Seeing stories about mass shootings on the news is an everyday occurrence. Mass shootings occur when people intentionally and indiscriminately shoot multiple people at one venue or at one time. In the United States, there have been 62 mass shootings in the last thirty years. There have been 24 in the last seven years, alone. If he lived in the twenty first century the monster in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly and the movie by the same title, directed by James Whale, would be a modern day mass shooter. The monster and serial shooters share some comparably important traits, such as being bullied by humans, wanting revenge, and having psychological problems.
To some, being bullied is not a big deal; but to others (such as the monster and many mass shooters) being bullied affects their outlook on the world. To bully, according to Miriam Webster Dictionary, is “to frighten, hurt, or threaten (a smaller or weaker person): to act like a bully toward (someone): to cause (someone) to do something by making threats or insults or by using force” both the monster and many mass shooters have experienced high levels of bullying, which possibly led to the massacres. In particular, a well-known duo of boys became mass shooters after being continuously bullied by their classmates. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve people and injured 24 at Columbine High School. According to the New York Times, in an article comparing the different factors in mass suicidal shooters to terrorist “The
Police, teachers, principals, state senators, and many others claim it’s not bullying that causes these mind numbing numbers of suicides and school shootings. They truly believe it is mental illness, depression, anger, and PTSD that causes the overwhelming number of suicides and shootings. What they fail to comprehend is that those are side effects as a result of being bullied.
In 1999, the topic of bullying came to the forefront when two students at Columbine High School in Colorado killed twelve classmates and a teacher. The shooters had allegedly been bullied in school for years.
The chances of being a victim of a mass shooting are a little less than your odds at being struck by lightning (Fund, 2012). If you take a look at our nation’s history you will see that the rate at which these killings take place are on the decline. This fact begs the question then what are the similarities with all these mass murderers? Is it the mental-health aspect of these murderers that link them all together? Is there a connection between the mass murderers that somehow will allow us to find these people before the acts? Finally, what is the reason that these mass murders are taking place? Are they doing it for fame, love, revenge or power? All of these questions have sparked several studies about these murderers in order to figure out
The proposal to the problem focus on mass shootings specifically, not gun violence in general, although the potential solutions to mass shootings would do much to prevent gun violence as a whole. Mass shootings represent a mere 2% of gun-related deaths, yet the sheer horror, shock, and scale of carnage tend to capture the public’s attention so much more so than the typical shooting homicide or suicide, which are seemingly ubiquitous in news reports these days. The big issue with solving the problem of mass shootings is the variety of factors involved with the shooters’ motivations to kill.
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.
The link between school violence and bullying has increased in attraction exponentially after the Columbine shooting. “The shooters were classified as gifted children who had allegedly been victims of bullying for four years.” Many of those who are close to them regarded them as “the losers of the losers (Ball)”. Klebold has also made remarks to his father about his hatred toward the jock culture in his high school. He added that Harris had been victimized by the jocks by stating to his father “They sure give Eric hell.” There is no doubt this helped drive them to the decision they made.
Some people debate that environmental factors have a huge role in mass shootings. “The discussion of mass shootings in the news
These are most of the mass shootings that has happened in the U.S. There are only seven that are mentioned in this essay. There are many more mass shooting that has happened in the U.S. It is sad that many people have killed others either because they had mental health issues or they hated a community of people or in one case they has post traumatic stress
The Assassins are a Shiite-Ismailite sect that used to spread fear and panic in the Near and Middle East for more than one century. They did carry out political murders with as much publicity as possible and therefore they are compared with terrorists. But there's one big difference - they never carried out their murders indiscriminately,but rather always selectively. Today, we can hear the term modern-day Assassins and that's the reason for making this historical review trying to find resemblance between the assassins and the terrorists.
Most of the recent shootings seem to be contagious as their shooters’ plans and motives are almost all quite alike. These shooters have set a “stereotypical shooter” profile. They are typically male, white, and around the age of 20. Of all the mass shootings, only one was done by a woman (Mass Shootings in the U.S.). They are usually quite smart, part of a middle class family, and are normally quiet, lonely, and introverted. They are almost always socially awkward and have few-no friends. Yet, no one expects them to kill others as they are quiet. These shooters keep everything to themselves which may be one of the reasons why they are full of hatred. Often, they consider suicide, yet they refuse to talk to any sort of counselor. They are almost always constantly on a computer, frequently playing violent video games. Their shooting plan is almost always pre-meditated far in advance. They plan to make their shooting “great” and to ‘gain fame’ for their mass shooting. After the shooting, most commonly, they kill themselves.
In his article “Real-life mass shootings: The subject Hollywood dare not touch”, Alex Suskind focuses on the gun epidemic in America and discusses reasons why Hollywood shows immense brutality in movies but don’t dare to create one about real-life mass shootings. His main claim is that Americans prefer escapism to realism in movies.
Every high school has a little group of bullies and some take it to an extent but that doesn’t give the gunman the right to harm all of these innocent people. For example, “ In fact, bullied, their rage later proved to be more generalized against society as a whole” (Gerdes 4). Harris and Klebold were bullied a lot throughout their first few years of high school which built up a lot of rage and it should have been suspected that they would have stood up for themselves sooner or later. Is not fitting in really a bad thing or do we really have a whole “system” that puts everyone “where they’re supposed to be” ? With that said, “ … Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold targeted specific victims and were members of the Trench Coat Mafia” (Gerdes 19). The two gunmen were labeled as outcasts and may have been a little weird but that could have
From 2000 to 2013 there was an average of approximately 15,629 murders in the country (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2000-13). In the same time period approximately 35 deaths per year, or less than a quarter of one percent, were the results of an active shooter event. In 160 events 1,043 individuals were killed (47%) and wounded (53%). The federal government defines a mass homicide as the killing of three or more individuals. Only 64 of these events would have been classified as a mass
On October 1, 2017 America was, yet again, devastated when Las Vegas suffered the United States worst mass shooting. One man killed over 50 people and injured 527. After he was finished firing from the 39th floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort, he committed suicide. His name was Stephan Paddock (Yan and Park). When most people think of a mass shooting, they think of a terroristic act or someone shooting at a large group of innocent citizens, like Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School. In actuality, most people do not realize that whenever two or more people are injured or killed by a gun, it is considered a mass shooting. These “mass shootings” happen every day in America and they are one of the leading causes of death in
Society plays a big role in the development of a school shooter. When an individual feels isolated or excluded from a community and is a target for bullies, it often causes them to take out that repressed anger and lash out in heinous ways. Nowadays, students are typically at school five days a week for six to seven hours a day. That is a lot of time spent with classmates, and unfortunately, bullies. Bullying usually involves an imbalance of power, in which the bully hopes to establish a feeling of dominance over their victim. (Bullying, 2017) Being the victim of bullying is certainly an emotionally damaging situation, especially when one feels helpless and alone. Anger or discontent from the victim may develop into something deeper like hatred and the need for revenge, which is the reason why some individuals turn to shooting schools- to finally hurt others instead of being the one getting hurt. One horrifying example of bullying taking