While 14 may seem like a small number, when it is attached to the number of school shootings so far in 2018, it becomes drastically larger.
According to everytown.org, from Jan. 1 to Feb. 1, there were 14 instances where a firearm discharged a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds. That’s nearly one every other day.
“That’s shocking—I had no clue this was happening,” Ferris pre-pharmacy sophomore Amber Anderson said. “But it needs to be talked about because there needs to be safety regulations in schools.”
In six of the incidents, no one was harmed. Two were attempted or completed suicides and the other six harmed or killed others, according to abc15.com. In Benton, Kentucky, two 15-year-old students died and 18 others were injured. The shooter was a 15-year-old student, as reported by the New York Times.
“When the incident does not happen at a school that a person is attending, it becomes easy to assume that it could never happen here,” Ferris Department of Public Safety Chief Bruce Borkovich said.
Many students believe that news of gunfire in a school used to be shocking and uncommon. At this point, it has almost become normal and is rarely the focal point in news cycles.
“It’s because they’re embarrassed that it keeps happening and we’re the only country in the world that this is happening in,” Ferris pre-pharmacy sophomore Carl Bates said.
The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 shocked everyone but people have almost moved on from the incident and society has become somewhat desensitized to shootings, explained Anderson.
A concerning aspect to school shootings this year is that multiple shooters were kids. In at least three of the incidents where others were injured or killed, the shooter was between the ages of 12 and 16.
“It’s kind of crazy to think that someone could do that but they must have been in some sort of different state of mind,” Ferris criminal justice sophomore Chris Avel said. “They should catch it sooner with adolescents. We were talking about Columbine in class and they had journals on journals on what they wanted to do but no one stopped them.”
According to the New York Times, there have been around 50 school shootings throughout this academic year, bringing up the question of whether or not gun control laws should be increased.
“I think gun control should be regulated more than it is now, but not taken away. You should still be allowed to have guns but kids shouldn’t be able to access guns,” Bates said. “Parents should know what their kids are doing and keep [guns] locked up. There should definitely be a class or everyone should be required to take hunter’s safety.”
On the DPS website is a video that provides training to recognize an “at-risk person” and what to do if an attack happens. Every Ferris employee views the video when hired, incoming freshmen are shown the video in their FSUS class and officers are thoroughly trained for situations involving shooters, according to Borkovich.
Click here for more from the Torch’s News section.