In the past 5 years, an increase of school shootings has occurred all over America. A news segment about a shooting barely phases an American by now. 

According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there were 233 school shootings across the United States in 2025. 62% of all school shootings happen at a high school, affecting students like those at Wilde Lake.

While school shootings are not new to America, the exponential increase has caused much discourse. Gun violence is a very controversial topic within the media due to heavy disagreement on how guns should be regulated.

According to Deborah Toppins, the HCPSS Director of Safety and Security, prevention of school shootings requires everyone’s cooperation. This starts from politicians, officials, staff, students, and more. 

Certain legislation can limit what schools can and can’t do in regards to precaution, such as what they are allowed to use or do in drills. While it is up to interpretation if certain regulation is helpful or not, it will continue to affect and change how school shootings are prevented and handled. 

Due to confidentiality reasons, I was unable to get direct quotes or record, yet Toppins describes that Howard County specifically focuses on prevention of dangerous situations. They do this by looking for concerning behaviors from students and teachers, monitoring entrances, and making students feel comfortable to speak up in dangerous situations.

School shootings are not out of the ordinary anymore, and it is important for schools to learn from other tragedies around them. Toppins states that counties look at other school shooting instances to see what the school did well, what they could improve on, and how the school managed it overall. 

Toppins believes that there will never be a concise agreement on gun regulation in the United States due to extremists and moderates. Yet, she hopes to see a change in the way people view school shootings and law enforcement. 

She wants to foster a community where security really knows who they are protecting. Toppins also wants to make sure that the security at schools only has intentions of protecting the students.  If students and staff feel safe, then there will be an effective place for learning and teaching without any fear.  With the increasing number of school shootings happening around America, students and teachers deserve to feel safe which is what Howard County is trying to ensure.