School shootings have become almost an epidemic in the United States and schools are desperately trying to find ways to prevent them. According to a CNN report, 21 weeks into 2018 there had already been 23 school shootings, most of them were post MSD with the exception of seven. Most of these safety measures, such as blockading the doors, hiding in a closet, and staying completely silent are ways to stay safe in the midst of a school shooting, but aren’t ways to really prevent them from occurring.

Since the shooting at MSD, Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) have mandated that students wear IDs which identifying them as a student that attends their school. However, there are many problems with this system. One of the most prominent problems with this system is the fact that most of the people that end up committing these acts are students of the school itself.

For example, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were students of Columbine High School when they opened fire in 1999. Who’s to say an ID tag would’ve stopped them? Another example of a student shooter is Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the Santa Fe High School shooter. Dimitrios was a 17 year old student at Santa Fe High School when he opened fire on May 18th 2018.  One more example would be Austin Wyatt Rollins.  On March 20th 2018, Rollins, armed with a handgun, shot 2 students at Great Mills High School. Rollins was also a student at the school at the time. All of these examples just show the fact that an ID wont always help when the perpetrator is a student.

Another flaw with the ID system is the fact that the IDs themselves are so small and hard to see.  In order to see the IDs, the person has to be close enough to you for them to see it. If the person is an actual threat, then the ID isn’t going to do much in preventing him/her harming you.

In addition to them being ineffective, the punishments for the IDs are absurd. If you happen to lose or forget your ID at school the punishments are as follows: 1st time offenders will just get a warning, 2nd time offenders will be charged $5, 3rd time offenders will get in school suspension all day, etc. These punishments are a little harsh for people who could simply misplace IDs or simply forget them. Especially when the IDs are almost completely useless.