Connecticut School Shooting Case Study

On December 14th, 2012, the lives of thousands, and indirectly millions changed after the shooting of twenty children and six teachers were fatally shot by the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary school shooter, Adam Lanza. This event was so dramatic and sickening the world stopped in it’s tracks waiting for what was going to happen next. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the cauldron was stirred and the underlying question resurfaced; What should we do about gun control laws? Should the people of America even have guns? After a number of shootings occurring and Sandy Hook occurring, Barrack Obama addressed the event and spoke about “reducing gun violence” and promoting “gun safety” drawing many citizens to support his cause. Anyone who has a heart

Mass shootings have been a major issue in this country. One common place these shootings take place is on school grounds. These events keep happening with really no solution to put an end to these tragedies. Recently, a bill had been proposed in Wisconsin that would lift the ban on guns in campus buildings in UW schools. This means more guns on campus. To me that doesn’t sound like a solution to all of the shootings. I believe that allowing guns in UW campus buildings is not a good idea.

Evidence of the first factor arose during the States investigation when they identified that while Adam was in fifth grade, he once stated, “that he did not think highly of himself and believed that everyone else in the world deserved more than he did” (Sedensky, 2013, p 33). Additionally, a teacher remarked that he was intelligent, but not normal, with antisocial issues. Overall, he managed fairly well until he was in seventh grade, this is when his mother noticed a significant deterioration in his behavior. Others described him as being quiet, barely speaking or even participating and very hard to communicate with. More importantly, his writings had a disturbing amount of violence in them, throughout middle school. During his high school years, he had poor social skills; he would not talk and was withdrawn. However, there were conflicting reports from students in regards to whether he was bullied or not. Despite other student’s uncertainty, Adams parents were adamant that he was

People believe that the government causes certain events in order to make more strict regulations in the country. During the time of the Sandy Hook shooting, President Obama was fighting for more strict gun control within the country. Many people believe that because of this fight the Sandy Hook shooting took place. Society would rather put the blame on the government, rather than accepting the fact that some people just have issues that cause them to perform unthinkable acts. For example, Adam Lanza, the shooter of Sandy Hook elementary. Lanza was 20 years old and had Asperger’s. Asperger’s, a form of autism, is not believed to have played a major role in what caused Lanza to do the shooting a Sandy Hook. Lauren Elder, a clinical psychologist with Autism Speaks says, “Often, their violent acts are self-injurious and spontaneous, the result of frustrated attempts to communicate and not getting their pain or desires heard or addressed.” (Time). Lauren Elder states that in most cases Asperger’s causes one to hurt themselves. This is not likely to be the same for every individual with the disease. Asperger’s could have caused Adam Lanza to become angry and react in harsh ways, resulting in the shooting of Sandy Hook

On April 20, 1999, two disturbed teenage boys Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris began a killing rampage at Columbine High School in the suburban town of Littleton, Colorado. This was considered one of the worst school shootings to occur at that time. In the morning of April 20, before noon, the two juveniles had killed 13 people to include 12 students and 1 teacher; they also wounded another 23 people before turning the guns on themselves. This event would change the theories as to why school shootings would occur. (History)

(Sub-subpoint 2) For example, a 12-year-old from Nevada opened fire at school because he was bullied. He was called “an idiot, a retard and gay”. (NY Daily News)

The school environment is one that has been stressed to be a safe and enjoyable place to learn. However, for many individuals, that is not the case. Students around the world have very unique experiences at school, which can unfortunately become abhorrent. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), and average of 96 Americans lose their lives to gun violence each day (Gun Violence by the Numbers). There are several causes of death by gun violence, but one of the causes that have become a growing problem is school shootings. Each school shooter has an individual story and should be treated disparate from the rest, but there are several similar characteristics between many school shooters throughout history.

In 1999, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, walked into Columbine High School with shotguns, automatic weapons, and homemade pipe bombs, and killed 13 people, as well as, wounding 20 others, before killing themselves. Close to13 years after the massacre at Columbine, on December 14, 2012, another major school shooting took place in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This time, 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into the elementary school and murdered 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10, as well as, 6 adult faculty members, before killing himself. He used a semi-automatic, AR-15 as well. In more recent news, this past month we witnessed yet another mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Nicholas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 people. He used and AR-15 style assault rifle to carry out the

School violence is an all too common event reported throughout history. Shootings and massacres are not a recent phenomenon, however, a historical recurrence . The first known case of a school massacre was reported July, 26th, 1764, an incident of the Pontiac War. Three Native American men raided a schoolhouse, in now present day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and killed the Schoolmaster, Enoch Brown, and took the lives of 10 boys. Hundreds of years later, cases such as these happen all too frequently. In May 21st, 1998, Springfield, Oregon was struck with the news of a school shooting at Thurston High School. 15 year old, Kip Kinkel, first killed his parents at home before driving to school where he fatally shot two students, and wounded 22 others. Littleton, Colorado, on April 20th, 1999, was once the most fatal attack on a school. 18 year old, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold, 17, planned out their attack for a year, to kill at least 500 peers, and detonate the school. The shooting killed 12 students, one teacher, and wounded 21 others before committing suicide.

What decision-making methods were utilized in the case? According to Charles E. Lindblom, there are two types of decision-making methods: the root method and the branch method. The root method, which he also calls he rational-comprehensive method, is an approach to decision-making where an individual chooses an objective and ranks all the relevant values in obtaining the objective. The person making the decision must “formulate many possible alternatives to achieve the stated objective.” This type of method is heavily based upon theory. In addition, the second type of method Linblom talked about is the branch method, which he also called the successive limited comparisons method. This method involves the decision-maker selecting “among the

America is a nation blossomed with prosperity, yet it is notorious for the proliferation of appalling violence and homicides. By focusing on the Columbine High School massacre, Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine explores the environment/causes that lead to shooting tragedies and exposes the culture of fear that governs the unstable American society. On April 20, 1999, two senior students, Erik Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and severely wounded 21 others with a 9mm carbine and a 12-gauge shotgun at Columbine High School. The bloodbath is directly related to the extensive accessibility of ammunitions. Through an investigation, Moore shockingly discovers that a Michigan local bank rewards free guns to customers who open new

Since 2013, 185 school shootings have occurred in the United States of America, according to the article "The Long, Shameful List of School Shootings in America." This averages to about one every week. School shootings have been a problem in the United States since 1853 which is when one of the first documented shootings with a student undertaking the shooting happened. Chris Glavin in his article “History of School Shootings in the United States” exclaims, “[On] November 2, 1853 [in] Louisville, Kentucky, a student, Matthew Ward, bought a self-cocking pistol in the morning, went to school and killed Schoolmaster Mr. Butler for excessively punishing his brother the day before.”

Many young people have been diagnosed with depression; they show feelings of depression through acting out and bullying. The extreme example of this is hurting others through the use of weapons and force. These actions can also be taken out of depression from having diseases including autism and challenges with development. One twenty-year old, Adam Lanza, lived with autism and severe developmental issues. Adam murdered twenty-seven children and adults on December fourteenth, two-thousand twelve.

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza became a mass murderer at the age of 20 years old. He first murdered his own mother sometime that morning. After firing four shots to his mother’s head, Adam drove five miles and arrived at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. It is important to note that in the early stages after the shooting, it was wrongfully reported that Adam’s mother worked at the school when in reality there was no known connection between Adam and the location. Once arriving to the location, Adam entered the premises

The morning of December 14, 2012 would not be a typical one of the inhabitants of Newtown, a small tight-knit town in Fairfield County, Connecticut. At approximately 9:30 AM, shortly after the beginning of the school day, Adam Lanza, a deranged, violent man, armed with a rifle, two hand guns, a shotgun, and a plethora of extra ammunition, forcefully entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and commenced a shooting rampage that would eventually take the lives of twenty innocent first graders, along with six faculty members who heroically sacrificed their lives protecting their students. This heart wrenching tragedy sent a Shockwave throughout America, as people were struggling to determine what they could do to prevent something so horrific from