How can we prevent guns in schools? Expert shares suggestions after Dundalk student arrested

BALTIMORE – A community is unsettled after a 14-year-old was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to Dundalk High School on Tuesday.

It was the fourth gun found at a Baltimore County school this school year.

In the wake of the arrest, parents say they are concerned for their children's safety at school.

"It's getting worse. They've got to do something about it," said Linda Cross, who has a grandchild at the school.

According to a letter from the school's principal, the gun was found around dismissal time.

"They should be checking them, their bookbags, everything before they go into school," Cross said. "They should be safe in school. Nobody should carry a loaded gun, a knife, any kind of weapon."

WJZ spoke with Mo Canady, the Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, an organization that has been around for more than 30 years.

The organization trains SROs and educates the public about their role in schools.

"It's not just Baltimore, it's not just Baltimore County, " Canady said. It's a problem nationwide."

Canady says the uptick in guns found in schools started after the COVID pandemic.

He said there are ways to prevent the trend from getting out of control, including increasing security around the perimeter and the front entrance of schools.

Canady says SROs could play a big role in that too.

"Having a carefully-selected and specifically-trained school resource officer on campus, whose goal is to bring community-based policing into that environment, and to really connect on a higher relationship level with the occupants of that building," Canady said.

The student was charged as a minor for having the gun on school property. He will also face school disciplinary actions.