The gun found on a student inside Jamestown High School was apparently the straw that broke the proverbial camera’s back.

When students came back to school on Monday morning, the district was using the OpenGate weapon detection system at the front doors of the high school. It sounds as if students adapted to the change. Some were already familiar with the weapons detection system, which has been used at some extracurricular activities as well as for students entering the Fashano Tech Academy on Fourth Street.

We’re sure there are many parents who feel more secure in the knowledge that students are going through a weapons detection system before going to classes. Portable wands are also being used when needed.

In our opinion it was only a matter of time before weapons detection became part of every day life for Jamestown High School students. The possibility had been discussed in recent years by a special committee made up of school board members, public safety officials and community residents.

But parents shouldn’t think that regular use of the OpenGate system means no weapon will ever make its way into Jamestown High School. The National Association of School Resource Officers is tracking weapons that get into schools despite detection systems and has already found nearly 50 incidents nationwide from 2021 through 2024. Issues the association has noted are scanners not detecting some weapons or guns making it into a school building in Dallas after a gunman got past security by going through an unsecured back door.

Parents shouldn’t be surprised if something makes its way through the OpenGate system, nor should they be surprised when further security measures are needed in addition to weapons detection systems at JHS. OpenGate is part of a tool to reduce weapons in schools. It is not the entire toolbox.

It’s important to keep weapons out of school buildings. But using the OpenGate every day at Jamestown High School doesn’t change the fact that there are too many weapons being carried in and around the Jamestown area. Either they are being carried because someone plans to use the weapon the wrong way or because they feel they need to carry the weapon for protection. We’re doing more to keep weapons out of JHS, but we’re not doing enough to keep weapons off our streets and out of our neighborhoods.