Can School Shootings Be Prevented?
The day after the Red Lake shooting, Gallup asked Americans if they think government and society can do something to prevent shootings like that from happening again or if shootings like that would happen again regardless of what government and society do*. Only about a third (36%) think the government and society can effectively prevent such shootings. Six in 10 (60%) say school shootings will happen again regardless of what measures are taken. Gallup asked a similar question just after the Columbine shooting in 1999, and Americans were much more optimistic then. More than half (53%) of Americans thought government and society could take effective measures to prevent school shootings, while 43% thought such shootings could not be prevented. Can School Shootings Happen Close to Home? Prior to the Columbine massacre, there was a rash of shootings between 1997 and 1998, including incidents in Pearl, Miss., West Paducah, Ky., Jonesboro, Ark., and Springfield, Ore. In May 2000, a Lake Wort