The Lockdown Generation

My daughter was in high school when I heard a vague reference to a high alert situation in the city. In the background noise of the music, it penetrated. It was her school that was at risk. Something had happened causing the police and SWAT to be called. I didn’t know the details; I just knew it sounded awful.

When I got there, I was penned in with the other worried parents. It was the first time I’d heard the term “lockdown.” I was horrified.

Phones weren’t allowed on school campuses back then, so contact wasn’t possible.

They refused to tell us any specifics. Just, “It’s for the students and staffs’ safety.”

We later learned a bungled burglary at a nearby bank had caused the perpetrators to run into the school when chased. It was my worst nightmare. Thankfully no one was harmed. After a tense three hours I was able to embrace my child and see for myself she was in one piece, safe and sound.

Apparently, the school had occasional “lockdown and fire drills.” So, she knew what to do.
Teachers and students had waited behind barricaded classroom doors until the all-clear was sounded.

I was shocked. It was so prevalent they actually had to teach this?

That was almost 20 years ago.

The generation growing up today is taught how to respond to a mass shooting as though it were another math or English project.

There have been more than 400 school shootings since Columbine in 1999. More than 370,000 have experienced violence at school.

Beyond the dead and wounded are the severely traumatized.

Columbine had the distinction of being the deadliest mass shooting until Sandy Hook in December 2012 and later Uvalde in May 2022.

March 27, 2023, after months of planning, a 28-year-old spewed 152 rounds, ultimately killing three children and three adults.

Since that mass shooting did the Tennessee legislature:

Enact red flag laws?
Start enforcing background checks?
Ban assault weapons and bump stocks?
Require training and registration of firearms?

No, they added the option for more guns.

Just over a year past the deadly shooting in a Nashville school, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed into law the right for teachers to arm themselves.

As though a pistol in untrained hands can compete with an assault weapon.

Teachers already have to educate.

Administer medical aid.

Counsel.

Nurture.

Now, they are supposed to be security as well?

This isn’t the answer to mass shootings.

But more than half of the states in the U.S. have tried to make guns in school a viable option.

The new Tennessee law would require the individual:

To get permission from the district and a law enforcement agency
Have a valid handgun carry permit
Undergo a background check
Complete 40 hours of additional training
Pass a psychological evaluation

Then they’re ready to stand up to a perpetrator intent on destroying as many lives as possible? Even the police, with all their training and protective garb, were afraid to take on the gunman at Uvalde carrying an assault weapon, but here a lone teacher should be enough?

This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Rather than arming our teachers, prevention should be the goal.

Studies show:

68% of guns used in school shootings came from their home or that of a friend or relative.
An estimated 4.6 million American children live in homes where a firearm is left loaded and unlocked. Half of those parents wrongly believed their children don’t know where it’s located.
In 4 out of 5 shootings, at least one other person knew of the possibility but didn’t report it.
93% were planned in advance.
In almost all incidents, shooters shared threatening or concerning images.
More than 75% raised concerns prior to the act.

But with all this, reporting is rare.

Gun violence is the leading cause for premature death in this country. Resigning ourselves to mass shootings and perpetuating the lockdown generation is not the answer. Laws that keep guns out of the hands of those with a violent history, incarceration or a mental disorder and knowing the signs and then reporting concerning behaviors are.