1:53- With nearly 30 minutes left before the end of my 7th hour, I remember working on my AP Government Project waiting for the bell to ring to finally go home. As I looked across to one of my closest friends, I saw his eyes wide open with his hand resting on his head in disbelief. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “There’s an active shooter at Oxford right now.” As I searched his face, I realized there were no antics behind his statement. As I pulled up my phone, a large Instagram post by Metro Detroit flooded my feed confirming my friend’s statement. The first thirty minutes had me in shock; I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, believe something like this had happened so close to home. However, this process of “Thoughts and Prayers”, as referenced commonly on social media sites, MUST have an era of policy and change followed. If anything, school shootings across the world, especially the one seen at Oxford, have exhibited an important signal to legislators: without stricter guidelines and social programs in place, the number of school children brutally murdered will exponentially rise. Even though school shootings are inevitable in an increasingly brutal world, we can help prevent violent shootings from taking the life of innocent children through increasing SEL (Social-Emotional Programs) and creating legislation for stricter gun laws.

Although school shootings are inevitable, Social-Emotional Programs (SEL) are a powerful way to minimize them. Social-Emotional Programs are a broad list of programs that integrate social and emotional programs to students. These programs are targeted to students and hold a variety of benefits such as increased positive behaviors. These programs are especially important in helping eliminate school shootings because many shooters are plagued with mental health problems. A study recently conducted by the Secret Service found that 78 percent of all school shooters suffered mental health problems that were noticed by others. SEL’s main benefit is that it allows students to have stronger well-being and mental base through interactive programs at school. Especially considering that many of these shooters are high-schoolers, implementing this program nationwide in school districts can produce extensive benefits.

Although SEL is an important long-term solution that must be implemented, stricter gun laws are another solution that can be utilized to reduce school shootings. Currently in the U.S., apprehending a gun is far too easy. With lightly enforced and minute restrictions, many mentally-unstable individuals are capable of grasping weapons to cause mass violence. In countries like China and the United Kingdom, violence rates are a puny 4.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to 88.8 deaths by guns in America. Stricter gun laws in both of these countries are a reason for lower violence rates. If stricter gun laws were enacted into legislation, we would subsequently see lower rates of gun violence in schools. Enacting this legislation would be a large step in keeping our students safe.

Since August 8, our nation has experienced 34 school shootings. These shootings have resulted in the deaths/injuries of 65 students. Schools are meant to be a safe environment for students to expand their knowledge and for educators to express their passion for teaching. However, school shootings are compromising not only the safety of our schools but the true essence of them. Change must be made because without change, we are effectively turning a blind eye towards the future of tomorrow.