Two more people were hurt this week in the latest school shooting, this time at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Md.

Authorities have identified the shooter, who is now dead, as 17-year-old senior Austin Wyatt Rollins, who was armed with a handgun. He either turned the gun on himself after wounding a 14-year-old boy and critically injuring a 16-year-old girl in the hallway Tuesday morning as school was about to start, or he was killed by a school resource officer who responded to the sounds of gunfire, authorities said.

There are many sad points to this story, the worst being that it is the 17th school shooting in the United States since Jan. 1.

The shooting also took place a week after students at Great Mills High School and across the nation turned out to support tougher gun laws in this nation and pay tribute to the 17 victims of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Fla.

When will the shootings end?

The events in Florida and Maryland drive home the message that such terror can strike at any school in any city or town in the nation unless Congress and our state legislatures take action to reduce the availability of guns.

On Monday night, the Richmond School Board unanimously approved a resolution calling for a ban on the manufacture, sale, purchase, possession and use of assault weapons and the high-capacity magazines of bullets that go with them. 

The board also called on Congress to fund school safety measures.

While we don’t want to see our schools become armed fortresses or turned into airport-like places with people waiting in lines for metal detectors or body scans, we believe something must be done. Efforts must include banning military-style assault weapons, raising the age for gun purchases and requiring background checks for everyone purchasing a weapon.

Additionally, actions must include efforts to analyze and understand what drives these young school shooters and to provide mental health intervention and treatment before they decide to mow down their fellow students.

We urge Richmonders to continue to add their voices to the national cry for change and join in Saturday’s “March for Our Lives.” People who cannot get to the national march in Washington can join the local rally and march at 10 a.m. in Richmond beginning at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1000 Mosby St., to the Bell Tower in Capitol Square. 

The local march is sponsored by Richmond Public Schools, the Richmond Branch NAACP, The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action-RVA, the Richmond Peace Education Center, various faith communities, students from local area schools and others.

We commend them all for standing up and speaking out.