A SAFE PLACE

A sobering guide to avoiding the tragedy of school shootings written by a librarian with personal connections to the topic.

Aponte’s book alternates among a few different modes: analysis of statistical information, direct advice, memoir, and interviews with activists. The analysis forms the heart of the book. The statistics are drawn from the author’s own substantial body of research, which covers 1,204 American school shootings from 1990 through 2019. He identifies the most common weapons used in school shootings (handguns), the motives behind school shootings (usually arguments and disputes), warning signs (often found in journals and online activity), and the relative safety of various locations within a school (most shootings take place outside.) Aponte also discusses common myths and misunderstandings about school shootings, including the ambiguity of the very definition of “mass shooting”; Aponte suggests using the term to describe “an incident in which at least four individuals are shot with a firearm, either injured or killed, including any alleged shooter(s) who may also have been shot during or immediately after the incident” (the author hopes that it will be easier to address mass shootings if we allow ourselves to see how pervasive they are). The early sections of the book are more personal: Aponte talks about his relationship with guns as both an Army brat and an airman in the U.S. Air Force, and he discusses his connection to gun-related tragedy—Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is his alma mater (though he attended many years before the shooting there), and his sister died by suicide using a gun. Referring to his own experiences throughout the text, the author renders the difficult material more engaging and resonant. The work is thoroughly researched, and Aponte makes an appeal for gun safety that will be difficult to ignore, even across political lines. Some of the writing is a little clunky—the paragraphs don’t always flow well, and the author overuses hypothetical situations to make his points. Still, the research, analysis, and heart that went into it make this short book well worth reading and sharing.

A rigorous, moving book about gun violence in American schools.