From the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February to the recent Butler High School shooting, there remains a long list of school shootings in 2018. More and more teenagers are getting ahold of guns, but is this the real issue? The real issue could be the person sitting next to you while you read this article, or most importantly, the person you see when you look in the mirror. How many incidents of warning signs are actually reported? How many have you seen and not reported?

Authorities depend on us to provide them with crucial information to stop the next school shooting or even the next mass shooting. The government and federal agents don’t have the time to regulate every threat or suspicious activity. The school doesn’t even know what goes on with their students outside of school except what is reported.

In shooting at Butler High School, it was reported that the shooting appeared to have stemmed from a case of bullying “that escalated out of control.” If we know as much as that, then how did this incident still occur? Simple: bullying isn’t reported as much as it should be.

When we think of school shootings and the shooters, we think of a mentally-ill sociopaths who were an outcast and antisocials. Was this freshman mentally-ill and a sociopath or a normal teenager? In this case, it appears that bullying may be the cause. And we should treat every case of bullying as seriously as possible.

As for the students seen gathered in the hallway in the video recorded by a student, there were dozens, if not hundreds of kids who had ample amount of time to intervene in the fight or possibly get help before things came to this. Instead of recording and cheering on the fight, the right thing to do is to make sure the fight is resolved before any bodily injury is sustained. Who cares if you get called a “snitch” for stopping a fight? I don’t know about you, but I would rather want to be called a “snitch” than a bystander that allowed someone’s child to become fatally shot in a fight.

It is embarrassing to say that the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, but 31 percent of its mass shootings.

Although this was an isolated incident, the aftermath is life changing. Now students and parents at Butler High School and the surrounding area have witnessed a school shooting close to home and may face a difficulty, that may have not been faced before, in going to school.

School shootings create a fear that is unimaginable. The victim, 16-year-old Bobby McKeithen, will never be able to attend prom, college, get married, or even have children of his own. Someone lost a brother, grandson, son, friend, and much more.

Not only did this affect the victim and his family, but the suspect is facing first-degree murder charges as a freshman in high school, which could mean 5 to 99 years in prison or life without parole.

The next time you witness a fight or warning signs that stand out to you on campus or online, speak up before it’s too late. You never know, you may be able to stop the next school shooting.