Youth Shootings

The occurence of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. The gunman, was 20-year-old Adam Lana, who first shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. He then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. As first responders arrived, Lana committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The shooting began at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sandy Hook was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history and the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. This shooting yet again assured the nation that gun violence is still as big of a problem as it was back in the late 90’s when 27 teenagers got killed in another mass killing in Columbine, Colorado. We as a nation must stand up and oppose mass murdering because these actions are not only unjust but inhuman as well.  The increase in gun violence can be decreased by, identifying the regions in the country where the most gun violence occurs and restricting their access to limiting or monitoring the availability of guns and ammunition.

A trend analysis of juvenile homicide offenses shows that since the mid 1970's, the number of homicides in which no firearm was involved has remained fairly constant. However, homicides by juveniles involving a firearm have increased nearly threefold. In addition, during this same period, the number of juvenile arrests for weapons violations increased 117 percent. When guns are the weapon of choice, juvenile violence becomes deadly.

Sometime back in 2012, there was a reported tragedy that struck the elementary school at sandy hook, Connecticut. It is alleged that a man dressed in black walked into the school compound and opened fire disrupting the serene environment of the school. In the incident, after a few minutes, 26 people lay dead, 20 of them being young children aged between 6 to7 years. Among the grownups that perished were the school principal Dawn Hoch Sprung, and the school’s psychologist Mary Sherlock (Parmet, 2013). The killer identified as Adam Lanza a 20-year-old man also died. Found separately was his mother’s body, at a residence in town. It was compared to another incidence that had occurred in 2007, a similar event of shooting at Virginia where 32 people perished. The young were said to have been directed by their teachers into bathrooms and closets at the onset of the shooting. The incident occurred in

In 1999, two considered outcasts, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked into Columbine High School in Colorado, opened fire and murdered twelve students, one teacher, while injuring twenty-four additional students before turning the gun on themselves. In 2007, Seung-Hui Choo, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed thirty-two people and injured seventeen others, before turning the gun on himself. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States history. In 2012, Adam Lanza, shot and killed his mother then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, before opening fire and killing twenty children and six adult staff members before turning the gun on himself. This was the second deadliest mass shooting in United States history. These three separate shootings, all took place in what is suppose to be a safe learning environment, but all ended with many casualties. It has heightened our concern and raises the question on the measures that can be taken to safely protect our students and staff in our school systems: Should our teachers and administrators be armed? Arming teachers and administrators in public and private schools does not send the appropriate message towards students and parents and could offer more risk than reward to teachers. In addition, teachers and administrators are taught to provide the students with educational purpose while maintaining order and discipline in a comfortable, safe and friendly learning atmosphere. Therefore,

Just a normal day in American schools. Children are in their classes, and all the sudden an armed man comes to the front doors of the school killing many innocent lives. In the United States, School shootings have become increasingly common. Shootings from my perspective are disgusting, and create such harm to the world. However, school shooting statistics show a growing trend in the United States

It was not until 1850 that these kinds of violent acts began to rise and people began to see this as a common occurrence (Williams, 2013, para.2). Violence in schools first gained major media attention after the infamous Columbine shooting in 1999 and has since become a topic of intense interest. People want to know who would be capable of this kind of act and why they would do it. In the majority of cases, the shooter is a student who feels injustice in life and takes matters into his or her own hands. Based on research found in the article by Lee (2013), in 73% of cases one or more people are killed, in 24% one or more people are injured, and in only 3% of school shootings no one is harmed (p. 106). Recently there have been a barrage of school shootings in the United States which have left the country reeling and students, educators, and parents in a state of fear and high

After researching more in depth about school shootings for my last write up, I decided that reading and learning about the reality of school gun violence was important. In the late 1990s there was a downward spiral of youth violence. Suburban areas stayed out of the spotlight, which helped keep the fear of school violence to a minimum and brush under the rug the violence. In non-suburban areas the majority were experiencing gun violence which led to fear in many peoples eyes. The typical schoolyard fights had turned into murders and much more dangerous. There was a line that mentioned students not bringing home homework anymore but coming home with bullet wounds. The amount of school shootings in these non-suburban areas was really reflecting

According to the World Health Organization, around 43% of all homicides in the world occur amongst children ages ten to twenty-four every year. In the United States alone, an average of twelve people between the ages of ten to twenty-four are killed each day according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Youth violence is a term that is defined by the CDC as “a significant public health problem that affects thousands of young people each day, and in turn, their families, schools, and communities”. Violence among youth can be a result of drug use, familial issues, or anti-sociality. Although the trend for youth violence is currently declining, youth violence is still a major issue among communities as children exposed to violence can have physical and/or psychological problems later on in life.

School shootings have altered American history greatly over the past two decades. From 1997 to 2007, there have been more than 40 school shootings, resulting in over 70 deaths and many more injuries. School shoot-outs have been increasing in number dramatically in the past 20 years. There are no boundaries as to how old the child would be, or how many people they may kill or injure. At Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29th, 2000, there was a 6 year old boy who shot and killed another 6 year old girl at the Buell Elementary School with a .32 caliber pistol. And although many shootings have occurred at High Schools or Middle Schools, having more guns on those campuses would not be a good environment for children to grow up in.

The final shoot of the California Youth Shooting Sports Association took place last weekend in

One of the deadliest attacks with using firearms was in the Sandy Hook elementary school. This unfortunate incident happened with a young person who suffered from a personality disorder. Adam Lanza, who caused that incident, was twenty-two years old. This tragic event happened on December 2014 and it killed twenty students and six staff members. After that terrible incident, Adam Lanza suicides. Another fatal event happened to Stoneman Douglas School by a 19-year-old student named Nikolas Cruz on February 2018. The student who was expelled from school for some disciplinary matters attacked his school one day and killed 17 innocent students. One of the most painful events was in Columbine High School in April 1999 by two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. According to the inspectors, this case resulted in the deaths of twelve and injuries twenty-four students. Lastly, those criminals suicide without any

Growing up in America today is different for most young people than it was for their parents. The fear of violence and crime seems to be everywhere. Every day, millions of people are killed by children. America is listed as a leading nation of assaults and murders (prothrow-Stith). Young criminals strike all age groups. Statistics show that 55 percent of crimes are against someone of adolescent age and are committed by children in the same age group (Sexton). A concealed gun or knife has become a common accessory such as a pocket comb. Many young people are killed for a jacket, a pair of sneakers, a misinterpreted glance, or an iPod. Researchers state that children exhibit innocence and therefore were thought to be incapable of having criminal

Dead students, helpless parents, shocked public… This is becoming an every day image in the news nowadays. School shootings are the worst form of gun violence. Innocent students, teachers and other school staff get murdered by mostly teenagers. With 16 shootings this year 2018 is becoming the worst year since the Columbine massacre in 1999.

For every 12 homicides committed in the United States 1 of them involves a juvenile offender (Howard N. Snyder, Juvenile Offenders and Victims, 2006). Although most American don’t realize it, juvenile homicide is a problem in the United States that needs to be fixed. Even though statistics show that the homicide rate done by juveniles is at its lowest rate since the early 1980’s it is still a problem. Juvenile homicide has lowered in the recent years, but the fact that it still happens is chilling to most Americans. Most Americans believe that juveniles who show early signs of deviant acts are not a big deal, however if we try and help those juveniles, we can possibly stop them from committing homicidal acts when they get

On December 14, 2012, the United States suffered perhaps the most horrific of the many mass shootings that have troubled the country in recent years when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 and 7, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before killing himself. Earlier in the day, Lanza had killed his mother, a gun enthusiast, and taken several of her assault weapons, which he used in his Rampage (“Assault 5”). The importance of public safety has been an ongoing issue for as long as guns have been around.