If one picture is worth a thousand words, unfortunately, one fear-arousing photograph seems to outweigh a thousand facts. Fear clouds an objective, rational analysis of the problem. Now the highly arousing coverage of the most recent shootings threaten again to generate more distorted perceptions that schools are not safe and that every angry teenager is a potential killer. Homicides at school, although tragic, represent only a tiny fraction of the fatalies suffered by youth people every year. The coverage given to school shootings is far out of proportion to the danger they actually pose to our children.
Children are more likely to be killed at home or on the streets than at school.
Yet because of the school shootings, some schools now have children walk through metal detectors at the entrance. Perhaps it would save more lives to have a school nurse stand at the door to check students for signs of communicable disease. We could save more children's lives by making sure they wear their seatbelts and by enforcing laws against drunk driving. The school shootings also generate the erroneous perception that youth violence is on the increase, when in fact it is steadily declining. Dr. Fox, who is the leading authority on this topic, can give you much more information.