Last Thursday, five guns were found at three different high schools across Albuquerque, just two weeks into the new school year. So why are children feeling the need to bring firearms to school?
Across the country the number of teens carrying hand guns has increased by 41% in the last 20 years, and they’re bringing those guns to school.
Historically, children of color and low-income families have particularly been subjected to gun violence, but that has changed.
White children of wealthy families are gaining access to firearms at a higher rate than they have in the past, creating an overarching issue: Children of America have more access to firearms than they used to.
Dr. Kristina Sower is a clinical psychiatrist at the University of New Mexico. She said there isn’t just one answer for the uptick in children carrying guns.
“A mix of the anxiety of being targeted or needing to protect themselves – whether it's from particular individuals that there is already interpersonal strife with, or just fear about the broader potential threat at school – and the access to the firearms that may be playing a role in this,” Sower said.
Generation Z, currently ages 13 to 28, has grown up with exorbitant access to the internet. This has not only given them easier access to firearms, but has done serious damage to their mental health.
This generation also grew up surrounded by gun violence. Starting with the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 and escalating with the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. School shootings have only become more frequent in the last 10 years, and kids are scared.
“I definitely see that the increased frequency of school shootings or violence on school campuses, that element of kids and families feeling like there is a concern about safety at school, that I think has likely spurred on some of this consideration of needing to keep oneself safe or be protected,” Sower said.
‘Run, hide, fight’ is a phrase engrained into the brains of children as a part of active shooter drills starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. It’s designed to protect them during a shooting, but it can also overwhelm the minds of children attending school.
“It’s not like ‘Oh I won’t be able to sit with my friends at lunch’ or ‘I won’t be able to do my math homework’. It’s turned into ‘what's gonna be unsafe that day?’” said Willow Gillette, a sophomore at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque, one of the schools where a gun was found last week.
As gun violence in schools has been normalized, 95% of schools nationwide use these drills. Some advocates have called on schools to reconsider using them, arguing there’s no data that the drills increase safety.
Gillette said her school hasn’t had any drills yet this year, and when a situation occurred last week, no one knew what to do.
“It made me realize that my school isn’t well versed on what to do and if this had escalated any farther, would we have survived?” Gillette said.
Albuquerque Public Schools didn’t make anyone available for this story. However in a letter sent to the community after the guns were found Superintendent Gabriella Blakey outlined steps the district is taking to increase safety. These include installing 6,900 locks inside classrooms and safety plans with active shooter drills, and ensuring any student caught with a gun on campus faces automatic expulsion and criminal prosecution.
Gillette said that she does not feel safe at school, which has made it hard to socialize. She adds that her generation grew up in the midst of COVID and it had serious impacts.
“It has almost ruined children’s social skills. When we came back [from COVID], it was awkward, we didn’t know how to be around other people. And I fear we still haven’t gotten back from that,” Gillette said.
When asked why she thinks kids her age are bringing guns to school, Gillette sheds light on a dark topic.
“There are younger children, especially in the state of New Mexico, entering gangs and having more access to guns, and they have this sort of rivalry between students even inside of the schools,” Gillette said.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children under the age of 18 in New Mexico. So what can be done?
The consensus between Gillette and Dr. Sower is more mental health resources inside of schools for students who have been affected by the loneliness that comes with growing up during a global pandemic and extreme internet access.
As Dr. Sower says, there may not be one solution, but mental health support would be a good start.
