Prevention Of Mass Shootings

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.

In the article, We stop the next Aurora not with gun control but with better mental health by David Dow a tense message is delivered. Dow argues that the two most common policy positions on mass shootings are lacking in thought. One policy is that there should be stricter gun laws and the other is that more people should be able to carry and conceal firearms. Dow states that both of these policies should be discarded. Dow believes that the guns are not the problem, but a person with severe mental illness is the problem .The core message behind the passage is that the mental illness inside of a person is to blame for these tragedies, not the guns in the hand

Furthermore, mental illness is turning out to be a major cause of gun violence, in order to reduce gun crimes and instead of creating more laws and stipulations, steps must be taken. A professor at the University of Virginia and clinical psychologist, Dewey G. Cornell stated, ''We need to focus on prevention more broadly, before the violence, to have a real impact.'' (qtd. In Broader Approach). Some interpret that as, Americans need to stop focusing on the laws, and start realizing that dangerous situations, such as a mass shooting, can be prevented by recognizing the signs. Countless individuals are beginning to share his feelings. Some mentally ill people are starting to have a major part in mass shootings and those

The solutions suggested generally fall into 3 main categories: gun policy, media violence, and, lastly, mental health, which at some level can be considered to tie together every mass shooting incident committed, as no one could argue that mass shootings are the work of sound minds. The lowest hanging fruit is gun legislation. After every mass shooting incident this topic comes up without fail. One political entity pushes for more policies designed to restrict gun ownership in some way, and the other entity pushes back with arguments of “too soon,” and “slippery slopes” sliding towards eventual abolishment of the Second Amendment. Although no single law will ever eliminate mass shootings or gun violence entirely, a sound, unbiased mind not beholden to special interest monies would hopefully see that there are some real legislative moves that could be made to put a dent in deaths that

2 of the 5 deadliest mass shootings in modern American history have happened this year. The United States constitution ensures that every citizen has the right to firearms, the question at hand however is to what extent these firearms can be regulated or where should the government draw the line to ensure that the safety of American citizens is prioritized? There comes a point where sending thoughts and prayers just isn’t enough anymore. However, one thing is for certain: something must be done. Guns should be strictly regulated to reduce gun deaths, threat of mass shootings and to be completely true to the promises of the constitution.

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.

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

As anyone in the nation knows mass shootings are becoming more common and are becoming very predictable. In fact stats from the Crime Prevention Research Center show that over 98% of mass shootings happen in schools that are gun free zones from 1950 to july 10 of 2016. Although Nebraska has not had any reported mass shooting there has been one that took place in the parking lot of fort calhoun elementary school. We should be prepared to defend what place would most likely to be put in a shooting situation.

Mass shootings happen about every two weeks (“Behind the bloodshed, 2013, para. 3). After a mass shooting, many people ask these two same questions: How did the mental health system default them? How did he or she get such a powerful weapon? However, these questions do not have to be asked because these tragic shootings can be prevented. This can be done by taking better care of the mentally ill, enacting better gun control laws, and by not allowing violence in video

Are we as a country helpless against mass shooters? What can we do as a country to decrease the amount of innocent people dying at the hands of a mass shooter? In a perfect world, mass shootings would be eliminated completely. Unfortunately, this is unrealistic. So, what can we do as a country to decrease the number of mass shootings occurring in the United States? By performing mental health screenings on people wishing to purchase a firearm, emphasizing mental health education beginning at a young age, reforming healthcare, eliminating gun-free zones, encouraging citizens to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and banning military style assault weapons we can decrease the number of mass shootings occurring in the United States.

There is scientific evidence, such as restricting high risk individuals, such as felons and spouse abusers; from access to firearms, will reduce rates of violent crime. In case after case of mass shootings, we learn later that family members, friends, and even mental health professionals were concerned that someone needed help. Predicting violence is difficult, but identifying that someone needs assistance is not so difficult. This is where we need to readjust our focus and concentrate on helping people in distress. This approach requires not only a change in police policy but community mental health services that are oriented around

Since twenty-thirteen there has been at least one hundred sixty school shootings in America, these numbers are alarming. We should feel secure sending our kids to school not fearful. A subject to controversy in America gun control, currently in debate to prevent school shootings. Unfortunately, Gun Control is not the answer to school shootings, access to mental health treatment can prevent them.

A literature review of gun violence prevention is being undergone as part of this submittal. This research is important because gun violence has been a plague in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other places, for much of the recent century or two. This violence takes on two major forms. The first is general gun violence that is perpetrated as part of gang violence, robberies, burglaries, crimes of passion or spite and so forth. The other major form, which is both quite uncommon but very poignant and affecting when it happens, are school and other mass shootings like Columbine and the very recent Sandy Hook. There have been a decent amount of other school shootings and work shootings, but those are far and away the most notorious. Both were effected by very mentally ill teenagers or young adults that decide to go out in a bloody and perverted blaze of glory before they took their own life.

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.

Advocating for mental health screenings would be less politically controversial than arguing for stricter gun laws however it would still be difficult to effectively implement the policy. Recent studies have shown that a majority of mass shooters have some form of mental health disorder or suffer from suicidal thoughts. Diagnosing and treating is often difficult because many do not visit the doctor on a regular basis making it impossible for them to be labeled as mentally ill; suicide rates have increased significantly in the past 30 years. (Lankford & Madfis, 2017) The broader social issues at hand need to be addressed as well in order for the mental health approach to work effectively; such issues include media coverage of mass shootings and how the shooter is portrayed to people as a whole. (Lankford & Madfis, 2017)