New Mexico district prepares to implement weapons detection systems amid record number of firearms brought to campuses

A New Mexico district has approved more than $4 million to install weapons detection systems after a record number of firearms taken to schools this year.

“The (Albuquerque Public Schools) board approved the allocated funds during a school year in which 10 firearms have been recovered on or near campuses so far,” wrote the Albuquerque Journal in a Nov. 23 article.

“The highest number the district had recovered by this point in a school year was six, last school year.”

Martin Salazar, a district spokesperson, explained the systems were unlikely to be installed before August. Funding for the detectors will come through House Bill 450, which passed this year approving $1.2 billion in funding for infrastructure, buildings and equipment.

“Once we receive the funding, we will see how it supports our current strategic plan for security, as we have heard from the community that they want us to invest in additional security measures,” Salazar told journalists.

‘I don’t think we should have to worry about safety’

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the district has seized 70 guns “since students returned to classrooms in 2021” in what has become an increasingly dangerous trend, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

“The district has also seen three students die in shootings outside of schools in that time: 13-year-old Bennie Hargrove outside Washington Middle School in 2021; 16-year-old Andrew Burson at West Mesa High School in 2022; and 16-year-old Elijah Pohl-Morfin in the parking lot of Atrisco Heritage High School in 2023.”

Board member Heather Benavidez celebrated the upcoming system installation.

“Student safety is our highest priority, and I am grateful to state lawmakers for providing resources that strengthen security across (the district),” she said.

Across the nation, other districts are also turning to weapons detection and other tools for heightening school safety.

However, many students and parents are expressing concerns over cost and what they see as a misplaced emphasis on technology to solve complex issues.

“I think a big part of it is they’re not talking to the ones that they’re trying to protect,” Gabrielle Lucas, a Nashville high school senior, told journalists.

“It kind of sends the message to me as a student that they believe (a weapons detection system) is kind of all that it takes, which I don’t think is true.”

Another Nashville high school student, Kaitlyn Saffell, believes the focus of school should be on education.

“I’ve had teachers tell me they would lay down their life for us,” she said. “I know it’s a whirlwind of emotions, and it can be very startling. It’s reassuring, but it also holds guilt because I don’t think we should have to worry about safety when you’re in an environment to learn. We’re all either minors or young adults, and that’s not our purpose of coming to school. And it can be very jarring.”

One Nashville parent, Dayna Scianna, argued weapons detection systems shouldn’t be placed across all middle and high schools, but only in the ones reporting challenges over gun violence.

“If you treat people like they’re prisoners, they’re going to act like it,” she concluded. “So you’re having more violence in schools because we’re trying to crack down on violence that isn’t happening.”