Senior Akram Nassir was searched by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) after a student notified authorities. Officers located the weapon and transported the then 17-year-old to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit for a bond hearing. Nassir faced three serious charges: underage possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded handgun and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property.
Three years later, Montgomery County is still combating gun violence. On Feb. 9, a fight between two Wootton High School students escalated when one pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot the other. School was not cancelled the following day–instruction carried on as if nothing had happened.
In American schools, gun violence no longer feels unlikely. It feels inevitable. National tragedies such as Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland have desensitized students to violence long before they are old enough to comprehend it.
In 2013, after several highly publicized shootings the year prior, Maryland lawmakers attempted to override a legislative bill addressing gun control. As a result, questions arose about whether state representatives were taking gun threats seriously.
“[The] bill, authorizing comprehensive background checks to buy guns at gun shows and over the Internet, reached the Senate, and died on the Senate floor in a 54-46 vote,” Izzy Salant said in 2013.
While lawmakers failed to act, students did. Following the 2018 Parkland shooting in Florida, WJ students organized protests against gun violence. Working with Principal Baker, they created Students Against Gun Violence, a club that collaborated with the SGA and other MCPS schools to host protests and walkouts.
“We might be students, and we might be young, but we can take a stand and make our lives better,” Mairead Canning, Students Against Gun Violence sponsor, said.
That same year, the state of Maryland passed new gun control measures, including a “red flag” law aimed at preventing firearms from entering the possession of individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others. Each of these gun-related incidents seemed to spark new reform, but none proved permanent.
Efforts to address school violence at WJ date back decades. In 1968, Walter Johnson was the only MCPS school offering ‘Peace Studies’, a course teaching nonviolent philosophy as a solution to conflict.
“The only way we are going to effect change is by protesting the philosophy of fear in a firm and non-disruptive manner,” Gabe Shalom said in his article ‘The Only Thing We Have to Fear’.
In 1990, principal Frank Masci sought to reform weapons regulations following a surge in school incidents. Yet, MCPS policy patterns show that such reforms are only implemented after weapons appear on campus, not to prevent them.
Simultaneously, student Andisheh Nouraee argued that under-managed crime, not gun availability, was the true driver of gun violence. He cited the District of Columbia, which has some of the highest gun laws but struggles with some of the highest gun-related homicide rates in the nation.
“If we hope to put a dent in the crime wave, we have to look at the broader problems, the malfunctioning court system, poverty and drug use. Focusing on gun control will not solve anything,” Andisheh Nouraee said in 1990.
Students have never agreed on the solution. Some call for stricter gun laws while others emphasize systemic reform. But one conclusion has remained constant: that MCPS responds only after serious incidents, and the heightened security measures that follow are always temporary.
Following Nassir’s 2023 arrest, administrators emphasized safety protocols and cooperation with law enforcement. In the years since, few of those measures remain. Similarly, Wottoon students were expected to return to school the morning after their shooting incident, despite being held at the scene until 9 pm the previous night.
In Sept. 2022, WJ hosted a gun education assembly featuring State’s Attorney John McCarthy and MCPD to address student anxiety amid rising gun violence incidents. While intended to inform students about legal consequences and safety, many felt it came off as apathetic and lacking in students’ voices.
Shortly after, the state of Maryland and the federal government cracked down on ghost guns (firearms without serial numbers), banning their possession and sale; another action that only took effect after widespread media coverage and public outrage. Still, in 2022 alone, there were over five reported school shootings and incidents involving ghost guns nationally, according to ABC News.
Seventy years of The Pitch’s coverage reveal that gun violence cannot be solved by a single policy. Each decade shows the same pattern–a crisis occurs, temporary measures follow and normalcy resumes–until another student is harmed.
The issue demands more than another reactive policy; it demands that we treat gun violence as a recurring crisis rather than a temporary disruption. As our students grow desensitized to violence, its urgency fades and our reform stalls.
What prevents these incidents from happening again, from growing more violent? If our answers remain the same, if we approach them in the same way, why are we surprised that the cycle repeats?
If this cycle continues, nothing will change. Only one headline will replace the last.
