How to prevent school shooting with the right solutions

One of the biggest questions that security service providers in the education sector face is how to prevent school shooting incidents. School gun violence has become one of the biggest threats in the education sector today, and student safety concerns are at an all-time high now.

According to some reports, there were more mass shootings in the US than there were days in 2019. Schools have been a prime target in this, especially with incidents like the California shooting at Saugus High School, which left two teenagers and the suspect himself dead.

But 2020 did see a drop in such incidents, thanks to COVID-19, which forced schools to shut down. In fact, March 2020 appears to be the first March since 2002 that did not see a single school shooting in America. While this does give some relief, gun sales in the country have only increased this year, as the pandemic and quarantine have heightened people’s fears.

Now, as the world appears to have found a solution to the pandemic with vaccines and people resuming their everyday lives, including sending children back to school with health protocols in place, school shooting concerns are back. This article explores why schools are vulnerable and the major solutions to gun violence.

Why do school shootings happen?

Schools have historically faced greater challenges to active shooter response planning than a business or public venue would, according to Christian Connors, CEO of Shooter Detection Systems. Preventing school shootings requires solid strategies, which schools are often not able to formulate.

“First, they do not always have security personnel on staff or access to a School Resource Officer,” Connors explained. “Second, schools usually have to form a committee made up of administrators and teachers to build an active shooter response plan from the ground up, which is a very daunting task. They now have the added burden of COVID-19 restrictions, but they are still responsible for ensuring their active shooter plan is sound and weighing the greater risk, which is extremely challenging.”

What are the solutions to gun violence in schools during COVID-19?

With the arrival of COVID-19, safety has become more important than security. Although this doesn’t mean schools can compromise on security measures on their premises, enforcing them would become more complicated than before. How would you ensure social distancing and hand sanitizing when there is an active shooter on the campus?

“Social distancing places a real challenge to performing physical active shooter drills, but there are ways schools can adapt to perform drills that don’t put students and staff at risk,” Connors pointed out. “For example, with our system, schools and local law enforcement can perform a virtual drill by using our software training tool that simulates shots fired, including the flow down of all the related alerts and alarms that go along with the shooter location in real-time. This is a type of tabletop drill which has proven to be a highly effective tool that law enforcement uses in place of live action drills.”

There is no doubt that security technology can help schools prevent or at least limit school shooting incidents. Over the years, security technology has advanced to provide effective remedies and solutions to gun violence. And yet, shooting incidents have not gone away. If anything, school shooting statistics show that campus gun violence has only increased (except 2020). So, what are the factors that are limiting the adoption of these security solutions in schools?

Best practices to prevent school shooting incidents

The main problem that schools continue to face is the appropriate allocation of funds to address serious security gaps. This challenge makes it difficult for schools to formulate response strategies and prevent gun violence.

“After the Parkland tragedy, the country saw major Federal funding initiatives and many states also made resources available to provide emergency funding to schools, but when you see how it was allocated across thousands of districts, it was not enough for most schools to adopt the most basic of security systems,” Connors said. “We calculated an average of less than $10,000 per school in many examples. While cameras and access systems are important, many K-12 customers have prioritized gunshot detection because they have read the after-action reports that clearly state that instantly knowing the shooter’s location saves lives.”

School communities, including teachers and parents, have to mobilize to educate themselves on the actual cost of securing their schools against active shooters, with the minimums including gunshot detection in their entryways and common areas as a starting point. This alone will make an incredible difference in securing their schools against active shooters.

The need to act

Preventing school shooting incidents is critical as the education sector struggles to continue operations during the pandemic. The threat of mass shootings is higher as more and more people seek to buy guns because COVID-19, lockdowns, and quarantines increase fear. Fortunately, there are security solutions to gun violence in schools. But what’s needed is an increased awareness of their effectiveness and importance.