I am a Senior in high school and I don’t hesitate to admit I’ve had an underlying fear of going to school the past four years.

With my freshman year cut short due to COVID-19, my first three years were spent worrying about this deadly disease. 

While the stress of Covid has died down, I am still hesitant to attend school. Not because I am worried about a bad teacher or stressed about a test, but instead, I am worried about going to school because I fear I may not come home.

During the time I should be learning calculus, I am scanning the classroom, trying to find areas to hide if there were to be a possible shooter. The time my teacher could be explaining the difference between commas and semicolons is sometimes spent teaching the class our planned escape routes. 

For the longest time, I always thought that gun violence could never happen here. Seeing the horrific news of Stoneman Douglas High, Robb Elementary School, or the 986 other shootings in American Schools, I never imagined that something like that could happen to my community. 

With the recent events at LFHS, our bubble of security in Lake Forest has been punctured. As seen with Highland Park this summer, gun violence can happen anywhere. 

The looming of gun violence in schools can create lots of stress and anxiety, making the problem worse. Here are a few ways I believe we can try to prevent this problem.

What Can Be Done?

Gun violence in schools is preventable. But as a country, we need to make meaningful efforts to urge our leaders and lawmakers to put laws into place to prevent this. 

Enact and Enforce Secure Firearm Storage Laws

It is not surprising that the most common source of guns used in school shootings are from the shooter’s home, given that nearly 4.6 million children live in a home with loaded and unlocked firearms, according to a 2021 National Firearm Survey. Promoting safe and secure firearm storage laws will prevent unauthorized access of guns. In turn, reducing the number of gun violence incidents in schools. 

Increase the Age to Purchase Semi-Automatic Firearms.

The brains of an 18-year-old versus those in their late 20s are drastically different. According to Neuroscientist Dr. Sandra Ammodt, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls impulse control, does not fully develop until age 25. During puberty, the brain’s reward system becomes highly active before gradually going back to a normal level around age 25. This makes teens and young adults more likely to seek out uncertain situations to see what they could possibly gain. Because of this, rental car companies require you to be 25 to rent a car in order to prevent automobile accidents. Why does this safety concern not continue when purchasing a semi-automatic firearm?

Require Background Checks on All Gun Sales

Background checks are key to preventing guns from getting into the hands of a possible shooter. Requiring background checks will aid in preventing people with extreme risk protection orders, minors, and others who should not have guns from obtaining them. The absence of background checks makes it easy to access guns through online and gun show markets with little to no questions asked.

This makes it almost impossible for law enforcement to prevent those who are mentally unstable from accessing guns. 

Create Safe and Trusting School Environments

According to Everytown, 100% of school shooters were current or former students. The key to decreasing school shootings and other violence in schools is focusing on student well-being and creating a safe and trusting environment.

The Sandy Hook Promise states that more than 75% of mass school shooters raised concern prior to the attacks. It is important to have a school environment where students feel comfortable speaking out if they see possible warning signs from anyone.