Essay On School Shootings

During the past few years, the number of school shootings has increased markedly. In 2013, there were 19 school shootings that occurred, taking so many innocent lives. Some may remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14th, 2013. It was the second deadliest massacre shooting in United States history, behind the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. Adam Lanza shot twenty children, six staff, his mother, and himself that day. School shootings are tragic. Violence continues to increase with these shootings, as well as with violence within the schools among the students. The big question is, how do we protect ourselves from these horrible occurrences? How do teachers protect the innocent lives of their students? One common suggestion is for the teachers and administration to be armed. The premise is that if the school staff has possession of firearms this would discourage shooters, thereby making the schools much safer. However, it is my belief that teachers should not be able to have access to weapons. There should never be any type firearm on a school property, excluding trained security personnel, such as police officers and security guards.

This world seems to be falling apart, going crazy, or even taking people away out of the blew. One of the main reasons behind that is school shootings. It tends to happen when people think they are taking their kids into a safe environment. School is supposed to be safe, full of kids talking to their friends, teachers, and maybe petting the psychologist’s dog just saying “hi” to the dog. For the longest time school shootings have been climbing, occuring more and more. Everyday, bad things happen which show how humanity is cruel. (table1, Mass Shootings Per Year) this graph is showing how the numbers every year change. Since the year 1982 and 2016, the numbers really do change drastically.

This shooting was the worst in United States history, and it left families speechless and people in disarray. Two teens committed the treacherous actions of that day. The speculations were that they did this because of bullying, goth culture, or music or video games; these though were all just theories and were never proven(history). After this event, schools, venues, and events have endured grand security increases in the danger of shooters or other violence. Throughout my school days, I have wondered why we do the silly lock down drills at school, but in reality, lives could be saved in the event of an actual attack on my school. I realized this my eight grade year at Guntown Middle School. There was an unidentified man on campus, a code red lock down would amerce. I still remember sitting under my desk, shaking, and almost to tears. I did not want to be remembered as just another statistic if it was a shooter. But it had been our lucky day, the man who had stirred up all the commotion was just looking for the school’s office. Those fears I experienced however, would stay with me. We all believe that we are invincible and that it would never be us. However, with the world as it is today, no one is safe. I have been affected by the Columbine shooting through security changes in schools that I

Thirteen people were killed at Columbine High School in 1999, thirty-three died during the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, and twenty-seven people, twenty of whom were children no older than seven, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 (Kirk). These name only a few of the larger and most well-known school shooting incidences. In total, 297 people have lost their lives due to school-based shootings since 1980 (Kirk). Although this number may be small in comparison to death by guns overall, these instances are completely unwarranted and it is likely that they could have been avoided or at the very least reduced. These people, college and high school students, teachers, and even children, might still be alive today if our

To summarize, school shootings shouldn’t be taken lightly. One quick threat can lead to a nationwide memorial day. We can learn from our past with Columbine to treat all of our peers with respect if not kindness and from Sandy Hook to learn how to better protect our children. Columbine, 1999, 24 survivors . Sandy Hook, 2012, 12 survivors.

School shootings are terrifying to think about, but there are ways to help prevent the massacres from ever happening again. The first known school shooting was at the Texas Tower at the University of Texas in 1966 where Charles Whitman shot and killed 16 people while injuring 31 others. Who would have known since that date that we would have more then 200 deaths on school campuses? The most storied shooting in the 90’s was probably the Columbine massacre where on April 20, 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 32 students and faculty before turning the guns on themselves. The horror scene from the day will always be remembered in many lives and will continue over the years. There were many other horrible shootings over the years as

School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.

     “That could never happen in my school.” This is one of the first thoughts that goes through a students mind when they hear about a school shooting. The fact is though, it can. School shootings can happen at any school at any time. Lack of security is only a small part of the problem. The major issue lies in the low morality of students and warning signs overlooked by administration.

There has been an average of one school shooting every week in America since the Sandy Hook shooting. On the fourteenth of December, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza not only killed his mother in her home, but also twenty children and six members of staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. This was to be the third deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The Huffington Post reports that as of 2014, there have been over 200 school shootings. These have resulted in at least 94 deaths and over 156 serious and minor injuries. And, with an issue as emotive and contentious as the murder of school children, the question has been frequently asked: why do school shootings happen?

True, murder and terrorism won't ever stop even if the strictest laws were passed. Criminals will obtain anything they need to perpetuate their crime. As a country, we should initially focus on enforcing safer school campuses. Children should never have to hear about school shootings on the news. Unfortunately, that is America's reality. Think about the children in your life, whether your own, younger siblings, nieces or nephews, and sending them off to school and hearing about an active shooting at their school. It's terrifying to imagine, but this has been happening to families across America. Increasing the requirements for acquiring a gun, will make getting a gun more difficult in general. If you're lawfully using your gun, then why should

    Teens these days suffer through a lot sometimes and this leads to them doing dangerous things like shooting up schools. School shootings have affected the school's attendance and test scores around where past shootings have happened(215 School Shootings in America Since 2013). They could happen at any time and at any school depending on if kids bring their gun(s) to school or not. School shootings are highly dangerous because of the way that they are increasing and how they are making schools get more security, but now researchers are starting to see why school shootings are happening.

Since 2010, there have been 109 school shootings in the United States. This is not new, with the first recorded school shooting dating back to 1764. Ever since the Columbine shooting on April 20th, 1999, there has been a debate across the country on gun use and restrictions in the United States. Teachers need to be armed in schools. The current system of prevention has only shown to be ineffective and unnecessarily expensive.

First, according to Atkins, five people were shot at Randallstown High School while attending a basketball game. Many people are getting hurt because of guns getting into the wrong hands. Also, two teens shot and killed twelve students and a teacher, and injured twenty-three others. Kids are not safe when it comes to them attending school. “Michell Johnson, thirteen, and Andrew Golden, eleven, fired at students and teachers at Westside Middle School. Four students” (56). Then, many people fear for their safety in school. When kids go to school, they should feel safe. Kids usually get their weapons either from a family member or because they are apart of a gang. They number of school shootings would go down tremendously if guns were kept away from

Unfortunately, the notion of schools being a safe place is no longer a trend across American schools. Disturbing mass shootings in the U.S continue to shock the media. A school shooting is when someone attacks a school using a gun. The Secret Service says these shootings are "deliberately selected as the location for the attack". The reasons massacres occur in schools is because of poor security, violence in video games/media, and bullying. Shockingly the U.S. has the most school shootings than any other country in the world. According to the FBI, mass shootings occur, on average, every 2 weeks in the U.S. While the cause of school shootings are sometimes unpredictable, it is a growing issue and they need to be prevented. Most shooters don’t have mental issues, they have a plan to kill, so there is no singular cause that creates violent people. On April 16th, 2007, the most deadly school massacre occurred. Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two students at Virginia-Tech. As Americans, we no longer should turn on the news and witness these gruesome murders. We try to make sense of these murders, but it’s ineffectual. There are measures we can take as a society to help. The number one question in a school massacre is, "why would a person that has a capable sense of mind even do that?” It is our moral responsibility to fix these issues. In order to stop this problem, we need to find its roots.

Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and the list goes on and on. Gun violence is in schools today has become a main issue in politics. No child, parent, or person of any kind deserves to be involved in that sort of evil violence, but when looking from a third person view schools are often the easiest targets . Most schools don’t have much security on campus, and if they do it is very lacking. So it is often very easy to simply walk into a school looking like a regular student, school member, or parent, and then pull out a gun and fire it on whoever comes in your way. As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. Rather than put stricter policies into action on gun restrictions, we should look at these examples and adapt. Heighten security on campus. Monitor every person who enters the school. Maybe even hire an armed security guard who would at least be able to distract the shooter from the students. The solution is not to make laws and hope someone doesn’t come, it is to be prepared to handle the situation if it ever