Anthony Borges (Shot
at age 15. Barricaded a door to a classroom to protect other students,
saving as many as 20 lives at Parkland. He was the last of the injured to leave the
hospital.)
"I was in the hospital for like two months. I wasn’t bored — the pain wouldn’t let me get distracted. It was all over my body, not just where I’d been shot. Imagine that someone stabbed you with a knife and wouldn’t take it out, would just push it in.
"The physical therapy is helping a lot. A lot of the exercises are like the things you do before a soccer game. Still, I can’t feel my left foot. I’ve gotten skinnier, and when I stand up, I have trouble breathing. The goal is just to be able to move my entire body normally. I can’t run, and I want to run. I’m doing homeschooling now. I’m not sure when I’ll go back to school. I don’t want to; I don’t feel safe. I don’t talk about it with anybody — I get really upset. I can’t talk about it with my friends. I did what I had to do — that’s why I don’t like being called a hero. I want people to remember what happened as a miracle, from God."
(Jared Soule and Amelia Schonbek. “The Class of 1946–2018: Twenty-seven school-shooting survivors bear their scars, and bear witness.” Intelligencer. October 28, 2018.)
In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Michigan, there have been a wave of shooting threats.
In Dallas County, Alabama, three students were arrested for bringing three loaded guns to Southside High School. The students were arrested after investigators received an anonymous tip.
In Mobile, Alabama, a 15-year-old was arrested for threatening to “shoot up” Mary G. Montgomery High School and Semmes Middle School. The teen posted the threat on Instagram.
(Jasmine Williams. “Students arrested for making threats, bringing loaded guns to Alabama schools.” WSAF 12 News. Montgomery. December 05, 2021.)
3. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in Michigan for bringing a loaded gun to a nearby school.
The teen was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon on Wednesday, December 1, at Southfield Regional Academic Campus, about 30 miles south of Oxford High School, after a classmate tipped off the principal, said Jeff Jagielski, a spokesperson for the Southfield Police Department
Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren said the student is believed to have been bringing the Bersa Thunder 380 pistol to school for 'several weeks,' but insisted the student did not pose a threat to classmates or staff.
"There was no indication that there was any type of copycat situation or any type of threats to the school, but rather a poor decision by this young man to not only carry a weapon but to carry a weapon onto school property,” Barren said.
“The classmate told the principal that the teenager was known to carry a gun at school, but he did not know whether he had it with him Wednesday,” Jagielski said. “The classmate spoke up because of Tuesday's shooting at Oxford High School,” Jagielski said.
“The principal alerted a school resource officer, who found the gun, loaded with three rounds, in the student's coat pocket,” Jagielski said.
(Emily Shapiro. “Teen arrested for bringing loaded gun to Michigan school near this week's deadly shooting.” ABC News. December 02, 2021.)
4. St. Louis police are investigating how a second-grade student was able to take a loaded handgun to school and show it off to his classmates during recess, authorities said.
The incident at Pamoja Preparatory Academy is the latest involving minors taking guns to schools — and follows by about a week the mass shooting at a Michigan high school in which four students were killed and several others injured.
Kylie Vardiman, a second-grade student who was playing with her friends at recess, told St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI that she was “shocked” when she saw a second-grade male classmate with the gun Friday afternoon.
George Sells, a spokesman for St. Louis Public Schools, told The Washington Post that a teacher “picking up on unusual behavior found the weapon and took action” to immediately secure the gun without anyone getting hurt.
But when police arrived, authorities concluded that no charges would be brought against the child’s family. Police said the boy found the gun “in a lock box under his parent’s bed” and had no intention of harming classmates and teachers.
(Timothy Bella. “A second-grader showed off a loaded gun at recess, police say. Then classmates told a teacher.” The Washington Post. December 07, 2021.)
February 14, 2018: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School | Parkland, Florida | 17 Killed, 17 Injured. From left, Samantha Fuentes, Ashley Baez, Isabel Chequer, William Olson, Anthony Borges, and Alexander Dworet. Photo: Michael Avedon
What kind of lunacy is taking place in our schools?
Some students are coming to school with weapons – even firearms. Violence and the gun culture have an evil and deadly grip on our nation. Now, public school students turn to weapons to settle disputes and take out their aggression. Schools are forced to take new precautions to prevent tragedies and mass shootings.
Doesn't the recent news beg the question: Just how prevalent are weapons in American high schools? Let's explore that question.
What if I told you that statistics say – in general and not considering the location of the school – 3 in every 100 students in grades 9-12 have carried a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property in the previous 30 days? Would that be cause for alarm?
According to data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and National Center For Education Statistics (Last Updated: May 2021) – in 2019 the percentage of students in grades 9-12 who reported having carried a weapon on school property at least 1 day during the previous 30 days was 3 percent overall, and it ranged from 1 percent in Pennsylvania to 9 percent in Alaska.
The percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon anywhere during the previous 30 days decreased from 17 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2019. Similarly, the percentage of students who reported carrying a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days decreased from 6 to 3 percent during the same period.
Considering student weapon carrying on school property by frequency, more than 1 percent of students (1.4 percent) reported carrying a weapon on 6 or more days, and less than 1 percent (0.7 percent each) reported carrying a weapon on 2 to 5 days and on 1 day during the previous 30 days.
(These figures are explained. In the YRBSS, students in grades 9–12 were asked if they had carried a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club anywhere during the previous 30 days and if they had carried such a weapon on school property during the same time period. In this indicator, the percentage of students carrying a weapon “anywhere” is included as a point of comparison with the percentage of students carrying a weapon on school property.)
(“Students Carrying Weapons on School Property and Anywhere and Students’ Access to Firearms.” Annual Reports and Information Staff. National Center For Education Statistics. May 2021.)
Besides student-reported data on carrying a weapon, states also report data on public school students’ possession of weapons – specifically firearms – at school. As part of the EDFacts data collection – a U.S. Department of Education (ED) initiative – state education agencies report the number of public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade known to have brought firearms to or possessed firearms at school. State education agencies compile these data based on student counts that were reported by their schools and school districts.
During the 2018–19 school year, about 2,900 public elementary and secondary students were reported to have possessed firearms at schools in the United States. This translates to an overall rate of 6 per 100,000 students who possessed firearms at school. When the rates are examined by state, the data reveal that the majority (45 states and the District of Columbia) had rates between 1 and 20 per 100,000 students. Three states – New Jersey, Missouri, and Idaho – had rates below 1 per 100,000 students, while two states had rates above 20 per 100,000 students: Louisiana and Arkansas.
Note the difference in statistics. When students report about carrying weapons on school property, the percentages are much higher (3 in 100) than when states report the numbers of firearms (6 in 100,000).
However, some stats are even more alarming.
A report on October 27, 2021, says school weapons busts in New York City have shot up by 28 percent this school year compared to the same stretch during the last pre-COVID academic term, according to new NYPD numbers.
(Selim Algar and Tina Moore. “NYC schools see 28 percent spike in weapons seizures.” New York Post. October 27, 2021.)
An increase in gun incidents is occurring nationwide. The National Association of School Resource Officers reports that from August 1 to October 1 this year (2021), there were 97 reported gun-related incidents in schools. During the same span in 2019, there were 29.
Similarly, Everytown for Gun Safety, a lobby group for gun restrictions, tallies 56 instances of gunfire on school grounds in August and September of 2021. That is higher for those two months than any year since the group began tracking incidents in 2013, and more than double the previous high of 22 in 2019. It also found record numbers of deaths, at eight, and injuries, with 35.
“School violence has risen to levels that we haven’t seen quite frankly,” said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. “I don’t think it took a genius to see this coming.”
“The toxic stress of everything going on during the pandemic, it’s building up with kids — and adults. Now that they’re around each other again, they need to relearn how to do school again,” said Christina Conolly, director of Psychological Services for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, who recently chaired the School Safety and Crisis Response Committee of the National Association of School Psychologists.
(Laura Mecklerand Valerie Strauss.”Back to school has brought guns, fighting and acting out.” The Washington Post. October 26, 2021.)
One study says guns at school have gone gonzo.
According to Steven Reinberg, health reporter for Web MD, a 2019 study of nearly 180,000 high school students by Emmy-award winning journalist and physician Mallika Marshall, MD and reported in the Journal of Pediatrics shows that 1 in 18 U.S. Teens carries a gun to school. That's nearly 1 million teens taking a potentially deadly weapon to school. But researchers say universal background checks can put a dent in those numbers.
While gun-toting teens were found in every state, 83% were in states that did not have universal background checks, the research team found.
Federal background checks by themselves didn't reduce the number of teens carrying guns, the researchers reported. Similarly, state background checks weren't effective on teen gun-carrying until after the federal system was implemented.
Background checks were most effective when they could quickly access "a national background check system containing complete criminal data on gun buyers," lead researcher Teresa Maria Bell noted.
(Steven Reinberg. “1 in 18 U.S. Teens Carries a Gun to School: Study.” Web MD. Dec. 2, 2019.)
Seeking Real Understanding
So what's the truth about the prevalence of carrying a weapon – gun or otherwise – on campus? An article from PBS in 2018 attempts to explain not only why statistics are difficult to obtain but also how incidents are likely under-reported.
When a student is caught with a gun at school, the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act requires schools to report the incident to the school district, which is supposed to pass the information along to state education officials, who then are supposed to send it to the U.S. Department of Education. The idea behind the reporting requirement is to make it possible to detect trends and inform policymakers as they seek to address the problem.
PBS reports in the past few years, school and state officials have not properly tracked deadly school shootings in Arizona and Colorado, and firearm-related school incidents in Maine. State education officials there say that while they collect statistics, they don’t enforce the reporting requirement.
PBS believes such incidents are grossly underestimated. For example, in Iowa, 15 firearm incidents were recorded in 2015-16. Only one shows up in the federal database. Iowa education officials did not respond to a follow-up question about why the state and federal data are different.
Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, an Ohio-based school safety consulting firm, said, “With no nationally enforced reporting system, schools’ reporting is a 'goodwill effort.'”
High school students clearly are bringing guns to schools at a much higher rate than is characterized by the federal data.
(Jen Fifield. “Nobody knows how many kids get caught with guns in school. Here’s why.” PBS News Hour. March 05, 2018.)
Student Profile From the Statistics
A higher percentage of male students (4%) than of female students(2%) in grades 9–12 reported that they had carried a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days.
The percentage was lower for Asian students (1 percent) than for Hispanic students (3 percent), students of Two or more races (3 percent), Black students (4 percent), and American Indian/Alaska Native students (11 percent). This percentage was also lower for White students (2 percent) than for Black students and American Indian/Alaska Native students.
The percentages of students who reported carrying a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days were higher for students who were not sure about their sexual identity (7 percent) and who were gay, lesbian, or bisexual (4 percent) than for students who were heterosexual (2 percent). A higher percentage of 11th-graders than of 9th-graders reported carrying a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days (3 vs. 2 percent).
In the SCS survey, students ages 12–18 were asked if they could have obtained a loaded gun without adult permission, either at school or away from school, during the current school year. In 2019, about 4 percent of students ages 12–18 reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission during the school year, either at school or away from school; this was lower than the percentage reported in 2009 (6 percent).
In every survey year from 2009 to 2019 (except in 2013 when there was no measurable difference), a higher percentage of male students than of female students ages 12–18 reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission, either at school or away from school during the school year.
When differences are examined by school characteristics, the data show that a higher percentage of students enrolled in schools in towns (9 percent) reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission, compared with their peers enrolled in schools in cities and suburban areas (3 percent each); the percentage was also higher for students enrolled in schools in rural areas (5 percent) than for those enrolled in schools in suburban areas. In addition, a higher percentage of public school students than of private school students reported having access to a loaded gun without adult permission in 2019 (4 vs. 1 percent).
(“Students Carrying Weapons on School Property and Anywhere and Students’ Access to Firearms.” Annual Reports and Information Staff. National Center For Education Statistics. May 2021.)
What Is the Solution?
Between 2000 and 2013, the FBI studied pre-attack behaviors of active shooters in schools. Their findings are detailed and extensive, but here’s a quick list of things to watch for, based on what they found:
55% of school shooters had made threats or had a confrontation with their target. This could mean a teacher or their peers.
62% of school shooters struggled with mental health issues. While it is often impossible to determine whether or not someone is dealing with mental illness, it is still something to be aware of.
90% of school shooters showed signs of suicidal ideation and 23% attempted suicide before a shooting.
88% of active shooters under the age of 17 communicated an intent to commit violence, either verbally or on social media.
(James Silver Ph.D et al. “A Study of Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the U.S. Between 2000 and 2013” U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. June 2018.)
Another study by the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center is one of the most comprehensive reviews of school attacks since the Columbine shootings in 1999. The report obtained by The Associated Press looked in depth at 41 school attacks from 2008 through 2017.
(Lina Alathari, Ph.D. Cheif.“Protecting America's Schools/Analysis Of Targeted School Violence. National Threat Assessment Center. U.S. Secret Service. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. November 2019.)
The report said incidents of targeted school violence are preventable when communities identify and act on the warning signs.
"That should involve teachers, counselors, administrators, principals and school resource officers. Everyone has a role to play in prevention," said the report's author Lina Alathari, a psychologist who leads the agency's National Threat Assessment Center.said.
"They let other students know, and those around them, about their planning,"said Alathari. "They talked about wanting to carry out an attack. They selected dates and so on."
Among the warning signs, the report said, are a fascination with past violent attacks, an interest in weapons, suicidal thoughts and harassing behavior. Nearly half the plotters in the analysis were found to have been bullied by their classmates.
The Secret Service said that in many cases, students plotted their attacks for months, allowing ample time to stop them if schools know what to look for. In the 21 cases where a date for the earliest planning was found, 14 were planned for at least a month, with one student considering an attack for more than two years.
The level of planning can be quite detailed, Alathari said.
"There were students who were manufacturing explosives," she said. "They were doing research on websites on how to maximize casualties and how to acquire weapons."
While it’s difficult to pinpoint why gun violence in schools is increasing, law enforcement experts believe they know the primary reason: diminished coping skills.
“We have kids who are so isolated inside,” Mike Clumpner, a police officer who specializes in active shooter training says, “they don’t learn those problem-solving skills.” Isolation happens in many ways: they’re glued to technology or perhaps their parents and caregivers are the ones sucked into a screen. They don’t learn coping and conflict resolution skills, so when they get angry, they lash out in violent ways.
Depression is one the largest contributing factors, Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist explains. Depression is often the first symptom of isolation. Most, but not all, shooters suffered from depression and/or paranoia, particularly those who were adolescents. While we can’t blame mental health issues for school shootings, they are a risk factor.
These mental health issues for our students often occur because of childhood trauma, but also marginalization. The U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education found that nearly 75 percent of school shooters were bullied or harassed at school. In other words, the isolation of our students doesn’t just come from video games and technology, it also comes from their peers.
Alfred University conducted a survey of American students on school shootings. 61 percent of the respondents said they know students who could bring a gun to school if they wanted to. The top reason they gave for a school shooting: “They want to get back at those who have hurt them.” Eighty-seven percent of students cited this as the reason.
(Edward Gaughan, Ph.D et al. “Lethal Violence in Schools.” Alfred University. August 2001.)
(“Can School Shootings Be Prevented?” SaferWatch – web and mobile security. April 06, 2021.)
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