Enhancing School Safety and Gun Control: Addressing the Santa Fe School Shooting in Texas - Essay Example

In Texas, a nation characterized by a wrenching increase in the loop of massive shootings in schools, Santa Fe witnessed the latest horror act in the southeast Texas town on a certain Friday morning. It happened when a student armed with a shotgun and a revolver under his coat opened fire on his school campus. The event resulted in ten people's deaths, including fellow students, and ten more people were wounded. An introverted, seventeen-year-old student who was the main suspect after he had given warning signs, surrendered to the law enforcers before the day ended. The event was recorded as the worst school shooting that happened barely after 7:30 a.m. at Santa Fe High School. The shooting that happened brought the issue of gun control and school safety back into the spotlight, creating a hot debate in Texas, as lawmakers face deadlines to pass various proposals. The problem of institutional safety as a result of Santa Fe High School is important because, with continued freedom of gun ownership to any student, more lives are put at risk every day. The killing of innocent students and teachers deprives them of their right to life, which should otherwise be protected.

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The social responsibility of enhancing school safety in Texas relies on all involved stakeholders. The state has the role of setting up legislation regarding persons with the right to carry or own firearms in school compounds, including school employees and those who are not authorized. It also has the responsibility of considering legislation related to school safety officers, funding emergency drills, structural-related safety measures, and expanding mental health services in schools. The state can create funds from its budget for its health sciences center that deals with identifying students at risk of committing violence and intervening with them before violent acts occur. The federal administration has the accountability of setting up funds for fusion centers in Texas, which work with local, state, and federal law administration organizations to identify, investigate, prevent, and respond to criminal activities. Through their efforts, significant improvements in enhancing students’ safety, access to mental health services, and support for teachers facing classroom challenges will be realized.

In order to address this school safety issue, it must be realized that it is a gun violence problem. An effective school safety program must involve proactive efforts to enact meaningful gun violence prevention policies that create intervention before any prospective shooter gets their hands on a gun. The state should enact extreme risk laws that create legal processes through which people can petition a court to prevent a person from having access to firearms when there is enough evidence that there is a serious risk of them harming others or even themselves. The most common source of guns used by students is from parents, friends, or relatives. The state should enforce secure firearm storage laws, while policymakers create public awareness programs to encourage students' safe storage and good behavior. The state and the federal government should create a minimum age to purchase or possess handguns and shotguns to 21 years as a way of preventing school-aged shooters from obtaining firearms. The state's governor, Mark Dayton, urged parents and students to “keep fighting for common-sense gun safety measures.” Companies that sell common sense have policies that do not allow people below 21 years of age to purchase firearms from them. They should ensure background checks before selling firearms to any person.

The schools also have a responsibility to ensure safety in school by having threat identification teams, security upgrades, and emergency planning. For schools to prevent active shooter incidences and overall gun violence, there is a need to intervene before the act is committed by creating an evidence-based threat assessment program. Schools’ safety experts should unanimously recommend the threat assessment teams. They should also ensure physical security as a critical intervention point to prevent guns from being carried into schools. The local governments should also decide whether schools need to employ trained law enforcement persons as armed school resource officers. Planning and preparation are crucial in ensuring effective responses if a gun violence incident occurs on school grounds.

Conclusion

Individuals in Texas could contribute to solving the issue of school safety by complying with the enacted rules and policies by including stakeholders. They should be on the front line to support the laws regulating gun ownership and possession by students in school compounds. Individuals can also contribute by suggesting possible measures to be included in school programs to help prevent mass shootings and ensure schools' safety. It is important to involve citizens by pressing on the rightful stakeholders to take immediate actions to ensure safety in schools is guaranteed. It is crucial to ensure that the city refrains from having harmful objects, including guns, in schools, which creates risks to all people in the environment. Additionally, it is crucial to report any threat by other students of planned attacks at school to ensure immediate measures are put into place to protect everyone. Furthermore, it is crucial to be socially responsible because such incidences of mass shootings in schools put everybody at risk of death or injury, including ourselves, friends, teachers, and entire school workers. The situation creates a lot of tension, leading to prolonged effects on a student's health and performance.

Bibliography

Abbott, Governor Greg. "School and Firearm Safety Action Plan." (2018). https://www.sanantoniochristianleadersforum.org/uploads/4/6/8/8/46881059/school_safety_action_plan_05302018.pdf

Jagodzinski, C. Lawrence. "School Safety Upgrades and Perceptions of Safety Protocols in Prevention of School Shootings." In-School Violence in International Contexts, pp. 185-197. Springer, Cham, 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra_Poirier/publication/333465331_Bullying_and_Mental_Health/links/5d2f261aa6fdcc2462e76b6b/Bullying-and-Mental-Health.pdf#page=200

Johnson, Cynthia. "School Safety Assessment: Responses from School Principal Interns." Northwest Journal of Teacher Education 15, no. 1 (2020): 8. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1132&context=nwjte