When is Enough Enough?

 On Monday, March 27, 2023, three nine-year-old students and three staff members were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the 17th school shooting this year, and the 130th mass shooting in 2023 in the US, and we aren’t even past the 100th day of the year.

The following day in Hudson, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, students noticed multiple police cars around the high school. Principal Dr. Medeiros sent an email to the student body, beginning with “Everyone is safe, and there is no threat to safety at Hudson High School.”

The email continued, “At approximately 11:30 am, the Hudson Police Department Dispatch received a swatting call… Based on the details of the call and the number of communities impacted by the same call today, it was determined that a lockdown was unnecessary. There was an increased police presence to ensure our continued safety…We worked closely with the Hudson Police to ensure safety and minimize disruption.”

Junior Victor Rasmussen stated, “It’s sad to say but it kind of feels like an everyday thing, which it shouldn’t be.” 

To me, this couldn’t be closer to the truth. I feel like every week, there is news of a school shooting. Each day, parents send their students to school, fearing that this is the day that they send their child to their demise. 

No child should be scared to enter a building. Last year at Hudson High, there was a shooting threat, resulting in very empty halls. At that time, it felt unreal. It just didn’t seem like something like that could happen at our school. Yet each time the number of school shootings goes up, that fear comes back to me.

At the beginning of high school, I always felt like this was a taboo subject. Something that was so rare that talking about it seemed out of place. But now, everyone just says, “Did you hear about this school shooting,” and everyone nods and goes about their day. I feel like every day one of my friends mentions a school shooting and I can only fear what will happen if that turns into reality in our own school.

Rasmussen added, “We never know. This happens literally all over the country…It’s always in the back of my mind.”

It could happen at our own school at any point in time. And that thought is absolutely terrifying. We should be enjoying our high school experience, instead of having to experience fear every time news of a school shooting reaches us.

Everyone seems to wonder; what exactly can we do about this? It is our nature to want to fix things. Yet no one knows the right answer.

In our own school, the Choose Love curriculum was adopted this year. Jessie Lewis founded the social-emotional program when she lost her son in the Sandy Hook School shooting. But when we hear of new shootings, how are students supposed to have faith that this will help keep us safe?

Why does no one seem to care? So many students are wounded or killed in school shootings, and yet there is no change. How can the nation hear of any child dying at the place where they are supposed to be learning and just look away?

There are options to stop this, yet it seems that our nation refuses to take the necessary steps to protect children. In March 1996, there was a mass shooting at the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. 16 students and a teacher were killed, and 15 others were injured. Yet immediately after, UK’s parliament heavily regulated guns, and there have been no school shootings since in the UK. 

Rasmussen mentioned the importance of conversations surrounding mental health and open space for students to share their feelings. 

Something must be done. Enough is enough.