The state-wide swatting incident on Feb. 22 scared scores of locals and Colorado residents. Panicked parents texted their children, students hid in classrooms and, perhaps most notably, some wondered whether or not it was a real threat at the time.
Swatting is a term for when someone makes a false report to law enforcement to elicit a significant police response to a certain area. On Feb. 22, several swatting incidents were reported throughout Colorado.
An occurrence like that can affect people in very different ways. Some may fear for their loved ones, others may cry and others may simply just sit and wait.
It’s interesting, because some Gen Z’ers believe they’re the first generation to experience so many school shootings and threats. While that may not be entirely the case, there has been a noticeable spike during their lifetime, and ever since the pivotal tragedy at Columbine High School in 1999.
According to Education Week, an independent news organization that covers secondary education, there have already been 13 shootings on school grounds in 2023 which have resulted in injury or death; this includes the terribly recent tragedy at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Furthermore, Sandy Hook Promise, a research organization, reported that an average of 12 children are victims of gun violence in America every day.
We all wonder, what causes somebody to commit such an act. What is going on in their world that would compel them to shoot a child?
These statistics are scary and surprising on their own. When a threat happens within your school district — or somebody you know is in the school — it really sinks in.
Some young people think of these scary situations in schools as a new thing — perhaps because they are becoming more and more frequent. But, according to The Washington Post, in 1840, The Richmond Enquirer reported the country’s first on-campus shooting at the University of Virginia. One person, a professor, was killed. (Diazepam)
School shootings in America were indeed an issue before the 2000s. Perhaps not as prevalent and devastating as nowadays, but still all too frequent.
While the nation’s first recorded on-campus shooting resulted in the death of a faculty member, senseless acts of school violence have been increasingly indiscriminate as far as the ages of victims.
So, while it may seem like school shootings are a relatively new occurrence, from a high schooler’s perspective, they have, in fact, been going on for far too long.
I believe an important distinction however, is that mass shootings are becoming more commonplace. Perhaps this is because guns have become increasingly more sophisticated and deadly as the years go on.
The highest death toll of a school shooting in the United States was 32; a tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech in April 2007. Thirty-two people were killed in a place where they were supposed to be learning. Instead, they were murdered.
The situation in school districts throughout Colorado a few weeks ago alarmed many — especially families with children. Although it turned out to be a swatting incident, and everybody was safe in the end, it still led us to wonder, what if it were real? Are we safe from school shootings in the Valley? And, what if these swatting calls keep happening?
Obviously, people are grateful that the Feb. 22 reports were bogus. But, considering the frequency of these false reports, it leaves this student to wonder, may there be a risk of a cry-wolf scenario if and when people are indeed in danger?