We’ve seen a disturbing trend pick up across the Houston area recently, with Fox 26 reporting on three different cases of guns being brought to Houston-area schools during one 16-day period in January. Two of the suspects in these cases were 18-year-old students.
Fox 26 also reported that in one instance, the 18-year-old student attempted to hide the gun on a school bus, hinting that he could have been planning something more nefarious.
Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers Houston is now sounding the alarm about the potential for a violent incident at our schools. “If you’re bringing a gun onto a school campus,” he said, “things can escalate, and you can end up in a school shooting situation.”
Kahan also pointed out that we only know about these three cases because the suspects are legal adults. “We have no idea right now how many other students that are considered juveniles have been charged with similar offenses,” he warned.
He went on to question where these students are getting firearms and says this is a key reason why properly and securely storing your firearm is such an important part of gun safety. Kahan also pointed to the rise of social-media-related threats and anxiety as a reason that more students might be bringing guns to school.