School Shootings in America The first recorded school shooting in America dates back to 1764, during Pontiac’s war. Since then, hundreds have occurred, claiming many lives. In the modern era, the rarity of these events has been steadily decreasing, which may be a cause of the confusion that surrounds gun laws and regulations. The new debate over this issue in likely due to one of the worst school shootings in recent years- Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Since that event, over 150 shootings have occurred on school campuses. 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 …show more content…
Since then, almost 150 school shootings have happened in under 20 years. On the morning of April 20th, 1999, 2 teenagers opened fire on their peers and educators. Although they attended the school as seniors, they were often bullied and seen as social outcast. This is one of the main reasons as to why the shooting may have occurred-the other being the ability for these children to obtain firearms. Overall, 13 people were killed and 20 more were wounded. In addition, the two perpetrators committed suicide that day at the High School. This terrified thousands of students around the nation. If it could happen at Columbine, it could happen at your school. So why didn’t the government do more to prevent shootings like this one to happen again? Other major shootings since then occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary and Virginia Tech. The former took place on December 12, 2012. 26 people were killed by the 20-year old gunman. The latter took place in April of 2007. 23 people were killed in this, the worst single act of gun violence in US history. All of these shootings should be indicators that our government needs to be doing more to protect America’s students. In the last 20 years, homeschooling rates have more than doubled. Could this be do to a parent’s unwillingness to send their child to school out of fear? Although we’ll truly never know, this is an extremely plausible reason as to why these rates have skyrocketed. Parent’s should be able to trust the American education system. The columbine High School shooting was the first shooting in the modern era to spark the debate about gun violence at school. It also made people rethink bullying and the allure of violent goth culture. Since then, the regularity of school shootings has increased, resulting in the major events listed above. The school shootings that have occurred in the modern era have
When I think of school shootings my mind immediately goes back to the Columbine High school shooting. This was the first school shooting that I was actually old enough to remember and understand. I still remember having a moment of silence for all of those involved. The New world encyclopedia states “Columbine High School shooting was one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 13 people and wounded more than 20 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The incident drew worldwide attention. It led to widespread discussion over gun control and the prevention of school violence.” (Funk & Wagnalls) According to Wikipedia from 2011 to 2015 there has been
Recently there have been many school shootings throughout the United States and the world. Most of these shooting were all connected with the shooter being on anti-depressant medications. In an article called “Medicated to death: by SSRI’s and mass killings” by Lisa Arbercheski, she writes that SSRI’s are linked to the cause of most shootings. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) is one of the most popular medications taken for depression in many countries. Some are known by their popular names like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, and Paxil. These medications have many tests done and none of them prove that they cure depression or mood swings. Could these medications be connected to some of the most recent shootings like the one in Newton, Connecticut? The case is that these medications are causing adolescents to go on suicidal rampage shootings and the United States is trying to play it off like the medications have no connection.
Guns are becoming one of the top issues in the newspapers (The Monroe Evening News). There have been 394 incidents of students bringing guns to school in the United States since 1998 (Sutton). Legislators say that the law cannot prevent the tragedy of the fatal shootings in the schools
Over the years, there has been many fatal shootings in schools. Many of these shootings have been caused from both genders, and all ages. This following fall 2016, the new “open carry” will be allowed at San Jacinto College, and I disagree with this decision. The new “open carry” will cause more danger in schools. “Open carry” law refers to the act of publicly carrying a gun on one’s person plain sight.
In response to the multiple school shootings in recent years, most of the left's common sense is to take away firearms all together or to make access to them extremely hard. Bernie Sanders is the candidate I've heard speak mostly about helping the mental ill so these incidents do not happen as often, however a great argument is made here and in other studies that mental health isn't necessarily the culprit. What scared me most about the "Granovetter Theory" is that in time people with higher threshold levels will become more inclined to commit heinous crimes, as well as attempting to one-up the last. In addition, the crimes could go from a 20-person school shooting to bombing of a hotel with 2,000 occupants. As long as we keep going down this
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.
On April 20th, 1999, two students brought guns to Columbine High School in Colorado. They injured 20 people and killed 13, one being a teacher (Columbine High School Shootings). After this tragedy occurred, many people began to believe schools are unsafe, which lead to the idea that firearms should be allowed in school for teachers and students to use in case of an emergency. However, many oppose and believe allowing guns would lead to more chaos and tragedy that is unnecessary and can easily be prevented. Concealed carry of guns by students and teachers should not be allowed because students and teachers cannot be trusted, there are other ways to ensure safety, and students and teachers could feel unsafe in schools.
In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the
As you are learning in school you and your friends hear talk about a shooter on the school campus with a gun and you hear gunshots in the hallway what do you do now? That's what happened to Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Two shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who attended Columbine High School. Eric and Dylan sought out to kill as many people as they possibly could. The pair was able to get weapons from an outside source who was passed all the gun regulations at the time then the source gave the guns to the shooters. There was no way gun control laws could of prevented this tragic school shooting. The goals in this essay is explain how stricter gun control laws would not have prevented the school
“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined. ” -George Washington. School shootings have come to the forefront of our thought, especially in recent years, and people across the country are seeking the best way prevent future incidents. On one side you have those that believe more strict gun control laws and a higher presence of gun free zones is the optimum solution. This argument can be supported by the article "More Guns on Campuses Won’t Make People Safer, Researchers Say" By Jon Schuppe, where he quotes researchers from John Hopkins university stating that "Increasing gun availability in campus environments could make far more common acts of aggression, recklessness or self-harm more deadly and, thus, have a deleterious impact
“That could never happen in my school.” This is one of the first thoughts that goes through a students mind when they hear about a school shooting. The fact is though, it can. School shootings can happen at any school at any time. Lack of security is only a small part of the problem. The major issue lies in the low morality of students and warning signs overlooked by administration.
In the United States, we are experiencing more mass shootings in schools with many kids and adults dying because of ineffective laws and lawmakers stating that “guns protect peoples”, because of this we should protect ourselves with more gun regulations then deadly guns .One of these problem with self defence is that people who arm themselves could accidentally kill a loved one by either not knowing how to fire a gun or mistaken the person for a intruder. Another problem is of having guns around homes, where it can a initiated a conflict between peoples and either factions could say that they were using it for self defense. In contrast, if we have gun control laws there will be fewer mass shootings/deaths and it will make the U.S.
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
Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, there have been roughly 208 school shootings on school grounds. This series of shootings, especially after the attack in Parkland Florida, has created an outcry for stricter gun laws, higher purchasing ages and more background checks to try and make schools safer. One of the ideas on the table to reach this is to arm teachers and staff with firearms to ‘stop the threat before it happens’. But, this has received nothing but opposition from a majority of Americans, since the cost or properly arming a school is too great, arming teachers is an open invitation to unwarranted gun violence against minority students and teachers due to racial biases. The outcry of students, teachers and families is
Incidences of school shootings have dramatically risen within the past few decades. Events like the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook shootings have increased the fear of Americans worried for the safety of their children. Annually, many children, as well as adults, are faced with the risk of losing their lives to mentally ill criminals in a place commonly held as a safe haven—school. 160 school shootings have occurred in America since 2013, with an average of nearly one a week (“The). This is unacceptable and something should be done to prevent acts of terror like this from arising.