Youth Shootings

Mental health services and mental health awareness will ensure that our youth are not only physically healthy but mentally as well. Although it is not always the youth who commit these violent acts involving guns, I believe that reaching the youth is the best way for prevention. Robert Ross said it best: “Early detection and treatment is the key. We need to reach troubled children when problems first emerge, while there’s still time to guide them back on the right track” (Ross, 2015, p. 507). According to the United States Government, one out of every four or five adolescents meets the specification for a mental disorder. However, Mental health not only refers to the lack of a mental disorder or disease, but also to well-being emotionally, socially, and psychologically. Children who are mentally healthy are able to adapt to their changing environment, develop healthy relationships, use coping techniques, and more (U.S Government, n.d.). It is important to understand what mental health is and means so that society may better recognize an individual that does not quite meet those metal health standards; this will better aid us in violence prevention.

There have been many horror stories in the news about mass shootings at schools. The public, and even the president of the United States, is asking if anything can be done to prevent these tragedies. There are many theories on why students kill their peers at schools; these range from increased violence in video games and movies to bullying troubles at school. Almost always, the perpetrator suffers from some form of mental illness (Khadaroo). Because of this, motives for these crimes are extremely difficult to discern. Although the theories for the causes of this dilemma are tenuous at best, the effects are very perceptible. Can anything be done to prevent these massacres? School shootings are a complex problem that cannot always

As the world recovers from recent school shootings, people wondered why these events have occurred. They are focused on drug use, violent society, video games, bullying, and mental issues to try and explain an unexplainable event. The idea that a person would shoot others for little or no reason gave little relief to the survivors.

A major topic being discussed in gun control today has to do with how mental illness factors into these shootings and what should be done pertaining to mental health gun restrictions.

Mental Health is the root to numerous problems in America, how your brain deals with certain situations determines how sick or healthy our minds are. Based on a Washington Post-ABC News Poll of 808 adults, 57% agreed that the mass shootings were due to mental health issues whereas 28% said that it was due to inadequate gun control laws (SHEN). Almost 30% additional people thought that it was a mental health issue instead of a gun control issue. Since a larger portion of adults believe that mental health is the root to mass shootings a mental health test need to be complete on anyone who wants to carry or purchase a weapon.

After recent tragic events, such as the mass shooting that took place at a musical festival in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1st, 2017, which left over 50 people dead, and over 500 others injured (Bui, Zapotosky and Barrett), the topic of stricter gun controls in America has become a controversial topic for many people in our society. Those in favor of stricter gun controls believe that by implementing laws that would make it more difficult for the average person to purchase and own guns, the result would be a decreased number of mass shootings and other gun deaths in our country. Typically, with these proposed laws, it is suggested that potential gun owners should be required to undergo mental health screening, in addition to regular background checks to see if the person has a history of any mental illnesses or past crimes. However, reducing the number of mass shootings and other gun deaths in America is not as simple as just implementing new laws.

With mental illness identified as a very probable cause of these shootings, it is critical that the evidently poor and ineffective clinical help for mental disorders be reevaluated. A theoretical explanation for the modern prevalence of mental illness could be the increasingly optional nature of treatment: therapy is a choice, and checking into a facility or institution is

I think, mental health providers should play the role for prevention of mass shooting by the help of media’s in depth coverage, especially when they involved children. Preventing future mass shootings involves changing our culture and how we respond to these events.

“We lose eight children and teenagers to gun violence every day. If a mysterious virus suddenly started killing eight of our children every day, America would mobilize teams of doctors and public health officials. We would move heaven and earth until we found a way to protect our children. But not with gun violence.” (Warren, 2014)Criminal gun violence, which violence enacted by the use of a firearm, includes murder, assault, and suicide, or attempted suicide. This violence imposes a heavy burden on our standard of living, not only on groups that have the highest victimization rates, but also on the community at large. By one estimate, this burden amounts to $80 billion per year. (Cook and Ludwig, 2000)

The purpose of this report is to see the shooters connection with mental illness and family breakdown. If we learn mental illness in adults it can improve early signs of mental health problems, earlier treatment, and greater understanding and compassion. . The strategy to eliminate mental illness and family breakdown can help in preventing massive shooting. The purpose of this report is to advertise more

Some people believe there should be a tighter laws for guns, so that the suicide rates and mass shootings would be less likely. With “...Guns [causing] more than 30,000 deaths annually, on average ⅔ [of which being] suicides”(Bloomberg) guns have a major involvement within the suicide epidemic in America is a strong reason why people feel that America should have tighter gun control. Another point that pro gun law advocates like to make is “Australia enforce tighter control on guns after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, since then there have been no mass shootings and homicide and suicide rate have dropped tremendously..” Australia’s after the Port Arthur Massacre is a prime example of what America could have if they had stricter laws on gun control. In Maryland governor Martin O'Malley said “I wants to broaden the range of people banned from owning guns to include those who have been civilly committed to mental institutions at any time.” (Rapoport, 2).This kind of action is also being pushed in other states,but in the article Guns-Not the Mentally Ill Kill People it stated “On the whole, those with mental illness are responsible for only 5 percent of violent crimes."(Rapoport, 3) But in actuality in “one study, “people with mental illness are 11 times more likely to be the victims of violence."

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

Teenage gun violence is on the rise. Gun violence has become a major problem for America. We have more privately owned guns than any other country. This could be one of the reasons that guns are being used by teens, because of the access they have to guns. The availability of guns to our youth is making the world unsafe. Although lawmakers are working on gun control laws, I wonder is the problem too far gone.

More than 30,000 people die in this country due to a gun related situation and 7,564 people have been harmed in shooting, and 2,016 of these people have died in these situations, 384 were teens, 77 were children and 45 of these have been mass shootings. Most of these were committed by teenager ranging from 17-20, but there is something that has always stood out to researchers all these people have dealt with mental issues and when investigated they play a lot of Violent Video games.

Which was once just a problem that haunted the streets of New York City and Chicago, has widely become a problem in communities all over the United States. Even though there have been some great attempts to try and reduce the crime rate with our youth of today sadly it still remains to be a big problem in today’s society. Gang violence and bullying are just the start of a problem which develops into so much more such as school shootings. One would have to be oblivious to their surroundings not to see the signs that are all around the community with signs sending up red flags all the time. “Firearms violence is a scourge on our society. Homicides committed by young people with firearms have nearly tripled since 1985, and other types of gun-related violence have been on the rise. Too many guns are in the hands of our Nation's children.” (Clinton, 1996)