Editorial: Sadly, vigilance in schools is still needed in wake of recent gun-related incidents
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“We shouldn’t have to do this in school,” Christina Burke said. “We should feel safe enough to come here and not have to deal with that.”
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The Hempfield Area High School senior is correct. Students should be able to show up at school and feel safe. Their schools are the place they spend more time than anywhere but home. It should feel welcoming and secure.
But if one of those words has to take priority, it is “secure.”
Hempfield took responsive, responsible steps this week in using metal detectors as students arrived, scanning them with the handheld devices before they entered the building. The move was necessary after an incident Monday.
That was when police and school officials found three 15-year-old male students passing two loaded handguns — a .38-caliber and a .22-caliber — on a school bus and in a school bathroom.
The high school was on lockdown for hours. All three were charged in juvenile court with felony counts of carrying a gun without a license, receiving stolen property and causing or risking catastrophe, plus additional misdemeanors. One is also charged with theft.
It would be tempting to shake one’s head, be glad the situation was uncovered and consider it an anomaly.
But on the same day, New Kensington-Arnold schools were on lockdown because of a non-school-related shooting in the area. It was lifted at 2 p.m. and students were sent home.
A week earlier, a bullet casing was found at North Allegheny Intermediate School in McCandless. Days before that, a bullet was located on a Plum School District bus.
The National Center for Education Statistics tracks the number of weapon incidents in schools — not just shootings but the simple presence of guns where they shouldn’t be.
It is sadly comforting to know that the numbers dropped 4% between 2009 and 2019. It is still terrifying to know that 13% of responding high school students say they carried a weapon somewhere in the prior 30 days; 3% said they carried a weapon on school property.
The highest numbers were for white boys in the senior class in a public school in an area that is neither city nor rural, which might upend stereotypes about the danger of urban and predominantly minority schools.
Pennsylvania joined Arizona, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and Rhode Island as having the fewest incidents per 100,000 students, which is good news. But lockdowns like that at Hempfield say that education and vigilance is still necessary.
“I think people are so stupid,” Burke said. “Why would you bring guns to a school?”
Good question.