Research Paper About Mass Shootings

All three texts share a common theme on mass shootings while using the research, findings, and published works of Professor Adam Lankford. Each of the texts uses the rhetorical aim Inform and Explain due to all three texts being presented in a expository manner. These texts fit the definitions and criteria for Inform and Explain as they are confident which is shown by making the purpose of the paper known early on and the continued stream of confidence throughout all three texts. In Newsweeks article Study: Mass Shootings ‘Exceptionally American Problem’ the title immediately states the purpose of the article followed by referring to Lankfords work almost immediately on how these mass shootings develop in America. This confidence and purpose

Society has seen and experienced mass shootings over the last decade and more frequently as of recent. There have been mass shooting in malls, schools, military bases, movie theaters, and even churches. The shooting in South Carolina was not the first mass shooting to occur in a church. It may even seem that a number of mass shootings has increased over the years. Many have been quick to rush to judgment when these shooting have occurred and have led to overgeneralization, selective and inaccurate observation and illogical reasoning. Everything from guns, race, prior criminal history, lack of armed security, and a flag have been blamed for the violence that has occurred from those who

Do you feel Gun violence has taken a bad effect on taxpayers? I do, because even if your family member hasn’t been shot or killed, it still hurt you in a way. When a person has been killed in a certain state, and the killer is a part of that state. The state happens to give away four Thousand dollars to help cover the funeral costs. If you didn’t know, that’s coming from our taxes. When a person have been shot and wounded, your taxes are being taking and helping paying for medication to keep that person out of pain. Even when the killer gets caught, your taxes will be still be a risk, because killers has to eat too.

A very controversial topic throughout the United States and the world is guns. As American citizens, we have a constitutional right to own a fire arm. But why is a gun so important and why is it such a huge part of the United States division of its people? The division starts with people using this Second Amendment to harm people. In recent years, mass shootings have become the norm for the United States and that outcome is not the purpose of the Second Amendment. These mass shooting happen everywhere from movie theatres to concert halls. But the majority of these mass shootings seem to happen at schools with innocent children aging from kindergarten to high school students. With the deaths of children in school rising, the urge to find a solution and develop prevention tactics have become top priority. Not only limiting the access to guns but finding out the reason behind the shootings will help aid in the fight to stop gun violence in schools.

Imagine this, it’s a sunny day and you and your family are out eating ice cream at a park suddenly you hear 3 pops, people screaming, blood everywhere and one of your family members lying on the floor, what would you do?According to the government, the definition of mass shootings is that 4 or more people are killed, victims are selected randomly, and the attack is in a public place. Mass shootings started in the 1910’#, but got worse in the 1070s. In the The 1990s, there were 42 mass shootings due to easy access to guns. U.S. citizens own more guns than any other country. Some suggestions from liberals/gun control advocates to solve the problem of mass shootings are to address mental health illness seriously, common sense control, and re-examine the media’s role publicizing violence. Some suggestions that the conversation/gun rights advocates have are school and public buildings should have more physical barriers such as ballistic glass and steal plating and they should have more trained, air,

April 20, 2018 17 people killed by a gunmen at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. April 20, 1999 13 people killed buy two gunmen at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. My point is is that where do these gun laws take place, never? why do we decide to sell these mentally ill people guns when they are causing these school shootings when are we going to change these gun laws, how are these kids getting guns. What we need to do is if people have records of being mentally ill we need to not sell the these guns, if we make it so mentally ill people cant get there hands on guns there would be a big decrees in school shootings, In 2018 alone there where 20 school shooting where people where hurt or killed.

The key to understanding why mass shootings happen even though there are laws with consequences against it, all lies within what mass shootings really are, who commits them and why, and what we are doing to stop these felonies. What are mass shootings really? Mass shootings are mass murder. In the article “The Truth About Mass Shootings and Gun Control” by Benjamin Domenench, it states, “In the past century, only 4 out of the eleven worst mass killings involved fire- arm.” Many may say just because only 4 out of the 11 of major mass killings involved fire- arm, guns are still the main cause for mass shootings because “shootings” aren’t “shootings” unless a gun is involved.

Mass shootings have become a disturbing issue that seems to be on the rise around the world, and no one can predict when one may occur. The FBI defines mass shootings as the killing of four or more victims. There have been a total of 274 days so far this year with a terrifying amount of 294 mass shootings (Ingraham, 2015). Mass shootings cannot be solved, but they can be prevented. This can be done by enacting policies or programs to take better care of people suffering from mental health issues, enacting better gun control laws, and by not allowing violence in entertainment such as video games.

As stated before mass shootings have increased drastically throughout the decades. Just within 2017, the number of mass shootings are 293 with several deaths and injuries, (“Gun Violence Archive”). Within the last 10 years, the deadliest mass shootings have occurred in America history, (CNN). Recently in Las Vegas, Nevada held a music festival for people to enjoy and listen to music, but a shooting changed the evening for many. A man was in an hotel near the event and shot down towards the people and killed a total of 58 people and injured at least 200, (CNN). The Orlando shooting was right behind it with a total of 49 dead, (CNN). Since this has become a part of our everyday lives, we rarely hear about all the mass shootings that kill not even into the double digits.

Recently there was a mass shooting in Las Vegas. A gunman opened fire on a concert from his hotel room leaving 58 people dead and over 500 injured. This incident has reintroduced the issue of mass shootings to our societal conversations. The topic of mass shootings is an emotional one. It triggers the most basic human fear, fear of the unknown. Most people have an emotional bias one way or another on this subject, making it a very sensitive topic of conversation. I will do my best not to offend anyone, if I do offend you please understand that it was not my intention. I will do my best to not let any bias I may have affect examination of this topic. My intention is to examine the topic in a logical manner to better understand the issue. This is a problem that is not going to fix itself. We as a society need to come up with a solution.

There are many problems in this world today. One main problem in the United States and all over the world is mass shootings. This problem is a huge one because it involves people killing other people and that is just unacceptable. In the last ten years there have been over 53 mass shootings in the United States, not including the rest of the world (Chris Wilson). In the last thirty-five years there have been seven-hundred and twenty-two and then one thousand one-hundred seventy-seven (Chris Wilson). If you look at the number of people that are killed or being wounded, you will notice that with new devices being introduced. One of the devices that have been introduced is a bump stock. This device is a stock for a semi-automatic rifle that can basically turn your semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic rifle. They are considering making this attachment to a rifle illegal to the public.

Unfortunately, the notion of schools being a safe place is no longer a trend across American schools. Disturbing mass shootings in the U.S continue to shock the media. A school shooting is when someone attacks a school using a gun. The Secret Service says these shootings are "deliberately selected as the location for the attack". The reasons massacres occur in schools is because of poor security, violence in video games/media, and bullying. Shockingly the U.S. has the most school shootings than any other country in the world. According to the FBI, mass shootings occur, on average, every 2 weeks in the U.S. While the cause of school shootings are sometimes unpredictable, it is a growing issue and they need to be prevented. Most shooters don’t have mental issues, they have a plan to kill, so there is no singular cause that creates violent people. On April 16th, 2007, the most deadly school massacre occurred. Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two students at Virginia-Tech. As Americans, we no longer should turn on the news and witness these gruesome murders. We try to make sense of these murders, but it’s ineffectual. There are measures we can take as a society to help. The number one question in a school massacre is, "why would a person that has a capable sense of mind even do that?” It is our moral responsibility to fix these issues. In order to stop this problem, we need to find its roots.

An evolving and highly debated problem that continues to grow in our society, is the gun control epidemic. Gun violence in America is a national epidemic. Many people carelessly take advantage of Gun use and manipulate the tool without much thought to any repercussions. Many lives have been loss due to people legally or illegally obtaining guns and taking matters upon themselves to be executioners in holding other people's lives in their hands. Specifically, ongoing gun violence in schools have become a horrific catastrophe. It is putting student lives at risk, in a place that is supposed to facilitate a certain level of safety for the students. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, there was 558 gun incidents in schools

There is no widely used or definite definition of mass shootings. People use broad definitions of mass shootings to reinforce their stance on gun control. Mass killings are usually done with handguns. Most of mass shootings happen in workplaces or schools . The saying “ going postal” comes from a mass shooting done in a postal office . “The General Social Survey has been asking Americans about whether they have a gun in their home for decades, and last year essential tied the record low level of gun ownership reached in 2010. As you can see the chart below, 31 percent of adults reporting having a firearm in their household in 2014.”(List). Although gun sales in households have declined, active shooter events have become more recent in the past few years. There have been 160 incidents between 2000-2013.

Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.