One School Week, Too Many Guns

Every time a student brings a gun to school, it chips away at the idea that campuses are safe spaces. What makes this stretch of incidents even more concerning is that they all happened within a single school week. This isn’t a compilation from across a semester or a news roundup of the past few months. These cases landed one after another in a matter of days. And as alarming as that sounds, these are only the incidents I could find reported. There are almost certainly more that never make the news.

In Suffolk, Virginia, a weapon detection system at King’s Fork High caught a 17-year-old with a stolen firearm hidden in his backpack. The alert worked as designed, and the student was taken into custody without injuries.

At Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Maryland, a 15-year-old tried to push past the Opengate weapons detector and ran upstairs with security in pursuit. He tossed his gun onto the roof before being caught. Police recovered the weapon, and no one was hurt.

Down in Goose Creek, South Carolina, a random search at Stratford High uncovered two loaded guns in an 18-year-old student’s backpack. The weapons were confiscated, and the school returned to ‘normal’ operations.

Two reports out of Greensboro and Guilford County, North Carolina, described the same type of situation at Morehead Elementary. A young student bringing an unloaded handgun to school. Staff secured the weapon quickly both times, and police used the opportunity to remind families about the necessity of proper firearm storage at home. Good luck with that.

In Covington, Tennessee, a 9-year-old brought a pellet gun to Charger Academy. Investigators later learned he had made threatening statements during a video call the previous day. He was cited for threat of mass violence and carrying a weapon on school property.

Kansas City, Missouri, had its own close call when a tipster alerted staff at LEAD Innovation Studio that an 18-year-old had a firearm. A loaded gun was recovered from his backpack, and he was taken into custody on an investigative hold.

And in Florida, a suspended 14-year-old showed what looked like a real gun on the campus of Tomlin Middle School. It turned out to be a pepper ball pistol, but he still admitted to bringing it onto school grounds despite being told he wasn’t allowed to return. Detectives recovered the weapon at his home.

Seven separate schools. Multiple states. Elementary through high school. Loaded weapons, unloaded weapons, pellet guns, and a pepper ball gun. And again, this was all in one school week. That should give anyone pause.

These are the cases I was able to find in the latest round of reporting. No doubt others happened quietly, resolved internally, or simply never made the news, which should be even more disturbing.

How long before it’s your kids’ school? Or has it already happened?

(Sources)