It happened again. More parents without kids, more teachers without students, and more kids without adults. In 14 long minutes, three students and three staff members were killed in Nashville on March 27th. However, I don’t think “thoughts and prayers” will be enough for these families this time.

Covenant Private School has students from Pre-K to 6th grade. Where the worst thing imaginable happened. These kids were nine! Not only did they have their whole lives ahead of them, but they hadn’t even lived ten years of it, and now their parents are grieving losses they shouldn’t have ever had to have experienced. But, they do have to experience this loss. So I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering, was there any way this could have been prevented?

While 152 rounds were fired in Nashville that day, according to CNN, a lot more could have been fired and a lot more students or staff members could have been killed. The police took 14 minutes to respond to the 911 call, but by then three students and three adults were killed. The surviving students and staff will now always fear going to school or work. Worrying that something like this will happen again. 

These students or staff shouldn’t have to worry about this. School faculty and staff signed up to help students learn, and not worry about their life when going to work on a daily basis. Students are going to school to learn so they can grow up and get a job of their choosing, not to worry about if that morning was the last time they saw their parents.

Most school shootings are also planned, according to the Iowa government website, and usually, someone else knows about the plan. However, nobody else finds out until after the shooting occurs because these threats usually aren’t reported. The Nashville shooting was planned months in advance, according to the New York Times, so someone could have reported it before this occurred. However, we didn’t know about this until after the event happened.

As of late March 2023, the Gun Violence Archive has counted 130 mass shootings in the United States, there were 647 mass shootings in total last year. We are a little over three months into the year and we already have had over 100 mass shootings! More students and staff are in danger the longer we go without taking action. 

The first known mass shooting on school grounds happened in 1764, according to K12 Academics. It’s currently 2023 and they are still happening! With no working prevention tactics taken by authorities.

When something like this happens every media or news outlet have one common phrase to share, “We are sending our thoughts and prayers to these families.” However, the people in the Nashville area and over social media have decided that these thoughts and prayers aren’t enough anymore. Our voices will be heard if we keep talking. Gun violence needs to be addressed and action needs to be taken to prevent more shootings from happening. 

Students and staff aren’t safe while at school. That’s the bottom line. The authorities haven’t done anything about it so I think we can all agree that it’s time for us to take action ourselves. Speak out and let your voice be heard. 

What needs to happen in order to make these numbers go down is making it harder to get a license to carry. 77% of school shooters bought the gun they used legally, according to Axios. If fewer people have guns legally then these numbers will likely go down. Currently in Indiana to get a license to carry, as long as you are over 18, all you need to do is fill out an application online, get fingerprinted, and do a background check. Then boom, once you’re approved you can carry a gun. Making guns harder to get in general, like having fewer places to get or buy guns, would likely make numbers go down. If we start with preventing more people from getting guns, then students and staff can be safer. 

Safety is personally my main concern. For others and myself. I’m tired of going to school fearing for my life. None of my classmates nor I should be worried about that in, what is supposed to be a safe space.