Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 18 april 2019

Some polls show parents’ growing fears of dangers at school

By LISA MARIE PANE WHAT DRIVES THE PERCEP-
Associated Press TION THAT SCHOOL SHOOT-
The deadly attack at Col- INGS ARE ON THE RISE?
umbine High School in 1999 Fox chalks much of it up to
seemed to usher in a new the attention such crimes
era of school shootings. receive in the news. A gen-
Two decades later, polls eration ago, there were
consistently capture grow- many fewer cable TV news
ing fears among Ameri- channels and websites cov-
can parents that their chil- ering the events 24 hours a
dren face imminent dan- day. One school shooting
ger whenever they go to he cites happened in 1989,
school. Those fears have when a gunman killed five
only intensified since at- elementary school stu-
tacks at an elementary dents and wounded 32.
school in 2012 in Newtown, The shooting in Stockton,
Connecticut, and last year California, is barely remem-
at a high school in Park- bered. Columbine was
land, Florida. among the mass shootings
In the aftermath of the in recent decades that
Parkland shooting, some re- sparked the “No Notoriety”
search suggests that some movement, an appeal by
type of school gun violence both gun-control and gun-
happens almost daily in the rights activists to avoid re-
United States. Other studies peated reporting of the
indicate that deaths from names and biographic de-
school violence have ac- tails of gunmen. They hope
tually declined since 1991. In this May 1, 1999, file photo, demonstrators gather on the Colorado State Capitol grounds in denying attention to the
Answers to some key ques- Denver, Colo., to protest against the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, which is being attackers prevents inspiring
tions about school attacks held in the city. a new crop of future shoot-
over the last several de- Associated Press ers.
cades: their child’s safety while In contrast, over the past related violence, including HOW HAVE SHOOTINGS
WHAT ARE AMERICANS’ at school. About a third of eight years, an average of non-fatal shootings and EVOLVED?
PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL parents are very confident about six fatal school shoot- drive-by shootings in which The early 1990s were
SHOOTINGS? or extremely confident, ac- ings happened each year, the perpetrators do not plagued by a high homi-
A March survey by The Asso- cording to the poll. But few- with about 14 killed. have a direct connection cide rate overall around
ciated Press-NORC Center er Americans put blame for “First of all, schools are safe, to the school. That research the country, and that’s re-
for Public Affairs Research shootings on schools them- and if you consider the paints a different picture flected in school shootings.
found that a majority of selves. over 50 million schoolchil- that suggests gun violence Many of the attacks in that
Americans believe schools WHAT DO THE DATA SHOW? dren and the over 100,000 — from random gunfire to decade were gang-relat-
and colleges, along with According to data com- schools that we have, the suicides — is a frequent oc- ed. Gang warfare spilled
places of worship, have be- piled by Northeastern Uni- risk of a student or a facul- currence. out from the streets into
come less safe compared versity criminologist James ty member being killed by Everytown, which began the halls of the schools, but
with 20 years ago. Alan Fox, who has been gunfire, it’s extremely low,” tracking school shootings those shootings “were not
Wide shares of Americans researching gun violence Fox told AP. “The one-homi- after Newtown, notes that the type of events that got
also believe parents, the for decades, school shoot- cide-is-too-many mantra is attacks such as those at a lot of attention, except
internet and news cover- ings were more frequent in quite true. Yet when you do Sandy Hook Elementary for locally,” Fox said.
age of similar attacks are the 1990s than today. From the calculations, the prob- School and Marjory Stone- In more recent years, most
at least partly to blame for 1991 until the Columbine ability is very small.” man Douglas High School school shootings are ei-
school shootings. shooting, an average of Other data, such as that are not commonplace ther related to perceived
About 2 in 10 parents 19 fatal school shootings compiled by Everytown and represent less than 1 bullying or to reasons that
are not at all confident happened each year, with for Gun Safety, captures a percent of the school gun- cannot be definitively
or not very confident in about 22 people killed. broader spectrum of gun- violence incidents. explained.q