School Shootings

It? Violence in school’s has been a uprising problem two shootings have happened in the same month march 2018 one in florida the other in maryland.

The first recorded school shooting in America dates back to 1764, during Pontiac’s War. Since then, hundreds have occurred, claiming many lives (Galvin). In the modern era, the rarity of these events has been steadily decreasing, which may be caused the confusion that surrounds gun laws and regulations. The new debate over this issue is likely due to the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Since that event, about 65 people who have committed a school shooting have referenced Columbine as a motive. Also, there has been over 250 shootings since that fateful day in 1999 (Pearle). To deal with these tragic occurrences, the government has opened the debate on gun laws and regulations. But this debate often leads to officials being unable to make up their minds or whole groups of people being split on their opinion. This causes a stalemate that does not help our nation's current situation. Currently, the government is not doing enough to prevent school shootings.

The first school took place on July 26th, 1764. 4 Lenape Native Americans went into a school house and killed the school master and 9 to 10 kids. Now this may not take place is modern times but this is the first instance of one or multiple people to target a school in the United States, as a way of expressing aggression. This coincided with the Pontiac rebellion which was brought on by Native Americans disapproval of British post war policies after the French Indian war. Reports vary on the motive or people involved. This event is exceeding important to new findings and case studies done because it does not fit in to the normal characteristics of a “school shooting.” Though it took place in a school and involved some form of aggression or disgruntlement

Imagine you’re watching the news and hear of a mass shooting at a local college. You suddenly realize a family member or someone who’s very near and dear to you attends that institution and you rush to grab your phone to call and see if they’re okay. As you furiously dial their number over and over again you glance at the television screen and see their name in the list of people who were critically wounded or killed. Now imagine being the parent of a child in whom you drove to school that day, but later received a call informing you there was a shooting at the school and your child was amongst those killed. Sadly, you read and hear about these stories all the time, mass shootings, and gun violence. Guns and instances of gun violence aren’t new to American society, but there has definitely been a significant increase in these last few decades. Instances of gun violence that include mass shootings in theaters, schools and college campuses have been on the rise and it will only continue to rise unless proper actions are taken. Because of this, stricter gun control laws need to be placed into effect.

The research articles selected discuss a dark day that occurred at 0800 on 23 January 2018 in Benton, Kentucky one day after a school shooting that had occurred in Texas 22 January 2018. A 15-year-old boy walked into the school and went to the common area of Marshal County High School; pulled out a handgun and opened fired on fellow students. The 15-year-old boy was arrested with no motive discovered. The end result was two students’ lives being taken at an early age of 15-years-old and 18 other students being wound with varying ages. The shooters identity has not been given to the community but one of the local reports who rushed to the scene was quickly relieved due to it was her son that is the suspect for the shooting. The shooter was quickly subdued once police arrived on scene. The district attorney is looking to charge the 15-year-old as an adult with no motive yet on why.

Imagine randomly getting a call from the police department, saying your child's school has been attacked by a mass shooter, and your child was a victim. Mass shootings happen many times a day, everyday. In the first 336 days of 2015, there were 354 mass shootings taken place in the US. Half of these shootings happened in schools. Since 2013, there has been at least 185 school shootings in America. People live in fear of guns. It’s not right. Everyday, people should feel safe sending their children to school, knowing they will be okay. The point I’m getting at is a serious discussion that has been around for about 2 or 3 years now. Should teachers be allowed to carry concealed weapons with them on campus? Should students be able to do this?

For the world this type of people who usually call terrorist, murderer, most must have some kind of heart disease because what they do has no forgiveness from God. They are bad people without some feelings. They do not think about the evil that is causing and the damage that is going on, how many families are sad and how many broken hearts. No human being has the right to end the life of a living being and more with a person. This world could not be the best it may not be the best, but we must try to bring peace and provide love.

There has been an increase in the occurrences of school shootings within the past three years. School shootings have been apart of our history in America for many years, however since the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012 to present, there has been 142 school shootings (Staff, Washington Times). Many injuries, deaths, and lives have been changed as result of school shootings. These horrible events have raised the topic gun control to the front line of controversy. After 2012, requirements were added to the background checks for purchasing guns. Twelve state legislatures expanded the background checks on gun purchases and five states tightened assault weapons restrictions (Sunburn, Josh). Some states allow immediate distribution at the time of sale with proper documentation and others take time for a review of documentation for the purchase of a fire arm (Korte, Gregory). There is only a hand full of states that have made the purchase of semi-automatic firearms illegal for purchase ("Gun." Semi Automatic Laws). Many American citizens believe this is not enough gun control and many other citizens stand by their right to own guns.

When thinking about school shootings names like Columbine and Sandy Hook pop up. Those are the most tragic by far, however everyone always asks why such a horrible crime happens, but no one has never stopped and researched why such hate crimes like these happen. Instead people resort to Channel 2 or Fox 5 for answers, not realizing that their story isn’t the full truth. I’m strongly opposing school shootings; looking for answers myself. If there’s one thing I’ve picked up from the media is how they portray school shootings with mental illness, but Alfred.edu/teen violence says, “They want to get back at those who hurt them or revenge.” Many people struggle to realize why such a vigorous crime tends to happen; they all fail to realize it starts

Sandy Hook Elementary shooting isn’t the only shooting that has sharpened the debate on gun control. Several other shootings like the Virginia Tech shooting, University of Texas

“One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” -Vladimir Lenin. This quote describes how one person with a gun has so much control over many others that don’t. It is a good example of what is going on in society today because of all the shootings that have taken place in public, churches, and schools. These mass shootings have created such controversy as to whether or not there should be more gun control laws. On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley began shooting inside of the Sutherlands Springs Church killing more than 20 people including children. Before this tragic incident, he had a history of domestic violence towards his ex-wife and child which he was charged with “disorderly conduct”. Due to his criminal history, he managed to buy a rifle, that was used in the shooting, legally by lying on the background check paperwork indicating he had no criminal history. This was months after the Las Vegas shooting that had taken place on October 4, 2017 causing more than 50 fatalities. These shootings were committed by convicted felons and/or mentally ill individuals who have made it clear that the purchase of guns are easy and simple. These individuals had access to firearms because they had either gained authorization by the government or purchased it illegally by giving false information on paperwork. This has become a threat to many US citizens, for some do not feel safe because nowadays anyone can easily purchase a gun. Most people would agree that more gun control laws would not make much of a difference in the purchase of guns, however more gun control laws should be enacted because it can decrease the amount of criminals that own a gun, it can decrease the amount of homicides and suicide deaths, and it can prevent dangerous situations such as public shootings.

A school shooting occurred on February 14, 2018. The shooter is 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. Cruz had planned this for a while. He slipped into the school carrying a rifle case, pulled a fire alarm, waited for students to leave there classrooms then shot up the school. After which, when the students were being evacuated, he proceed to leave behind other students to be unnoticed. Cruz killed 17 students and adults, and wounded 14 others.

The first seventeen weeks of 2018 there were twenty one school shootings. On and average school shootings happen at least two times a week. I agree with the article that schools should have mental health classes. Something I do not agree on is a teacher being armed with gun through the school day. It is great that some people want to come together and help the problem. School shootings are a huge problem and something needs to be done quick. There are a number of ideas that people could come up with to stop shootings.

Imagine your child is at their graduation about to walk across the stage. You watch proudly as your child progress into the next chapter of their life. Now imagine seeing your child shot and killed right in front of you. This is an overwhelmingly devastating situation for the victim and the victim’s loved ones. No one should have to experience this painful event. The reality of this situation is it can possibly happen in your community. The worst part is that all of this can be prevented with changes of laws regarding firearms and who carries them and why. Firearm laws in the U.S. play a big role in the rate of mass shootings.

131 people have died in mass school shootings since 1999 to 2015 (Le Miere). This excludes any shootings that have resulted with 4 or less fatalities because they are not considered mass shootings. However, these tragic events can be prevented or stopped faster if a trained adult had presented a firearm. I believe that if a teacher would like to have a firearm in their classroom to help prevent any fatalities from possible school shootings they should be allowed. Many people oppose the concept of guns in the classroom, but a compromise can be found between the two sides of the continuum. These compromisation can be applied to the classroom to help stop school shootings and make sure school shootings don’t occur.