Instead of Gun Control, Marjory Stoneman Students Get Clear Backpacks

Officials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have informed students that when they return from spring break next week, they will be required to carry their belongings in clear plastic backpacks and asked to wear ID badges while on school grounds.

ABC News reports that Superintendent Robert Runcie told families that every student will be issued a backpack at no cost to them. The backpacks are just one of several security measures being implemented at the school, according to the BBC:

“We’re going to be able to man every gate at the school during school hours and for after-school activities,” said the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Robert W. Runcie.

“We will be implementing a program for clear backpacks after spring break.

“We are also going to funnel students and visitors to confined points and wand folks [people with portable scanners] like you’d see in airports and so forth.”

There have been a series of smaller incidents at the school in the weeks since the shooting that left 17 people dead, ABC News notes:

On Tuesday, a Stoneman Douglas student was arrested for allegedly making a threat on Snapchat, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. […]

Two students were also arrested this week in separate, unrelated incidents for allegedly bringing in knives to Stoneman Douglas, authorities said.

And the suspected gunman’s brother, Zachary Cruz, was arrested on Monday for allegedly trespassing on school grounds, according to police.

In a letter explaining the ways in which Stoneman Douglas was slowly being converted into a high-security airport, Runcie wrote: “While we cannot change the heartbreaking and senseless act of violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, by working together, we can change the future.”

The future of our gun laws, despite the courageous organizing of Marjory Stoneman students, continues to look a whole lot like our violent past.