It  just keeps happening. Everybody wants answers and everyone feels like they have them. It is embarrassing to say that I am a part of the mass shooting generation but that’s just what it is. One hundred twenty two students have been killed since the Columbine mass shooting in 1999, according to Axios. How many more will there be? How will it stop?

Many students and protesters across the world are fighting for stricter gun laws and protection of students to prevent more tragic events. There are a lot of different ways to approach the situation and many people have different opinions, which have caused uproar across the U.S.

One of the ways to take action is to discuss and make mental health a bigger issue to work on further. According to ACA Knowledge Center, only one-third of the attackers received a mental health evaluation. One-fifth were diagnosed with a mental illness disorder and 78% of the shooters had a history of suicide attempts. When observing signs of mental illness, one should really take action to prevent something bad happening. But is mental health the reason for all of this? Absolutely not, mental health is not an excuse to kill 17 people to death. No matter how hard things get, there is no answer for taking people lives.

Another idea that has caused debates across the U.S is school security and what should schools do to step up their security to stop something like this from happening. According to CNN, one option is preemptive response, meaning we have to pay attention to the warning signs for school shooters and report them to officials. Warnings must prompt action. It is unbelievable that no one took action or applied pressure to the attacker.

You also have to control access to school facilities. If a person does not belong in the school or is attempting to bring in prohibited items such as weapons, they must be denied access. Schools must monitor all points of entry to recognize someone entering.

These steps won’t 100% guarantee safety in our schools, but they will enhance school security by deterring shooters, defending students and stopping the killer quickly.