55. As of January 31st, 2023, there have been 55 mass shootings in America since 2023 started. How does this affect the way people feel living their everyday lives?
According to a Time.com study, 59% of Americans are afraid of gun violence and think it is the biggest threat to their safety.
K-12 students are the main demographic of people worried about potential gun violence in their everyday routines.
Here at Grand Ledge High School, there was an active shooter training run over the summer of 2022. Becca Foster, a senior at Grand Ledge, participated in these drills.
“A handful of students and I volunteered to be a part of a active shooter drill where the first responders from the area were trained to handle what it might be like to have to respond,” Foster stated. “The student actors were given cards and we did 2 different scenarios; where the shooter came from a classroom and where the shooter came from outside the school.” Drills like these have been known to increase student anxiety, and these anxieties can be seen at student events.
A few weeks ago, the Grand Ledge High School PALS hosted the school’s annual Snow Ball.
Another staff writer, Ava Delaney, detailed an incident in which a student stepped on a chip bag. She described a general fear that the noise may have been a gunshot. “You can clearly tell there is some kind of trauma even though it has never happened to us”