Aledo ISD has had one active shooter drill in eight months. There have been 377 mass school shootings since 1999- that should be around fifteen a year. That number has skyrocketed to 132 mass shootings in 2023 alone. How could one drill a year possibly stop this issue?

More mass shootings have occurred in 2023 than there have been days. That’s only in the US. According to The Washington Post more than 349,000 have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine. More than 349,000 students have walked into class expecting algebra and required reading and received gunshots instead. In the three months of 2023 more students have died on campus than any other year. Saving our lives isn’t political. This isn’t a matter of politics, it’s an issue of life or death. 

The solution isn’t to take away all guns or to homeschool your children for fear of sixteen year old boys with military grade assault rifles. The solution is to ACT. Limit Access, Counsel, and Teach. 

The Columbine shooting was caused by two sick children and easy access to guns. Granting children access to assault rifles has done nothing but harm our nation, and it needs to change. 

Teaching comes back to my point about more drills. Aledo ISD has had one drill all year, meaning in the event of a mass shooting we are only prepared and counting on it happening in first period. Shooters go through the drills too. They know our weaknesses, and they know how to manipulate them. 

Some will say that more drills means less education, but spending more time studying for an education we will not have if we aren’t prepared is pointless. The Nashville Shooting had far less fatalities than deemed possible because they were prepared. What about us?

To resolve the issue we need to ACT, and or face the consequences.