SafetAI wins Rep. Morgan Luttrell’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s Eighth District

When asked what inspired the creation of SafetAI, the student said, “In today’s world, School arguably plays the largest role in the foundation of society. It’s where kids socialize for the first time, grow as people, and prepare students for work in various fields. However, in the United States, the health, well-being, and safety of school has been heavily damaged over the past few decades, through the rapid increase in school shootings and violence. On May 24, 2022, 19 students and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary by former student Salvador Rolando Ramos, sending the Latin Uvalde community into despair, and the nation into an expected, shared outrage over the further death of students. Similar to Sandy Hook 10 years prior, Uvalde represented close to no reform to prevent the occurrences of child tragedies. Beyond these two shootings, over 2040 more have taken place in the US since 1970, with a total of 2591 fatalities, all these numbers specific only to K-12 schools and excluding the several at various colleges and universities (Center for Homeland Defense and Security, 2022). Beyond schools, there have been issues with homicides occurring in various locations exempt from weapon carry in the majority of states in the US, such as hospitals and airports, with the FBI reporting that over 42.7% of national homicides not on residential properties between 2011 and 2021 were on public properties exempt from weapon carry and private properties (owners choose between being weapon carry or a weapon exempt property) (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). Though it has been heavily argued that the limiting gun acquisitions would prevent school and other property shootings in the US, many have argued that another problem lies in the delayed identification of an active shooting, ineffective preventative measures, and the recurrence of violent crimes due to the lack of apprehension of the perpetrators, because of insufficient forensic evidence.”