School shootings have plagued the image of education in America in the past decade. It is easy to assume safety at a campus due to active security during the school day. Now more than ever, students are getting prepared for school in the morning with a small thought in the back of their head of a school shooting threat.
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School is local institution that most Poughkeepsie locals send their children. Recently, in an article by John W. Barry of the Poughkeepsie Journal, a 15 year old that attended the high school made illegitimate threats to shoot up the school causing panic in the Hyde Park area. Robert Benson, Hyde Park Chief Police, claimed that the student was charged with making a terroristic threat; which is a felony. The threat came in on a Thursday where a person had written on a bathroom wall that the shooting would take place on a Friday. Students took a picture of the message and posted in on social media in an act to spread the message and awareness.
Right away, the Police took action in their investigation the situation and interviewed the student who posted the picture to social media. It was quite the scene. Especially on Friday where Police were all over campus making sure the threat would make sure to just be a threat.
In the end, the threat was non-credible and it is believed that the student would not face any further charges.
It is concerning with the amount of threats and messages students have made in order to attract the attention of a whole school. Schools may need to have mental health screenings on all their students since these threats keep showing up by the day. Just in the past 3 days, there are numerous stories of shootings and potential shootings throughout America. It’s just not safe anymore with such access to high powered guns. No high school student should fear their lives being taken away in a place that is supposed to educate them.
It is important to emphasize the importance of gun reform in America before parents start taking their children out of school systems due to the fear of them not coming home one day. It starts with the NRA and America’s policy on guns that need to be changed. A 16 year old with mental health issues should not have access to the AR-15 in their parents basement. It’s just as simple as that. Make change to the laws in place and make the people who want guns have to qualify at such a degree that they truly earn the right to have a firearm in the household.
Thankfully, the situation at FDR was just a threat. But, in the future, it only takes a person to simply pull a trigger to cause a massive loss of many American lives. So let’s start now.
Justin's Take 