School Shootings - Prevent and protect
School shootings are best defined as mass murders. There usually isn’t one single target, but many. School shootings are usually perpetrated by students but can also be a student who was kicked out, alumni or even simply outsiders. School shootings are usually pretty rare but when they occur, they’re rather traumatic for people in the end.
One of the dangers of school shootings is that they have a tendency for “copycat” incidents to occur afterwards. Students get ideas and think that they can carry out the same type of behavior. For instance, after one of the most widely publicized school shootings, at Columbine in Colorado, there were many incidents in both American and Canada schools where this was attempted.
Ever since the Columbine incident in 1999, every year around its anniversary date of April 20, there are threats made at that time and youth are arrested for plotting attacks.
School shootings have been occurring in the United States since 1927 and some of the most notable ones have been:
Bath disaster, Bath Michigan, May 18, 1927
Poe Elementary – Houston, Texas – September 15, 1959
Cologne Massacre – cologne, Germany – June 11, 1964
University of Texas at Austin – August 1, 1966
California State University – Fullerton Library Massacre – July 12, 1976
Stockton Massacre – Stockton, California – 1989
Jonesboro Massacre – Craighead County, Arkansas – March 1998
Columbine Massacre – Littleton, Colorado – April 20, 1999
Red Lake Massacre – Red Lake, Minnesota – 2005
The statistics are very scary and in my opinion, there are far too many that have occurred. How can we as parents protect our children and ensure their safety from school shootings? For one, it’s important to realize that the children are safer in the schools than they are in any other place other than their home. Still, that doesn’t minimize the threats that they face. Schools are currently undergoing many changes to help make them safer and they are practicing violence-reduction strategies.
As parents, it’s important to stay active in the child’s life. Maybe parents can join the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) by attending meetings and getting acquainted with other parents and administrators in the schools.
There is never a certainty that we can be assured that school shootings aren’t going to happen in our towns or neighborhoods because they can happen anywhere. What we can do is be more aware of what our children are doing today and tomorrow and keeping in touch with the schools to see that they are keeping them safe to the best of their ability and secure and taking great care of our children while they are not with us.