In 2024, there were at least 163 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 48 deaths and 108 injuries nationally, according to the USA News. Never before in history has there ever been so many gun incidents on school grounds. It is astonishing to wake up and hear about gun violence on school grounds.

The majority of families are concerned every day about their children, if they will return home from school each day. It is a constant issue that is a concern for parents. What can we do to minimize this issue?

There are presently policies that empowers family members, law enforcement, and educators to petition the court to temporarily prevent a person from accessing guns. Raising the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic firearm to 21 of age, performing background checks, and schools are now implementing school base intervention to keep schools safe. Unfortunately, we have policies, rules and regulations in place, but is that enough to remedy this problem? Schools are taking an active role in providing a safe environment for our children. Thereby parents are required to play a vital role in helping our children.

Parents need to observe, discover, and help their children with their mental health. However, we need to address the issue and find some resolve to remedy this problem of children taking guns to schools. When it comes to how children are exposed to gun violence, gunfire is just a tip of the iceberg. Children are exposed to shootings in their schools, homes and communities. We must realize that these exposures can have a great affect on their mental health. Consequently, children having these exposures is likely to result in them suffering, abuse drugs and alcohol; suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, fail or have difficulties in school, and engage in criminal activities.

We all need to take an active role with our children’s mental health. We can do this by communicating, admitting that there is a mental health crisis, and getting the professional help needed to assist the child with their behavior. How did we get here? I would evaluate the issue as a concern for parents. We are responsible for our children, by providing a safe and nurturing environment for them, and being in tune to their emotions, we can possibly combat the problem before it becomes a problem. Parents are parent, not their children friend. Saying “NO” sometimes, will not hurt them. In the long run, I think they will understand.