A high school shooting in Michigan has once again raised concerns among many Americans about the importance of gun control.
On Tuesday, Nov. 30, a 15-year-old named Ethan Crumbley opened fire on his classmates at Michigan’s Oxford High School, killing four. Several other students and a teacher were shot and injured during the attack. Crumbley has been charged as a adult with murder and terrorism. Authorities reported the victims to be Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17.
After the suspect was taken into custody, authorities revealed that school officials had met with his parents a few hours before the shooting over concerns about Ethan’s behavior. Authorities also disclosed that Ethan recorded a video the night before his crime detailing his plan.
Ethan’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were arrested on Saturday, Dec. 4, after a manhunt resulting from their absence at their arraignment the previous day. Both parents were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said James Crumbley purchased the 9mm Sig Sauer SP2022 semiautomatic pistol Ethan used in the shooting, on Black Friday, four days before the shooting. Prosecutors also mentioned Jennifer Crumbley had posted on social media that the gun was “his new Christmas present.”
Edward Bergham, a senior at Williston from North Salem, N.Y., said he does not worry about school shootings on campus.
“I’ve never come to school and considered that maybe there’d be an active shooting that day,” he said.
Edward came from the public school system, and feels safer from gun violence at Williston than he did back in North Salem, where they consistently practiced active-shooter drills.
“At public school, every month we’d do an active-shooter drill, and those were a lot more serious than what Williston does,” he said.
Edward told The Willistonian he feels school shootings have become somewhat of a regular occurrence in America.
Although he feels safe at school, Edward worries he is unprepared for a situation in which an active shooter is on campus.
“If there were an active shooter, I don’t really think we have a system in place to avoid that person. I don’t feel prepared at all. I’m not. I’d have no idea,” he said.
A student at Northampton High School (NHS), who wishes to remain anonymous, spoke to The Willistonian following an active-shooter threat to their school on Dec. 2. They said the Oxford shooting was hard to hear about because school shootings tend to happen in bursts, which is why the threat to NHS felt more alarming.
“[The Oxford shooting] was pretty scary to hear about, because often times what happens is one happens and then it’s kind of a domino effect and then more and more happen, which is why it was especially scary to have like a threat the other day,” the student said.
The NHS student said following the threat, there was a lot of chaos at the school, resulting in many students going home out of fear.
“There was a lot of misinformation and a lot of like confusion about the threat. So, that’s why a lot of kids went home, ’cause a lot of kids got scared, especially considering what happened in Michigan,” they said. “But a lot of kids were like, ‘yeah, that happens’ and just weren’t alarmed by it. A lot of kids were asking what we’re supposed to do in like a lockdown situation because our school hasn’t been doing lockdown drills.”
Additionally, the NHS student provided insight into the precautions individual teachers have taken at the school, explaining that many teachers keep bats and hammers in their classrooms and develop individual plans for active-shooter situations. However, the student does not feel like they have a concrete plan of action other than waiting out a shooting.
“Some of them have talked [about what to do]. My Black History teacher told us to push the filing cabinets in front of the door,” they said. “It’s more individual teachers who have thought this out.”
“The school decided that it was too triggering to do practices, which totally makes sense,” they said. “So this year we had a stay-in-place practice. Stay-in-place [drills] happen all the time, so nobody really batted an eyelash. But that was so that, from the administration and the Police Department side, they could practice what to do in the lockdown. But we didn’t have to go through that process. We just had to stay in our classrooms with the door closed and continue with our work.”
The student said NHS used to have a police officer in their school as a protective measure, but that many students actually felt less safe with the officer around.
“We sent out a survey and a greater majority of kids reported feeling more unsafe with him … largely because I think he did have a gun at all times … I think a lot of students of color felt unsafe with him around,” they said.
The Oxford shooting was the 29th school shooting of 2021, and the deadliest school shooting since the May 2018 incident at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. During the pandemic, school shootings seemed to be on a downward trend. However, since Aug. 1, the number of shootings has already doubled, and surpassed the number of school shootings in pre-pandemic times.
In 2021, 11 people have been killed and 49 injured from school shootings, compared to 2020, where three people were killed and nine were injured. The rising number of school shootings has, once again, brought gun control to the forefront of political and social debate in America.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement issued after the Oxford shooting that gun violence is a trend that must be addressed.
“Gun violence is a public health crisis that claims lives every day,” she said. “This is a time for us to come together and help our children feel safe at school.”
Whitmer has long been an advocate for stricter gun laws. She spoke at the “March for Our Lives” rally in March of 2018, calling for reforms such as better background checks and red-flag bills. In the past, Whitmer wrote op-ed articles for papers such as The Huffington Post and The Lansing State Journal, where she called for an assault weapon ban.
Robert Hill, Williston’s Head of School, spoke to The Willistonian through email and addressed some of the concerns surrounding gun control and gun violence at Williston. He said Williston has not had a gun violence threat in its history to his knowledge.
Hill mentioned many schoolwide safety measures, including the security team and the School Safety Plan.
“We have many safeguards in place—including clear policies that prohibit firearms, our around-the-clock security team, security cameras, sirens, and swipe card entry on doors. But if a real threat occurred, the school would immediately implement its School Safety Plan, which covers a range of crises from fire to other threats to student and adult safety,” he said.
Faculty and staff have comprehensive safety training, Hill noted, while students are expected to return to lockdown drill practice after the school paused that training during Covid.
“All employees know the School Safety Plan, and the Senior Administrative Team is the group that does the most regular training, including hosting presentations by safety professionals to update the faculty and staff on best practices,” Hill said. “In the past, pre-Covid, we have had school lockdown drills as well, which is something I anticipate we’ll return to. Knowing where to go and what to do in an emergency is important for every member of the community, no matter the source of the threat to our safety.”
Hill believes the Williston campus is safe and secure, especially with the safety practices and close relationship to the Easthampton Police Department, but the rise in school shootings in America deeply concerns him.
“I don’t think I actively worry about gun violence visiting Williston—with the Easthampton Police Department right next to our campus and our strong relationship with them, I feel secure … Williston takes safety very seriously, reviewing our practices annually, so I feel a justifiable measure of security,” he said.
“That said, every time there is a school shooting in this country I cannot help but think of our own school, and my heart is broken each time as I think of families, and young people, and staff and how their lives can never be the same. Those of us who have chosen our careers in education and working with young people cannot help but feel deeply affected by these tragedies around the country,” he continued.
Asked if he thought gun control laws should be stricter, Hill responded, “absolutely, and that is not a political statement.”