After the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, CT on Dec. 14, 2012, there has been over 200 school shootings.

The most recent one, on Feb. 14, now known as the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, killed 17 people. Former student Nikolas Cruz brought an AR-15 into the school that he had bought legally and kept locked away in his house. He had used social media to post “hints” about shooting up the school, including a YouTube video that stated he planned to be a “professional school shooter.”

Personally, despite all the precautions and lessons we are taught about “educate, evade, engage, escape,” I believe there’s no realistic drill we have in case there is a school shooter close to home. We’re taught just by putting chairs and desks up against the door and to rely on others to protect us. We rely on the loudspeaker to tell us what to do, and just hope nobody puts threats against our school.

I recently wrote an essay for my 10 Honors Language Arts class about cameras being installed in schools, and if they would make schools any safer. Part of my argument was they can’t provide all the safety we’re looking for. A school can’t prevent someone from smuggling a weapon in their bags with simple security cameras.

One article we had stated how last year, a student in Virginia Beach, VA shot himself in the school bathroom. He allegedly brought the gun in his backpack, which security cameras couldn’t have possibly prevented.

Another scary fact is how easily people can purchase guns. A person can order a military rifle online and have it delivered to their house within two days. Although Americans have the right to bear arms, it’s a whole other issue when it’s used to kill others without known purpose.

What’s the point of having a weapon made for the military available so easily? Nobody needs a machine gun in their house, even if it’s for protection. A friend of mine gave this example:

“What if someone came into your house and wanted to rob it? They had a giant machine gun like the kid in Florida, but you didn’t have one. You could call the police, but by the time they got to your house, you could be dead or completely robbed of everything you had, all because you didn’t have a gun for protection.”

I understand this. However, how did the robber get the gun? Why did he need it in the first place?

As President Donald Trump said in response to the attack on the Florida high school, “it’s a mental health problem.” He believes it’s the people who kill, not the guns.

But linking this all back to our high school and what we do to prepare for anything like the Valentine’s Day Massacre to happen to us, I truly believe what we do isn’t very helpful. In reality, we probably aren’t going to stack desks and chairs against the doors and hope for safety. We’re probably going to freak out, and then try to run to the safe spots (Babler Elementary and Green Pines).

Personally, I believe there’s nothing we can do to prepare for incidents like school shootings. It’s virtually impossible to know what’s going to happen-and sometimes we even ignore the warning signs.

My point in this is that nothing can prepare us for a school shooter. Nobody thinks it’s going to happen to any school near us until it does. The parents at Sandy Hook thought they were only going to send their children to school and see them back home afterwards, like any normal day. The students at Parkland High School didn’t think their best friends were going to be shot that day.

It’s only a matter of time before another deadly school shooter decides to terrorize more students; and we need to do more to prepare. A simple plan we’re taught once at the beginning of the year isn’t going to save us from being hurt or targeted.

We also have to look for hints. Social media posts, YouTube videos, jokes and virtually any way of communication can be a clue to what somebody will do.

As a reader, take one thing out of this: please be aware. Everyone knew Florida’s shooter was someone to watch out for; but nobody did or said anything. It never hurts to be safe, rather than sorry.