Essay On Mass Shootings

A major concern in the United States is why mass shootings occur and what needs to be done to stop them from happening. Mass shootings have gained a significant amount of attention in 2015. Within the year, a total of 372 mass shootings have occurred in the United States killing 475 people and wounding 1,870. Mass shootings have become a popular trend within the media and have given the impression that it is the new normal. Mass shootings are a dysfunction to society, due to the fact that they create horror and tragedy within the country. Schools, shopping malls, and even movie theatres have all endured the horrific violence. Mass shootings are nothing new, however, they seem to be occurring more often and are becoming more and more violent. The three leading factors to mass shootings are problematic masculinity, mental illness, and gun control.

Mass shootings in the United States is a huge problem that has seemed to become a norm, faced rarely by other developed country. On October 1st, 2017 the most deadliest mass shooting in US history took place, suppressing the Orlando nightclub shooting just over one year earlier. This just like every other mass shooting has gun owners and opposers scrambling on what we should do next to fix this terrible problem.

"I'm angry someone would do this to us. There are lives ruined, families ruined, and our whole school year is ruined" (Brackely 1). Casey Brackely, once a student that attended Columbine High School, remembers the tragedy of the horrific Columbine shooting that killed and injured many students. Mass shootings in the United States have been on the rise since the 1980’s, especially in the last decade. These shooters motives and profiles are almost all terrifyingly alike. Many of these shooters try to imitate and parallel the tragic shooting of the Columbine High School in 1999. These shootings have made peaceful organizations, such as an elementary school; become a place of violence and death. Currently, in the United States, an epidemic of

The United States’ sloppy gun laws create angry citizens. Every time a shooting happens in the United States more and more people begin to realize something needs to change. “Public attitudes are shaped by a growing number of voices saying enough.” (Sulton 1). As time goes on the American people grow more upset with the state and federal governments. These lawmakers have been doing nothing to change the epidemic sweeping the nation. The carelessness of the government is only making more people fed up. “Unless we act the jokes on us. I refuse to believe as Americans we cannot change this narrative.” (Ozanne 1)

Either way mass shootings can be defined, they still present a huge problem in the United States. One popular definition of mass shootings is any incident in which, four or more people have been injured by gun violence. Using this definition the U.S had 204 mass shootings in 204 days in 2015 according to Mass Shooting Tracker a Reddit based organization which has been cited by the Washington Post.

There have been over 1,500 ‘mass shootings’ within the United States since the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, CT (Schapiro, 2017). Media headlines on mass shootings tend to utilise higher numbers when it comes to how many are committed each year, mainly when it is about those committed in the United States. The lack of an official government standard on what should be considered a mass shooting has led to much confusion as to just how many there actually are. This paper will look at how the media uses this confusion to their advantage and how they frame their reporting around a mass shooting, primarily focusing on the most recent major mass shootings of Sutherland Springs, TX and Las Vegas, NV. Also, looking at some of the less

With mental illness identified as a very probable cause of these shootings, it is critical that the evidently poor and ineffective clinical help for mental disorders be reevaluated. A theoretical explanation for the modern prevalence of mental illness could be the increasingly optional nature of treatment: therapy is a choice, and checking into a facility or institution is

Mass shooting cases have been very common in the history of America. Among the recently witnessed deadly mass shooting include: harvest music festival whereby Stephen Paddock killed 59 and injured more than 520, and pulse night club where 49 were killed.

There is an assumption that if you understand the minds of serial killers, or persons who commit mass shootings, that it may help prevent mass shootings. “Mass shootings are not on the rise, but have held steady over three decades, randomly clustering in time to trick our brains into finding a pattern of increase where none actually exists” (Shermer 3). Mass shootings happen at varying times without rhyme or reason. Some think that a psychological disorder or some genetic defect could be the reason people commit these crimes. Although we cannot prevent mass shootings, we can educate on how mental health issues can be a precursor to such a tragedy, and how better laws can create a safer environment.

On October 1, 2017 America was, yet again, devastated when Las Vegas suffered the United States worst mass shooting. One man killed over 50 people and injured 527. After he was finished firing from the 39th floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort, he committed suicide. His name was Stephan Paddock (Yan and Park). When most people think of a mass shooting, they think of a terroristic act or someone shooting at a large group of innocent citizens, like Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School. In actuality, most people do not realize that whenever two or more people are injured or killed by a gun, it is considered a mass shooting. These “mass shootings” happen every day in America and they are one of the leading causes of death in

Nine students were killed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. A man opened fire in a church, in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people, including the pastor. Twenty-seven were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Twelve were killed in the Washington Navy Yard. These are only a few examples of a very long list of mass shootings that have occurred. The reasoning for the accessible amount of mass shootings is controversial my theory for the epidemic of mass shooting in the United States is mental health.

A person may not realize the full extent of American’s problem involving mass shootings. Recently, during the last performance of a three-day country music festival in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history took place. More than five hundred people were injured. Following this tragedy, a man walked into a Texas church and killed twenty-six people. “The United States continues to suffer mass casualty gun massacres with a frequency seen nowhere else in the developed world: 133 between 2000 and 2014, as compared to 3 in Canada, 2 in Australia, and 1 in the United Kingdom, according to one global survey.” (Frum). Sadly enough, the most

Statistics show compared to other nations, the United States has the highest gun ownership rate—112 firearms per 100 civilians. 1 These numbers make it seem that there is an overabundance of firearms in the U.S. To protect the citizens it might make sense, as some proponents advocate, to restrict gun ownership to a few. This hasn’t worked

After the tragedy of Sandy Hook elementary the topic of gun control has been on the rise. However, for a handful of other nations, gun control is a topic of the past. In that respect, why is it just now becoming a sincere issue for the United States and how should it be addressed? Some argue that guns are not the issue using claims such as “guns do not kill people, people kill people,” which holds merit. However, others argue that although guns do not kill people, we should not make it easier for people to kill people. In this paper, I will be specifically addressing gun control of handguns. Although some tragedies are caused by rifles with adaptations, such as the Vegas shooting, these cases are few and far between and should be treated thusly. This is because handguns are the soul perpetrator of crimes that involve guns. Guns pose a real danger to society. Specifically, because they are a means to injure, kill, or intimidate another person. Though this can be argued through the side of self-defense as well, firearms should not be legal because; people use firearms as a means escape economic struggle, evidence shows that countries with strict gun laws have less homicides, and the practical uses of fire arms.

In the United States, civilians possess nearly 10 times more guns than in the next closest country, with up to 300 million guns in circulation (Branas 365). This is partially due to the fact that many American traditions revolve around self-protection, hunting and recreational shooting. However, mass shootings are practically a weekly occurrence heard about on the news. The United States has more guns, and gun deaths, than any other developed country (“Does the U.S. need tougher gun-control laws?”). The United States should government should ignore outside influence from political groups and enact more gun control laws in order to reduce the number of gun deaths and societal costs associated with gun violence.