School shootings have become rampant across the United States in recent times and many continue to endure the adverse effects of these occurrences. The current database recording shootings in schools has identified 2018 as the most affected year since 1970 with gun incidents in schools having shot to 23. The statistics show that there is at least one shooting after every nine schooling days. The events have caused injuries and deaths of approximately 133 people. One of the most recent cases was reported at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the 14 th of February this year. Since then, CNN has reported at least 31 more incidents that left 19 people dead and another 44 injured. The rise in school shootings calls for Baltimore City to equip its public schools with metal detectors to identify weapons used in such crimes thus preventing their entry into schools and eventually reducing weapon-related crime rates in the city.
The school shootings have turned out to be a culture in the United States. New York Times reported the incidences of mass shooting that have taken place in 2019 and the numbers were alarming. The list of affected schools included Savannah in Georgia, Charlotte in North Carolina, Dekalb County, and Prescott in Arkansas (Bosman, 2019). The website reminded the world of the mass shooting in Dekalb County where the incident involved a 14-year-old who shot and injured ten children from Wynbrooke Elementary school. Such occurrences continue to affect American schools with students, parents and their respective communities having to live with the scars of these shootings. These incidences are an indication that drastic measures need to be taken to help prevent school shootings. Baltimore City has not been spared.
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Baltimore City has not been spared from these occurrences with a recent school shooting taking place this year in February. Baltimore City schools understand well the adverse effects of such shootings as many schools have been affected across America. The schools located in the city have felt the impact of random shootings. Since last month, the statistics of the affected students stands at 17. Therefore, the city has experienced approximately 21 killings during the previous three months. On 10th February 2019, a 25-year-old man was charged as the primary suspect during the shooting at Frederick Douglass High School. The killer by the name Neil Davis violated firearms which left an employee in the school with serious injuries (Meehan & Rector, 2019). The incident is an indication of how schools in Baltimore City have not been spared from school shootings.
Implementation of prevention strategies in schools is necessary and urgent. The current shootings in schools have fostered the impression that schools are not secure for students. However, schools have employed various safety and security measures. Some of the strategies used are student profiling and zero-tolerance discipline (Borum et al., 2010). Threat assessment is achieved by evaluating the profile of the students. The behaviors and reactions of the students are also analyzed to predict the attitude. However, the two strategies have been unfruitful due to different factors. Mostly, the plans have been dimmed by the presence of civilian shooters. In this case, the approaches do not prevent the outsiders from performing the shootings. In this case, new strategies should be employed to kill the existence of frequent shootings in schools.
The use of metal detectors in public schools across the city presents a plausible solution to school shootings in Baltimore. Due to mass shootings, the United States is dealing with safety and possible threats. In this case, different institutions have implanted metal detectors on the entrance door. Currently, 81% of vulnerable places in the United States have installed the systems to prevent individuals from accessing the faculties with weapons (Davies, 2019). These include banks, schools, and hospitals. In the United States, the majority of public schools use metal detectors on students and all visitors. As a result, student fights have reduced from 13% to 7%. The number of lethal conflicts that involve weapons has dropped to 2%. In this case, the schools report that weapons such as knives are stolen from the school cafeterias. In February, 87% of schools using metal detectors had no experience with school shootings. Therefore, metal detectors have played a significant role in preventing school shootings for institutions that have installed the systems.
Other scholars, however, feel that the safety of students and faculty is highly dependent on mental health and illness. There has been a connection between mental illness and the current mass shootings. Different people believe mentally ill people constitute a high risk. Majority suspects diagnosed with mental illness have zero contact with mental health treatment (Light, 2018). In this case, there is a secure connection between acts of mass public violence and untreated serious mental illness. However, statistics show that mentally ill people have constituted only 3 to 5% of the shootings. In this case, the treatment of mentally ill people will not play a more significant and better role than metal detectors.
The feasibility of metal detectors in providing security is, however, demonstrated in many studies that recommend them for the prevention of school shootings. Working with statistics, treating mentally ill people do not add to the expected results. The required recommendation is expected to crush the rate to zero. However, mental illness will only prevent 3 to 5% of the cases experienced yearly (Jonson, 2017). Therefore, the use of metal detectors is a better strategy that guarantees better results. However, the metal detectors should be used to every visitor, student, and employee accessing the school. The system should be spiced with a profiling system that keeps a record of people visiting the faculty. The primary purpose of the metal detectors is to restrict armed people from accessing the schools.
References
Borum, R., Cornell, D. G., Modzeleski, W., & Jimerson, S. R. (2010). What can be done about
school shootings? A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher , 39 (1), 27-37.
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1533&context=mhlp_facpub
Bosman, J. (2019). Here’s the List of School Shootings So Far in 2019. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/us/school-shootings-2019.html
Davies, P. (2019). Anne Arundel Sheriff Calls for Bulletproof Doors, Metal Detectors at all
Schools . [Online] Capitalgazette.com. Available at: https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/for_the_record/ac-cn-bateman-school-safety-0223-story.html [Accessed 26 May 2019].
Jonson, C. L. (2017). Preventing school shootings: The effectiveness of safety measures. Victims
& Offenders , 12 (6), 956-973. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cheryl_Jonson/publication/320606273_Preventing_School_Shootings_The_Effectiveness_of_Safety_Measures/links/5a4d266b0f7e9b8284c4d280/Preventing-School-Shootings-The-Effectiveness-of-Safety-Measures.pdf?origin=publication_detail
Light, N. (2018, June 28). Some McKinney parents push for metal detectors in schools, but
others say safety lies in mental wellness. Dallas Morning News, The (TX) . Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W63467045786&site=eds-live
Meehan, S., & Rector, K. (2019). Man arrested in Frederick Douglass High School shooting also charged in November homicide. Retrieved from https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-douglass-shooter-charges-20190209-story.html
