By: Delia Geyer/ Content Editor
On January 23rd, the United States had its eleventh school shooting of the year. In Benton, Kentucky two students were killed, and eighteen people were injured. There were ten shootings on school grounds in the United States previous to this in only 23 days. If the shootings were spread apart evenly, this would be equal to having a school shooting roughly every other day. According to researchers from the New York Times, school shootings are logged at a rate of about one per week, yet, we rarely see these shootings in the media. Is it because we only want to know if we or someone we know are affected? Is it because our society has gown numb to school shootings? Or accustomed to them?
It is not uncommon nor unreasonable for news and media outlets to not publicize every incident that happens. However, if these smaller incidents are not widely publicized and nothing is done, there is no telling when the next mass shooting at a school could occur. Small school shootings, and even ones where no one is injured are still important to talk about.
Whether you think this is a mental health issue, a gun control issue, or something else, we can all agree that it needs to end. A school should not be a place where students are scared, fearing for their lives. Students should feel safe at school.
Unfortunately, in the current state of our country, it can be difficult to feel safe when two students were murdered days ago, and countless others have been murdered in school areas.
The shooter in the school in Kentucky was a 15 year old student at the school and is remaining unnamed. He is charged with two accounts of murder and at least 12 accounts of first degree assault. His motives are unclear. He is detained by the Department of Juvenile Justice until his next hearing, and it is unknown whether he will be charged as a juvenile or an adult. A jury is expected to meet on February 13th.
