With all the school shootings that have been taking place across the nation, it is easy to fear for you safety. Students spend a large part of their lives sitting in classrooms and interacting with the hundreds or thousands of other students that go to school with them.

However, even though students spend hours and hours at school, most of their classmates are complete strangers. You can’t ever really be sure about the other students that are at school with you.

According to the BBC News, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, administration created new safety policies. The most notorious one being making students wear clear backpacks, as well as implementing new IDs and metal detectors. The extra precautions caused a bit of an outrage amongst the students that didn’t agree with these measures. As a result, it has hit national news.

I agree that this shooting was something that never should have happened. Gun regulations that either prevent the sale of AR-15’s or better background checks could have possibly prevented this. My issue with this situation is the fact that nobody had any problems with see through backpacks before.

Growing up in less affluent parts of Austin, I can say for a fact that my school required clear or see-through mesh backpacks and it felt as though no one tried addressing the issue.

Some of the students at Stoneman Douglas High School have said that they feel as though this is an invasion of privacy and that it makes them feel as though they are prisoners.

My issue with this is that nobody complains about these invasions of privacy or sentiments of being a prisoner when it applies to low income neighborhoods of color.

At my school, most of the students didn’t even carry backpacks. We just attended class with a few sheets of paper in our pockets and a pencil. The students at my school deserved so much better than to be treated like criminals that couldn’t be trusted to behave. Things were harsh enough growing up in an area where most of us were viewed as future prison statistics.

To add insult to injury, according to CBS News, some people have began buying bulletproof backpacks for their children in order to resolve this issue. These backpacks range from $100 to $500 according to one company named Bullet Blocker.

Saying this is the way to prevent school shootings is basically saying that only those that can afford these products deserve to be safe. There are schools across the nation that have difficulties paying for school supplies and now their students are supposed to focus those limited funds on bullet proof gear?

I agree with the students that claim this is an invasion of privacy, see-through backpacks won’t solve school shootings. I just think that if this is going to be an issue it has to be addressed equally for all students, not just those that can capture the public’s eye.

It has to be addressed for students that come from underfunded schools the same way it might be addressed by a more affluent school. There must be a voice for everyone.