Reassuring our children of gun safety is essential. Schools, churches, stores, concerts, and theaters all seem to have a common thread; they’re targets for mass shootings. Every year, nearly 2,900 children and teenagers ages (10-19) in the US die to gun violence and nearly 15,000 are injured, according to Everytown for gun safety.
Four weeks into the academic school year and at the forefront of every teacher, student and parents’ conversation is what safety measures to take in the case of an active shooting. With mass shootings dominating the headlines, students at Linden SDA had this to say:
“School protection is needed for many reasons. Gun laws need to be changed for the protection of everyone and to save lives. Gun violence is one of the terrifying issues that America has. It has affected people physically, mentally, and emotionally. It should be the worry of every school, I hope. Gun violence in schools is horrifying for teachers, parents, and students. Our safety should be the number one priority.” -Jamilcah Alcon, 8th grade
“With gun violence, I don’t feel safe in my school.I believe securing our school needs to be improved. I feel that those people who are selling guns need to run background checks and get the buyers’ medical records. Those who were killed had no protection. -Javan Charles, 8th grade
“I feel like the NRA needs to come to their senses and realize that they are making a mistake by not changing the gun laws. We are the children of the future and I think that the most should be done to protect us. With these laws, anyone can get a gun and that means that kids are at risk of being killed. If we don’t get more protection, kids education would be affected.” -Kyle White, 8th grade
“All the NRA cares about is money. Guns should not be given to those who are not law-enforcement. The argument is made that guns are for defense. But no guns means no problems. I personally don’t feel safe in school with only one security guard. This is why I want to start a petition within my school to get more protection and safety training. -Ashley-ann Francis,8th grade 
“Protection is needed because anyone could walk in and do whatever they want. We need protection so we don’t get killed. If the laws don’t change then a lot more school shootings are going to happen. It’s not fair that kids are dying because the NRA doesn’t want to change the laws. It’s not fair that we don’t feel safe in our schools.” -Maya Mitchell,8th grade
“Parents shouldn’t have to worry if their child is safe or not at school. Kids should be able to go home and tell their parents that they love them instead of telling them in fear at school because they’re about to be killed.” -Akeelah Smikle, 8th grade
