HARRISBURG, Pa. — While students across Pennsylvania enjoy their summer break, state officials are working to ensure children stay safe when heading back in the fall.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office released a "teenTALK" report Tuesday detailing the impacts that gun violence has on students in the Commonwealth, specifically in Luzerne County.
Attorney General Michelle Henry spoke with students in the Hazleton Area School District last year, who said they worry about gun violence happening at any time.
Students also told the AG they used to be afraid of fights breaking out during a school day. Now, they're afraid a weapon will be used to settle the conflict.
"These kids, young adults, told me about how they're thinking about the possibility of shootings when they walk to and from school, that they know students who carry weapons, both at school and in the neighborhoods," Henry said.
According to the 2021 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, about four percent of students in Luzerne County say they were threatened with a weapon at school.
Luzerne County outranks other highly populated counties in the Commonwealth, beating both Dauphin and Allegheny in how many students were attacked with a weapon at school.
"Trying to live with this much awareness of danger at any given second is making it hard for these students to switch gears between their academics and the fear they feel for their own safety, as well as the safety of people that they care about around them," Henry added.
To make students feel safer going to school, the attorney general says there should be better communication between school officials and students, improved mental health services for students, and increased gun safety measures.