The recent shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School in which four students were killed and seven others were injured has rekindled fears for students and their parents everywhere–fears that had been eclipsed by other safety concerns while schools were shuttered due to COVID-19. With most students back in classroom after the holiday break, in the minds of some folks, it is once again open season for school shootings: time to beef up security, arm teachers, and train students how to “run, hide, fight” in case theirs is the next school to be confronted by an armed assailant.
The risk of school shootings has been a major point of concern over the past decade. From 2010 through 2021, there were more than 800 K-12 school-related shootings in the U.S. involving a total of 1,149 victims (910 of whom were injured in any way), according to a database compiled at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
That’s an average of more than one shooting incident a week. Sounds awful indeed.
