Cause And Effects Of School Shootings

High school shootings have been occurring all over the country. All incidents leading to one or more deaths: Jonesboro, Fayetteville, Edinboro, Pearl, Moses Lake, Grayson, Olivehurst, Bethel, West Paducah, and many more. It will never happen to me, you could say, well, it could.y Behind school shootings students spend one hundred and eighty days per year at school, they spend so much time getting an education, but is the environment they’re in actually safe? There are many causes of school shootings and so they are effects.

School shootings strike into the heart of every American. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook, the thought of innocent young students being mercilessly mowed down wrenches one’s heart. Yet these events continue to happen, and in ever increasing numbers. What could possibly drive a person to commit such a horrifying act?

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine if teachers should be in possession of a firearm while on school properties and if this will decrease the number and magnitude of school shootings. Many scholars believe equipping teachers with firearms will be costly and end up unnecessarily endangering more students, but many scholars claim that a teacher should be the last line of defense against a school shooter. The question this paper hopes to answer is how can equipping teachers who teach grades K-12 help to prevent school shootings in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining the perspectives of school administration and law enforcement, the impact on student’s safety and education, the

A method of preventing school shootings would be to acknowledge risk factors that the student is facing. For example, bullying is a risk factor for school shootings. In a research study done in 2001 of 37 school shootings, it was reported that 75% of the school shooters felt bullied, threatened, or injured by others in which most of the shooters in the report had experienced long-term bullying and harassment from their peers (Duplechain & Morris, 2014). In addition, the authors do state: “School personnel too often accept that children get teased and bullied every day, because teachers, parents, students, and other adults have grown up thinking that bullying is a normal part of school life. It has easily become an accepted part of today’s school culture” (Ibid, 2014). The authors believe that schools view bullying as something that students should get used to. This does show how bullying is an issue in schools. It is not solely to blame in regards to school shootings, but is a risk factor for them.

Mass Shootings are among the most controversial topics talk about in modern day society, and this is due to the apparent rise in shootings over the past couple of years. The nation has witnessed some of the most gruesome shootings in History such as Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. From the aftermath of these shootings, a solution was found to prevent such things from happening which is allow concealed-carry weapons on college campuses. It is said if there are more guns on campuses, the chances of a gun man taking out more innocent lives are less likely due to the amount of people with guns. Despite this sound solution of concealed carry on college campuses, the reality is that it causes more problems than it solves, and there are better solutions to this problem at hand. But, what exactly is the true nature of school shootings, is it actually a true threat to our education system?

More than 270 gun sightings have been reported in schools in the year of 2016 (Mascia). Overall, more than fifty million kids walk into school with firearms everyday, but nobody knows about it. Why? Because most school officials do not have enough rights to search through students’ belongings if they have suspicion about something. Schools should have the right to search students’ belongings because of behavior, ownership, and safety.

Mass shootings have become one of the most fearful events that could happen in elementary schools, high schools, and College campuses. These violent actions committed by a number of individuals have happened for many years and will continue happening unless prevented. Individuals like James Holmes opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, killing twelve individuals and injuring twenty, John Sawahri shot five students dead in Santa Monica College also injuring four individuals. However Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold executed the most horrific act of school violence in United States History. These two individuals managed to take the lives of twelve students, a teacher and managed to take their own life in the process. This act of crime has spread through America, leaving no one safe.

The documentary, “Pathway to Violence”, delves into the topic of mass murders, especially school shootings. Citing crimes such as those that took place at Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Virginia Tech, viewers are shown the inside view of the perpetrators. It is shown that offenders often display warning signs, which are commonly missed. The documentary offers not only a look at the perpetrators themselves, but also at the reformations that are necessary to potentially prevent these tragedies before they happen.

Campuses across the United States continue to grow vulnerable every day. Since the Columbine Shooting in 1999, the nation has witnessed over two hundred and fifty shootings that were committed on a school campuses (Pearle, 2016). These shootings have been committed on school grounds, starting at the elementary level all the way through post graduate school. With the rise of social media and the internet; campus shootings have grained more attention nationally. In October 1990 Congress implemented the Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA); for public federally funded schools to create a barrier around designated school zones, to prevent gun related violence. The GFSZA designates a predetermined distance of 1,000 feet from school’s grounds as a gun free zone. This keeps a law-abiding citizen defenseless when entering a campus premises and allowing any potential criminal a safe-haven to commit a crime. Law abiding citizens should be allowed to concealed carry on school campuses because not only is it a Constitutional right, but it also

After any mass murder incident, such as a school shooting, the public usually looks towards congress to pass legislation to prevent future incidents from occurring. This where the debate of gun control and effectiveness comes in to play. There was an article written, “Laws That Bit The Bullet: A Review of Legislative Responses to School Shootings”, the effectiveness of legislation passed in the United States in the aftermath of mass shooting events. “This paper examines the legislative responses of three school shootings— Westside Tech (Jonesboro, AR), Columbine High School (Littleton, CO), and Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)” while giving a brief history of overall gun control legislation within the United States.

Consider this, 15 out of the 20 worst shootings have occurred since the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The five worst have all occurred since 2007, and three of those five were in 2016 and 2017.

In most cases of school shootings, bullying is the link. Students are pushed over the edge and some tend to take it out in the worst kind of way, mass shootings. All school shootings don’t happen unless there is a motive, whether it be mental illness, a suicide, bullying, or the combination of the three. There are school shootings dating all the way back to the 1700’s. “Four Lenape American Indian entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children (reports vary). Only two children survived.” There are three major school shootings that are infamous worldwide, Columbine High School, Virginia Tech Massacre, and Chardon High School.

Society plays a big role in the development of a school shooter. When an individual feels isolated or excluded from a community and is a target for bullies, it often causes them to take out that repressed anger and lash out in heinous ways. Nowadays, students are typically at school five days a week for six to seven hours a day. That is a lot of time spent with classmates, and unfortunately, bullies. Bullying usually involves an imbalance of power, in which the bully hopes to establish a feeling of dominance over their victim. (Bullying, 2017) Being the victim of bullying is certainly an emotionally damaging situation, especially when one feels helpless and alone. Anger or discontent from the victim may develop into something deeper like hatred and the need for revenge, which is the reason why some individuals turn to shooting schools- to finally hurt others instead of being the one getting hurt. One horrifying example of bullying taking

Besides security systems, there are other factors to school shootings. In most cases, when a terrorist is in a school, children do not know what to do, or they will forget. Most schools do practice drills with faculty and staff and do only basic tornado and fire drills with the children. More drills need to be done with the students. They need to practice enough times so that way they will know what to do in the event of a terrorist attack. This could also help prevent deaths of the students.

Columbine tells the story and after-effects of the school shooting at Columbine High School. Columbine High school is located in Jefferson County, Colorado. The shooting was executed by seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on April 20th, 1999. Thirteen people were killed, including the two shooters.