Five Years After Sandy Hook, Are Schools Safer?

It seemed like a moment when everything would change. Twenty children and six adults were shot and killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

There was sadness. There was anger. There were questions. How could this happen, and what would be done to stop anything like it from ever happening again?

President Obama took executive action, Congress didn’t take action and National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”

There was talk of arming teachers, but many schools took other steps, NBC reports:

Experts say the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre in Newtown, Connecticut — which left 20 children and six staff members dead — prompted the wave of alterations to school buildings.

“After Sandy Hook, you saw a tremendous increase in the number of buzzer systems,” said Dr. Amy Klinger, director of programs and co-founder of the Educator’s School Safety Network, a nonprofit that supports safer schools. By requiring that visitors be buzzed in by a receptionist or other staff member, schools say they’re adding a layer of control about who can gain access.

We’ll look at what’s changed in schools since Sandy Hook, and how safe students are.

GUESTS

John Donohue, Professor, Stanford Law School; @JohnDonohueSLS

Shannon Watts, Founder, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; @shannonrwatts

Joe Eaton, Program Director, FASTER Saves Lives; @FASTERSaves

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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