that happened on Wednesday, I was devastated. It was so sad to hear the news about it, but there were some people criticising some of the student's actions, basically saying "why would you go on SnapChat during a shooting when you should've called 911", which is what some of the students were doing. To that, I say stop criticising the actions of children who were victims of premeditated murder. Surely if you put on the spot like that, you would've been traumatized and would do something of this sort.
I do believe that harsher gun laws should be passed, but I don't believe that guns shouldn't be outright banned. In society, they should only be used as a way of self-defense, but not for acts of murder.
I was terrified for everyone's life down there! I hope the family's are ok, and that people up here are praying for them! Stay safe everyone in Florida!
My reaction is that it is insane that there has been so many school shooting just in 2018. It says that 3 out of 5 school days there is a school shooting that is just not ok. I believe that it is a society issue not just a school issue. But also I think schools need better escape plans. There should be a emergency window that pops open and a ladder for the top floors in every classroom. It is not fair that kids are nervous to go to school. And lanyards should be the least of everyone’s priorities here at shs. The priorities should be the kids that have threaten to shoot up the school or have scary things on the social media. I think there needs to be a change of priorities in shs.
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The school shootings that periodically erupt all over the United States are terrible and my heart is filled with sorrow at the thought of so much suffering. May God please bless all those suffering from the shooting yesterday. Thankfully at my high school we have not had to suffer through any shootings recently.
I believe that tightening gun laws will only solve half the problem because I feel that schools can do more on their part in taking good security measures. Some pretty good security measures that all schools might want to consider are resource officers and student ID's. The resource officers not only intimidate any one who poses a threat from outside the school, but their presence also effectively discourages violence within the school. Threatening disciplinary action to anyone walking around without a student or administrator's ID, all schools can be very careful about who they let on campus. Another step schools can take is an alert system that connects to all administrator's phones so that if there is a threat to the school, all administrative personnel can be immediately notified without having to spread the information through the intercom system and also alerting the shooter. The awful shootings are heart-wrenching and devastate many lives. We need to do everything we can to help each other and keep our schools safe. These precautionary steps aren't always the cheapest, but can anyone really put a price on how much people's lives are worth?
I don't always feel safe at school and this is an issue that is only happening in the US. Gun control should be regulated more efficially and completely banned from the wrong hands. We do not have any lockdown drills at my school and the last time we've done one was about 5 years ago. We shouldn't even be having these lockdown drills but since this has become a nationwide issue, something more should be done about this than just prayers. So many kids and innocent people have lost their lives because of this, so how many more should we lose for people to take action?
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The amount of school shootings being recorded around the United States is terrifying. These actions are cruel and heartless. No words can describe the fear and disgust many have toward these events. In an effort to protect against gun violence in schools, I believe school systems must continue to regularly update and prepared their students for situations like this. These school shootings that have occurred across the country are unnecessary and should not ever be tolerated. We need a solution to this problem, and schools need to be aware of their students' safety at all times.
This tragedy was absolutely horrific. My condolences are with every single student that attended the school and their families. However, I am sad to say that I am not surprised with the events of these circumstances. There has been shooting after shooting yet it doesn't stop. Where are these reform to decrease the amounts of tragedy this country is experiencing? Personally, I used to believe I was safe in school but after these constant shootings, I don't think anyone is safe. To prevent more school shootings, I think more action has to be taken with the gun control issue, and I think that people should be more aware of the signs or report anything that they witness that may seem off. Many people said that schools need to be more prepared for instances like these, but according to many interviews, students and teachers reported that they did everything they were told. The teachers repeatedly stated that the kids did the right thing and the only thing they could rely on at that point was hope.
The deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, highlights the unpredictability of life. No one ever wants to go through what the people in that school had to go through but there is no way of knowing when something will happen. Schools are able to prepare for these scenarios, but drills are nowhere near the same as a real shooting. In my school, we have several lock-down drills that are meant to simulate an instance where an intruder enters the building. However, my school has never faced any sort of gun violence or gun incident. Personally, I do feel safe in my school although I know that anything can happen during a school day. In my opinion, there should be more school security to prevent school shootings.
The school shooting that happened in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school was a terrible tragedy. This shooting gave me many emotions when I first read and heard about it on news, anger and sadness was the emotions that was the strongest when I first heard about this. I felt sadness for the families and the innocent victims in this shootings. This is many reason on why we should ban guns in America, we need to stop events like this from happening.
Schools should take more safety precautions so these things stop happening. It can happen to anyone anywhere. It is pretty easy for most people to sneak in weapons to places. The world is full of crazy people and we should have metal detectors in a lot of places. Guns shouldn't be sold to just anyone because we don't know what people might do with them.
No, my school has never faced gun incidents. There are more security guards and cameras everywhere.Yes, we do we have drills. Yes, I do feel like my school is safe. There should be metal detectors and I feel that there should be more security in schools.
Heinous acts of violence are no more then disgusting. One can't help but feel bad for the victims of this crime. But what of the aggressor? Our Criminal. The slaughterer of over a dozen. What could have gone on in his head? Could we have stopped him? We most take into account everything involved. A disturbed mind, dangerous weapons, and a society that let this by for a split second. We have to keep our children protected to the best of our ability, somethings can't be stopped- but we can try. Murderers are molded into what they are by series of events. Weapons can get by almost anywhere in Florida. The weapon the shooter used was more then enough to take out whom ever he desires. Gun Control is something that should have much harder laws. As for society, this is a moment for us to come together. Talk about what we all know is so important. School officials, Government officials, us as people must all come together.
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