School Shootings : The Causes Of School Shootings

The problem with society, is that people tend to wait for the problem to occur before making a change. Troubled children and teens have always existed but unfortunately now we’ve entered into an era where shootings are no longer just seen in action movies, it has now become a reality in our schools. Why do these children end up killing their classmates and why the number of school shootings in America have increased in the past several years? These articles try to give some kind of explanation into why these tragic accidents occur. As well as preventions that teachers, parents, and the community as a whole can partake in. This paper will focus on these two main ideas or themes.

High school shootings have been occurring all over the country. All incidents leading to one or more deaths: Jonesboro, Fayetteville, Edinboro, Pearl, Moses Lake, Grayson, Olivehurst, Bethel, West Paducah, and many more. It will never happen to me, you could say, well, it could.y Behind school shootings students spend one hundred and eighty days per year at school, they spend so much time getting an education, but is the environment they’re in actually safe? There are many causes of school shootings and so they are effects.

The effort of this paper is designed to provide an audience with the basic framework in preventing, reacting to, and recovering from a school shooting. By analyzing the crisis of a school shooting, this paper will lay out the practical steps in preparing schools, communities, and local agencies for a tragedy that has already shook many communities across the nation. This paper will also follow the steps necessary to implement and evaluate a school shooting preparedness plan. In concluding this paper, school staff, local agencies, and families will be able to take the practical steps towards providing a safe and comfortable learning environment for students.

School shootings strike into the heart of every American. From Columbine to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook, the thought of innocent young students being mercilessly mowed down wrenches one’s heart. Yet these events continue to happen, and in ever increasing numbers. What could possibly drive a person to commit such a horrifying act?

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine if teachers should be in possession of a firearm while on school properties and if this will decrease the number and magnitude of school shootings. Many scholars believe equipping teachers with firearms will be costly and end up unnecessarily endangering more students, but many scholars claim that a teacher should be the last line of defense against a school shooter. The question this paper hopes to answer is how can equipping teachers who teach grades K-12 help to prevent school shootings in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining the perspectives of school administration and law enforcement, the impact on student’s safety and education, the

Recently in America a tragedy occurred in San Bernardino, 14 people were murdered by 2 people that allegedly had ties to ISIS. Although officers responded in a matter of minutes, that speed isn’t always available, especially in rural areas. Is this the beginning of a change in America? I believe this is so and I also believe mass shootings should be addressed more specifically school shootings because the means of protection aren’t there. “Since 2013, there have been at least 161 school shootings in America- an average of nearly one a week.” (161 School Shootings in America Since 2013. everytownresearch.org.) That statistic includes 3 Indiana schools St. Mary’s Catholic School in Griffith, Indiana on 4/21/14, Purdue University on 1/21/14 and Indiana State on 9/29/14, also a high school in Louisville, Kentucky a day after the Indiana State shooting. These aren’t just happening on the west coast or down in Florida where the news only talks about, the places that seem to never be close, they’re happening close to home

Table 1, provided by ifoplease (2015) gives details of shool shooting with over two deaths occuring in america over the last decade. It helps to put context just how deadly these events can be.

Connecticut, Georgia, Colorado, Virginia, Oregon, Michigan, and Tennessee are the sites in which some of the most viscous school crimes have occurred. In this day and age it seems as if school isn't a safe haven for America's children anymore. School shootings are on the rise more than ever in today's society with kids as young as 9 years old committing these gruesome crimes against their classmates and instructors. To see this type of action among kids is heartbreaking and sad. People wonder what makes a child want to kill another or how did they get their little hands on such a powerful weapon. Most of the young killers today find it very easy to gain access to guns and bomb making material via the Internet. By using the internet

Mass Shootings are among the most controversial topics talk about in modern day society, and this is due to the apparent rise in shootings over the past couple of years. The nation has witnessed some of the most gruesome shootings in History such as Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. From the aftermath of these shootings, a solution was found to prevent such things from happening which is allow concealed-carry weapons on college campuses. It is said if there are more guns on campuses, the chances of a gun man taking out more innocent lives are less likely due to the amount of people with guns. Despite this sound solution of concealed carry on college campuses, the reality is that it causes more problems than it solves, and there are better solutions to this problem at hand. But, what exactly is the true nature of school shootings, is it actually a true threat to our education system?

More than 270 gun sightings have been reported in schools in the year of 2016 (Mascia). Overall, more than fifty million kids walk into school with firearms everyday, but nobody knows about it. Why? Because most school officials do not have enough rights to search through students’ belongings if they have suspicion about something. Schools should have the right to search students’ belongings because of behavior, ownership, and safety.

April 20th, 1999 is a day that will never be forgotten, on that day the first school shooting massacre accord. At around eleven fifteen a.m. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire on students at Columbine High School in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. What drives two teenagers to the point of mass murder? These kids had come to a dark road in their lives and they succumbed to it completely and that is when they began to plan for the biggest school shooting. What drove these two teens to their breaking point and what was the result of their choices?

It is a somber event for those who read the newspaper when they see the risks that the children in this continent are subject to. Mothers and fathers become worried when they send their offspring to school, not certain when or if they will return. Lives are ended early and without reason, when these helpless infants are helplessly caught in a horrific situation.

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

Rampage-style school shootings are rare and tragic events. Although measures of prevention have become more advanced, school shootings have increased in frequency over the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Here in the United States, they have become especially prevalent, with 63 shootings just this year (Acevedo). The aftermath of rampage shootings leaves gaping holes and questions in communities. People try to heal and seek closure at their own pace, but the biggest question most are left with is “why”? In Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, Katherine S. Newman seeks to answer this question. She lays out her research and methodology for studying rampage shootings and comes to the conclusion that shootings are not spontaneous, but rather the build up of psychological issues and negative sociological situations within a student’s community that causes them to seek to regain power over their own lives through a rampage shooting. The story Rampage builds out of the narratives of shooters and their victims along with national data and trends is important because it highlights the places that our societies fail in providing a safety net for deviant students and their peers.

God tells us, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28, NIV). They’re many reasons that a school shooting happens. It is easy to blame to most obvious causes which is mental illness. However, we need to look at one of the biggest causes for childhood distress which is bullying. One of the most well-known school shootings in history was Columbine. That school shooting resulted in 12 students getting killed and one teacher. Not to mention after they were done they killed themselves. The reason the gun men killed those victims was because of bullying. According to the article, “Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17 were frequent targets of bullying victimization perpetrated by