In response to horrifying school shootings; Americans tend to oversimplify the issue or worse, distract the nation toward wedge issues. The truth is, addressing this issue is a lot more complex than simply “stopping a bad guy with a gun”. As someone who has conducted executive security assessments for public, catholic schools & colleges; I believe a cultural change toward school safety is needed to effectively prevent future shootings.
In the 19 years since the Columbine High School shooting; shockingly no substantive, national change in school security policy has occurred. When our national response to school violence gets distracted by wedge issues like gun control; we lose focus on the fact that in the majority of America’s schools today; there are rarely insider threat investigation programs nor effective physical & operational security plans. While education leaders commonly cite a lack of budget or not wanting to “turn our schools into prisons” for the lack of school security; it is clear that ignoring this threat and ‘hoping for the best’ is an irresponsible approach.