If this had been even more of a threat, the chance to have the best possible outcome was made possible by a simple warning. But still, there was a moment any school principal would dread, which is confronting a student who is possibly armed with a loaded weapon. To the student's credit, when he was approached by Traip Principal Randy Zito, the student was forthcoming to the fact that he was carrying a gun in his backpack and the situation ended peacefully. Most school administrators and teachers probably never dreamed their job might include the responsibility of facing down potentially armed students. A daunting task and one that brings to mind the statement by Hackett that police will shoot first to prevent a repeat of Columbine and ask questions later.
Schools are on alert and for good reason.
First is the attempt to prevent violence in any form. Second, with each tragedy, Columbine, Santee, etc., the reaction from media and parents is to ask if the tragedy could have been avoided. Hindsight being practically omniscient, the answer invariably seems to be, yes, there were signs and someone, somewhere, who should have noticed did not. And some students are not helping the situation. Teen-agers are genetically predisposed to want to push adults' buttons and with school violence the biggest button there is some students push them.