Shobini Iyer

School shootings in America have become more and more frequent, but it is an issue people should continue to care about.

A tragedy that once again sent the country into a shock, the events that unfolded at Oxford High School on Nov. 30 reminded the country that the issue of school shootings in the United States is one that has not yet been resolved. 

The deadly gunfire at Oxford High School is the 31st instance of school shootings in 2021. The attack took the lives of four people and injured seven, marking the deadliest school shooting since 2018.

The 15-year-old male who opened fire at Oxford High School, Ethan Crumbley, showed all the signs. 

The suspect had shared his elation for his handgun on social media, which was seen by many of his classmates. The day before the shooting, a teacher had noticed the suspect perusing ammunition online. The morning of the shooting, an alarming drawing with the words “The thoughts won’t stop, help me” expressing his intentions to open fire was found by one of his teachers. Hours before the attack, school officials and the suspect’s parents had conducted a meeting wherein the parents rejected counseling for their son. 

“There was absolute reason to believe this individual was dangerous and disturbed and I’ll leave it at that,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald reasoned in a Dec. 3 press conference. 

Parents of victims have filed a lawsuit against school officials, claiming the threat was “obvious and known” and the tragedy was “entirely preventable.” The guidance counselors’ decision to send Crumbley back to his classroom without searching his belongings after posing a serious threat to school safety is used in support of the lawsuit. 

After the Oxford High School school shooting, it became strikingly clear that current preventative methods put in place are not enough or simply not working. Everyone is in agreement that there must be drastic change in order to prevent future tragedies like this one. But this is when the difficult question arises: What do we do when we have already tried everything?

The United States has not done nearly enough. From national legislation to the purview of local schools, the issue of school shootings has largely been left at a standstill. 

Easy access to guns in the United States is the root cause of gun violence. Background checks take minutes. Hundreds of retail stores, from Walmart to Dicks Sporting Goods, sell guns. Guns are readily available from family, friends and relatives, with about 4 in 10 Americans living in a house with a gun. 

The failure of teachers, counselors, parents and peers to recognize school shootings as a real threat has had deadly consequences. A disconnect exists between a typical American school and the schools that have appeared in news headlines such as Oxford High School, Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas. This disconnect is reflected in the way most American schools approach the issue of school shootings, with them treating school shootings as though they are a distant, irrelevant issue.

At PVHS, and hundreds of other schools across the country, teachers and students are not properly equipped to respond to threats. PV has put awareness on the backburner – active shooter drills are not frequent and preemptive measures such as bulletproof windows and first aid kits have taken the place of approaching the problem head on.  

Junior Josie Kaffenberger has seen the adverse effects of PV’s active shooter drills. “At PV, everyone takes drills as a joke —and there’s only one or two. I honestly don’t think anyone would know what to do if something were to happen,” she said. “Our school needs to address what’s been happening lately with other schools, which would make students think reflectively.”

PV’s student resource officer (SRO) Deputy Fah recognizes the importance of threat response protocol. “As with a large majority of incidents of school violence the Oxford High incident had examples of ‘leakage’ where the attacker says or does things that others observed, indicating an intent to harm himself or others. We foster an environment of ‘see something, say something’ here at PVHS,” he said.

“The most important thing everyone in our schools can do is be kind to each other and let someone know when another student appears to be struggling.”

Although PV has taken measures to prevent school shootings, there is still much progress to be made. After all, the measure “See something, say something” only applies when people begin to recognize the very real threat of school shootings in American society. 

For the sake of teachers and students, people must never stop caring about the issue of gun violence in schools.