Photo courtesy of nytimes.com

The school that Ethan Crumbley went to, Oxford High School.

School shootings have been a significant issue in the United States for over a decade now. There have been 1210 shootings reported since 2013, according to Everytown Research, and the number of shootings per year is only increasing.

This steady increase in school shootings calls for some kind of legislation to be made – but what?

A recent school shooting resulted in the conviction of the mother alongside her son, Ethan Crumbley, who committed the crime. This conviction, to imprison the parent along with the child in a mass school shooting situation, is a new development that has never occurred before.

This method, of punishing both parent and child, may solve America’s issue of school-related gun violence.

Guns are a huge part of American culture, with about 40 percent of adults owning or living in the same residence as a gun, according to wamu.org. Unfortunately, these gun-owning adults do not always lock up their firearms properly; a staggering 54 percent of gun-owners reported not properly storing their guns, according to a study by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That same study also found that only 55 percent of gun-owning adults with children under 18 claimed to be properly storing their firearms.

Adults, especially those with kids, need to lock up their guns. A law threatening parents with jail time for their children’s actions is an effective way to encourage proper gun safety.

More importantly, parents should check in on their children frequently. When an adult takes on the role of being a parent, they are also opting to care for and support the child they raise. Making an effort to show love and consideration towards your child is a large step towards making them feel more acknowledged and cared-for.

Children who commit crimes as drastic as school shootings often do it because of declining mental health. Poor mental health in children can be due to a variety of factors: loneliness, bullying and domestic abuse are a few causes.

Children may also suffer from untreated mental illnesses. It is important to note, however, that mental illness does not correlate with school shootings – a lack of proper support and an abundance of gun availability are what encourage crimes like these to occur.

If a student is mentally unwell, they need to be offered support from their parents and, if necessary, therapy or medication.

Unfortunately, parents cannot always spot signs of distress in their children. The responsibility of supporting students should be a joint effort between parents and the school, which generally has them for about 30 hours a week and more effort should be made on the school’s part to discourage bullying and other behaviors that emotionally harm others.

Despite schools needing to put in more effort, the most change must be made on the side of the parents – kids need to receive love and support from them. If a law threatening to jail adults whose children open fire on schools is passed, it may finally encourage proper gun safety and constant parental support.