Technology's Role In Mass Shootings And Violence

In 1999, two students from Columbine High School planned an attack in which they killed 20 students and one adult with three injured. In 2007, the second deadliest shooting event, took place at Virginia Tech with 32 dead. In 2012, Adam Lanza shot 20 children and 6 adults in the horrific event known as the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. More recently in 2016 a shooting took place in an Orlando nightclub, Pulse, where 49 people were killed and 58 people were injured.

A major concern in the United States is why mass shootings occur and what needs to be done to stop them from happening. Mass shootings have gained a significant amount of attention in 2015. Within the year, a total of 372 mass shootings have occurred in the United States killing 475 people and wounding 1,870. Mass shootings have become a popular trend within the media and have given the impression that it is the new normal. Mass shootings are a dysfunction to society, due to the fact that they create horror and tragedy within the country. Schools, shopping malls, and even movie theatres have all endured the horrific violence. Mass shootings are nothing new, however, they seem to be occurring more often and are becoming more and more violent. The three leading factors to mass shootings are problematic masculinity, mental illness, and gun control.

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.

Since people are mostly only able to participate in catastrophes such as this mass shooting at a distance, news media is the primary source of information, which therefore creates the audiences’ reality of the events that occur.(Wheeler 80) With this, the mass media has the control of what people are exposed to, and the choice to amplify awareness to what they choose as important. In an interview conducted with Sarah, an undergraduate student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she recalled her exposure to the news of the shooting: “The only reports I had access to, was what I saw in the news”. When asked how she thinks the media had an effect on her perception of the shooting, she stated: ”Well I believe that since the only information I was able to get was from news sources, what I saw in the news is what I believed. So I really do think the media had a strong effect since I was exposed to mainly what they chose to present to me.” With this, media messages, such as the reporting on the Las Vegas shooting, exert a strong influence on audiences and the cultivation of people’s perception. The frequent exposure to these stories of mass shootings and the use of descriptors based on race are fed to the audience and become a common knowledge. Ultimately, the promotion of racial stereotypes through the disproportionate representation of perpetrators of mass shootings influences public opinion and perception.(Lankford) With the strong effect that media has on the people, it is

Mass shootings have been a growing epidemic in the past years in the United States. According to CNN between the years 1966 and 2017 there have been 90 Mass Shootings in the United States; with the shootings more likely to occur at the workplace or at schools(1). But why is this happening? Why are unlikely citizens rising up and performing such vulgar actions? What truly has people baffled is what is causing people to commit such a horrific act of violence? We are baffled because we don’t understand what is the cause that the some of the people committing these shootings are thought to be normal, well raised, and stable-mind people. There are many theories as to why people commit these mass shootings. One is that it is that a people's thresholds for the act and they are joining in. Another is that is is testosterone and natural dominance causing those viewed as outcasts to commit the shooting. But I believe it is both of those but that there is a stronger one that explains the reason why good people are committing horrific shootings. My theory is the psychological act of splitting.

Mass Shootings LAS VEGAS: On October 1st, 2017 there was a mass shooting. This was the deadliest shooting. It happened during a music festival. The shooter was in a hotel called Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. He fired from the 32nd floor. The shooter was a 64-year-old man. The shooters name was Stephen Paddock. He was found did in his room(he committed suicide). He killed 59 people including himself. He injured over 539 people. Then , 3 more died instantly after the accident. 23 firearms were found in the suite. Then, when they went to his house they found more firearms . He was an accountant and multi-millionaire.

The source of mass shootings are traced back to the United States second amendment, history of hate and racism. The second amendments states; "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"(United

"I'm angry someone would do this to us. There are lives ruined, families ruined, and our whole school year is ruined" (Brackely 1). Casey Brackely, once a student that attended Columbine High School, remembers the tragedy of the horrific Columbine shooting that killed and injured many students. Mass shootings in the United States have been on the rise since the 1980’s, especially in the last decade. These shooters motives and profiles are almost all terrifyingly alike. Many of these shooters try to imitate and parallel the tragic shooting of the Columbine High School in 1999. These shootings have made peaceful organizations, such as an elementary school; become a place of violence and death. Currently, in the United States, an epidemic of

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.

On a seemingly normal day on the 29th of April 1996, an average looking 28 year old male, Martin Bryant, ate lunch and approached a café in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The man pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag, relentlessly killing 35 innocent people and injuring another 23. The Port Arthur massacre was a pinnacle turning point in Australia’s history as the prime minister of the time, John Howard, introduced the National Firearms Agreement, banning all semi-automatic and automatic rifles alongside pump action shotguns http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/port-arthur-massacre-shooting-spree-changed-australia-gun-laws-n396476. Ever since the introduction of the National Firearms Agreement, Australian citizens have not been victims of mass shootings

The world we live in today is corrupted with people whose motives are unethical and what some people would call unpredictable. Today’s generation is growing up in darkness where nobody can even dream of the light. Mass shootings are happening more commonly and actions aren’t being taken into initiative. Morals,

School Shootings Scissors, crayons, notebooks, headstone, glue sticks are all supplies needed for this school year. Wait, a headstone? Yes, since 2013 there has been 242 school shootings (Everytown). This means thousands of student’s lives have been put at risk. Sadly, not all of the students have made it out alive. Once there was a time where the biggest worries a student had during the day was if they would get a swing at recess, who was dating who, or even if they had been accepted to college, not if today was the day they would get shot. Three things come to mind when it comes to school shootings: the attacker, how they carry out the attack, and the attacker’s motive.

The United States will not soon forget the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that occurred just two weeks before Christmas in 2012. This tragic results in the death of twenty students and eight adults. These public acts are bloodcurdling. They create an invisible fear to society. Mass shootings are usually very frightening and receive nation attention because they are often unpredictable. Although the massacre shocked the nation, they are nothing new. In the United States, mass shootings do not happen quite often. Nevertheless, the media coverage often overstates the incident through various methods to hype the scare. When a shooting occurs, the media would not only report the bloody details, attach horrible pictures,

In my essay, I argue that the media, in particular the news, has a bigger influence in mass shootings then other stimuli like; access to guns, violent video games, and mental illness. By exploring the news’ role in mass shootings we can begin to discuss the changes that can be made in the way they broadcast. While the news believes they are just doing their duty and reporting the news while also honoring the victims, there really just honoring the perpetrator. With the news portraying the culprit as a hero, relieving what and how many weapons he used, and the amount of people he or she killed they help encourage future perpetrators to “beat the score”.

In the early hours of December 14th, 2012 20-year-old Adam Laza armed with a Bushmaster assault rifle, 10mm Glock pistol, 9mm Sig Sauer pistol and 30 round magazines entered Sandy Hooks elementary school in Newton, Connecticut killing twenty-six students and staff members, before taking his own life. Over the last three decades mass shootings and gun violence have been an increasing epidemic across the nation, with a total of 389 people killed, and 385 wounded. The term mass shooting indicates an incident involving victims of gun violence in which three or more people have been killed or injured by a firearm in a single location. According to a statistical data analysis collected by GUN VIOLENCE Archive (GVA), a non-profit corporation,