Editor's Focus: Safety first

The topic of this month’s cover story is school safety and security, and as I sit down to write my editor’s column, another fatal shooting has just taken place in a U.S. school. And maybe by the time you come across this column in the magazine or online, different school community somewhere else in America will be grieving over the latest gun-related tragedy that society seems unable to prevent.

Someone given to idealistic thinking—me, once upon a time—might hope that people could come together and find ways to discourage violence and prevent guns from getting into schools. But the political divide in the nation has become so entrenched that a school shooting seems like it pulls people further apart rather than bringing them together to find a solution.

It’s difficult to reach a consensus when many people are so far apart on the fundamental issue of guns in schools. Many believe keeping guns out of schools is critical to keeping students and staff safe, while others believe that the path to safer schools is having more guns in schools—arming teachers or other school workers.

I have no illusions that my opinion will persuade anyone, but I hope that efforts to deter school violence and stop guns from getting on campuses focus less on adding more guns to the mix and more on threat assessment programs that can identify and intervene with students who may be prone to violence.

Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that works to reduce gun violence, argues that arming teachers is opposed by school safety experts, teachers, and law enforcement.

“The notion of a highly trained teacher armed with a gun, able to respond as quickly as trained law enforcement is a myth,” Everytown for Gun Safety says. “Law enforcement officers receive hundreds of hours of training but in states that have laws to arm school personnel, school staff receive much less training.”

As an alternative, the organization supports efforts for schools to adopt threat assessment programs.

“These programs help schools identify students who are at risk of committing violence and resolve these incidents by getting the students the help they need,” the organization says. “Effective programs work to identify threats, determine if a student has access to guns, and ensure that there are enough professionals available to provide students with mental health services.”