Texas school shooting prompts local districts to increase police presence Wednesday
BOSTON -- At least three Massachusetts school districts will have increased police presence on Wednesday after at least 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
Hingham, Gloucester, Barnstable, and Tewksbury will have more officers on campus to help students and families feel safer.
Gun control advocates in Massachusetts are at a loss.
"I have so many words, and yet somehow I can't find the words. We have seen this play out over and over again in this country, and it's horrifying," said Ruth Zakarin of the Mass Coalition To Prevent Gun Violence.
Following the shooting in Uvalde, advocates are frustrated that so little has been done to keep kids safe since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
"Another day, another horrific mass shooting. There has been a mass shooting of four or more people in America every single day for the last three years. There have been over 200 this year alone. Every 30 minutes a child is shot. Every three hours, a kid dies," said John Rosenthal of Stop Handgun Violence.
Those sobering statistics anger WBZ-TV security analyst Ed Davis, who pitches a national database as a solution to check known violent or mentally ill people before allowing them to buy a gun. He says it's complex, but doable.
"Anybody says that we can't, I wish I could take them to that school and show them those children. Because I've seen the victims. And once you see the victims, you might have a different perspective on this," Davis said.
Massachusetts has the second-lowest gun death rate in the nation, and Zakarin says Massachusetts could serve as a model to protect kids nationwide.
"Gun violence is preventable, and when enough of us who care deeply about the right of every child to be safe come together, we want to make change, we will move the needle on this issue."
On Monday, the FBI released a report that shows active shooter situations increased by nearly 53 percent from 2020 to 2021.