Sean Kelly, Staff Writer

   On Feb. 14, a day designated to spread love, the 18th school shooting of the new year occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The classification of a school shooting is “any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on school grounds.”

    Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings, which averages roughly one each week in America according to Everytownresearch.org. A majority of these shootings are not fatal, but even so, the effect that it has on students is tremendous.

    Obviously these disasters could happen anywhere, and Penn-Trafford students realize that. They have various suggestions for how to ensure school safety.

    Senior Kelton Embree said, “There always needs to be someone in the building with a firearm because a shooter could just walk right in.”

      Senior Kaitlyn Konopka believes metal detectors would help keep schools much safer.

    “Someone could walk right in and shoot us because no one checks anything,” Konopka said.

      According to National Center for Education Statistics, only 8.7 percent of schools use metal detectors to check students at the doors. Although many students believe metal detectors are the way to go, they do not come cheap. On MetalDetectors.com, the cheapest walk through detectors are no less than $3,500.

     Mental illness is another problem that has led to multiple school shootings.

    Senior Dan Rauso said, “I think there needs to be more options for kids to go to that can help with their feelings. Our school days are so busy and our feelings and internal struggles get bottled up.”

    Rauso also said that higher security at the door could really help the safety of schools.

    “I think of the popular saying ‘rather be safe than sorry’ and I think that it would be better to have improved security and it not be needed, than something happening and us not having the proper precautions in place,” Rauso added.

    According to Senior Nick Tarabrella, P-T is a “safe environment” but it could always be better.

    “Having the cops around makes it feel safe,” Tarabrella said.

   Rauso said he isn’t living in fear over this, but he still believes something needs to be done as soon as possible.

    “I think that immediate actions needs to be taken by our school and our community. Most people think that these things will never happen to them or in their area, but really it can happen anywhere at anytime,” Rauso said.