Columbine High School. 15 lives lost. Red Lake Senior High School, 10 lives lost. Virginia Tech, 33 lives lost. Sandy Hook Elementary School, 28 lives lost. Umpqua Community College, 10 lives lost. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 17 lives lost.
School shootings have become an all too common of an occurrence nowadays. Each shooting seems to follow a similar pattern. People would be shot, bodies laid to rest, a round of thoughts and prayers would go around, then again after the next one. Gunshots, funerals, thoughts and prayers, repeat.
On Feb. 14, Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida and opened fire, killing 17 people, making it the third deadliest school shooting to date. Survivors of the shooting have gone on to organize the national movement #neveragain. The movement is geared toward gun control and preventing a shooting of this degree from ever happening ever again.
Feb.14 has not only sparked a movement, but a major debate on gun control. President Trump has suggested arming our school teachers, as well as banning bump stocks. All these events have raised many a question. One of the most pertinent being preparedness. Many schools, including LBCC are running active – shooter drills, which doesn’t come as a shock. However, what have schools done to prevent a shooter coming onto campus in the first place? LBCC has police cars on campus, but most everyone knows by now that they’re empty a majority of the time you see one. If you were to call 911 from your phone on campus, you’d be directed to an automated system, which takes time to get through to a person.
LBCC hosts safety training sessions for employees. However, we see a large problem with that: its just for employees. LBCC doesn’t conduct a drill for students to practice and learn what to do. Last April, a mock drill was conducted involving student volunteer’s, but it was mainly for emergency responders with the students acting as victims.
Another issue is that schools can conduct active – shooter drill after active – shooter drill, but what is being done to stop an active shooter from coming onto campus in the first place?
Most colleges are wide open campuses. The LBCC LAC has a city street and 2 sidewalks that run right through the middle of it, with the PCC being right on a busy intersection.
We’ve been taught what to do in the event of an active shooter, but what about prevention? It’s important students remain alert and speak up when they see something that doesn’t seem right.
LBCC police can be reached by dialing 911 in the event of an emergency. For non- emergencies, students and employees can call (938) 4110.