On May 24, Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School. Rooms 112 and 111 were terrorized with over 300 live rounds. Law enforcement officials entered the school from two different entrances and were quickly met with Ramos’s gunfire. All of this could’ve been prevented if a door wasn’t faulty.

Schools need to be able to defend/protect against these actions, no outside person should be able to open a door and threaten the safety of students and the campus. The fact that Salvador walked in as if he were a student at the school proved that public schools have failed at providing a safe and secure environment for students and rather give every advantage to an intruder. Faulty doors/fences aren’t going to stop a shooter from entering campus or anywhere with large traffic. Fences should not be easily slipped through and entryways need to be guarded.

Police response to Robb Elementary was terrible. A police department needs more than eight officers in a critical emergency equipped with the necessary gear. Radios should be mandatory on-site as well, as the Uvalde Police Chief had no radio communication with his officers during this incident. This resulted in officers being confused about what was going on inside the school. The Uvalde Police Chief ordered his officers to sit and wait while kids were being shot at, and parents were forced to listen to the sound of their children dying. Police should be more serious about these situations and need to be trained on how to communicate better.

Texas needs gun laws that can prevent people who haven’t matured emotionally and mentally from purchasing weapons. This should be a priority of our state lawmakers before their next legislative session begins in January. There should be a rising of the age requirement to buy a firearm to 21.. We need laws that provide thorough background checks for all gun purchases that don’t have loopholes that can be exploited. This is not just a Texas problem, we need federal gun laws as well focused on stopping people from illegally obtaining weapons.

Mental health needs to be made a priority in schools as well. Every student’s well-being should be cared for and covered at school. We shouldn’t have to worry about our peers going on these rampages because they feel like nobody is on their side. We need to work on helping those who express frustration and act aggressively toward their peers. We need to do more to provide mental health care on campuses across the nation. More resources need to be available for our students to prevent these outcomes.

These all cannot be solved overnight, however, we seriously need to address the safety of not only students, but also our teachers and staff. Schools need better security to help deter the shooting problems we have in America now. We don’t want to be reflected as the country with the most school shootings. It’s time to put this to rest, school shootings shouldn’t be normal in any country.