Passing gun control legislation that creates a universal background check and gun database system as well as passing mental health legislation that improves the health care system’s protocols and policies for assisting people with mental health disorders and that enacts counseling programs in communities and schools will decrease the likelihood of mass shootings in schools. The United States is bitterly divided. Issues of great concern, such as the rise of mass shootings, are partisanized. Both sides of the debate will not comprise or listen to what their opponents have to say. Groups from both sides can only agree that one innocent life taken from gun violence is one too many. Gun control is a complicated topic with no foolproof solution to
Mass shootings are a horrific event prevalent in our society for many years. On July 18, 1984, James Huberty fires with his long-barreled Uzi at a McDonald’s San Ysidro, California, killing twenty-one adults and children. Another gunman, George Hennard, fires in a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, killing a total of twenty-three people on On October 16, 1991. A different mass murderer, Seung-Hui Cho, shoots thirty-two students and faculty members dead at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 16, 2007. Additionally, Adam Lanza opens fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut killing twenty students aging from six to seven, and six staff on December 14, 2012. All too often in the history of America, innocent
Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, sheds new light on the issue of public mass shootings. Using quantitative data from American and international reports of 171 countries between the years 1966-2012, Lankford concluded that the rate of public mass shootings is greatly dependent on the civilian ownership rate of a country.
As school shootings are on the rise, so are students’ fear all across the nation. “According to Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been at least 149 school shootings since 2013, 52 this year alone” (Board). This shows that school shootings have become more prevalent over the years. Violent people who feel depressed, attacked, or alone, may become school shooters. While some feel these may be the causes, others think that accessibility to guns is the number one factor in these attacks. The causes lead to school shooters who go into schools either with targets or to show their power and they try to harm others. After the attack, the effects can be severe considering it can cause physical and mental issues to the victims or witnesses. This controversial and seriously impacting tragedy has made a huge impact on the world and many are trying to find ways to stop it.
Mental illness significantly affects many around the world. In fact, about four-hundred and fifty million people worldwide suffer from one or more of the different known mental illnesses. That is one in every four people. Severe mental health issues such as severe anxiety disorder, antisocial personality disorder, schizophrenia, or sensory perception disorder are illnesses which are common among the people responsible for the numerous mass shootings in America. Many believe the possession of firearms in the hands of the mentally ill are the real cause of mass shootings. I agree with this statement. However, I do not solely blame the criminal for their actions due to their mental illness. Creating stricter gun laws, expanding mental health awareness
Gun violence is an unquestionable issue in America, with the United States ranking as one of the worst with both homicides and suicides using guns. That being said, we outnumber Mexico in gun related deaths and among first-world countries we rank far above others in the number of gun deaths, such as England and Australia. Consequently, we live in one of the only first world countries that does not have extensive gun laws and restrictions to gun access. Aside from the countless homicides and suicides by firearm in this country, one particular issue within this predicament is mass shootings, with the most recent mass shooting occurring on February 14th, 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. Although, it may seem like an easy fix to just implement gun control laws into our society to eliminate gun violence, but it is important to note that Americans own nearly half of all firearms globally, which is roughly 325 million guns; when
Mass Shootings have been pretty common in the U.S. In the past 30 years or so. According to the Congressional Research Service, there have been 78 mass shootings in the United States since 1983. The shootings have resulted in 547 deaths and 1,023 casualties. Mass shootings are only responsible for a very small percentage of deaths in the United States, but mass shootings are happening more often than ever, a mass shooting happens on average one time a month. Most of the suspects of mass shootings are young males who usually commit the crime on their own with careful planning of the event. Most perpetrators have a fascination with weapons and the shootings usually occur in broad daylight in public places (Frances).
In the last 52 years there has been 150 mass shootings in the U.S. In the 50 years before that, their were just 25. In those 52 years 1,077 people were killed. In the year 2017 alone, 112 people were killed. The rise of mass shootings is no longer going unnoticed and many people are fighting for change. This first Major Mass Shooting took place in Austin, Texas on August 1st, 1966. An architectural engineering student named Charles Whitman, took the elevator up to the 27th floor observation deck in the clock tower at the University of Texas. He then proceeded to kill 13 people and wound 31. This introduced America to the Mass shooting. On July 18th, 1984 James Huberty shot up a McDonalds in San
Various preventable high profile violent crimes involving the use of firearms have increasingly occurred numerous times in recent years. The events from Virginia Tech, Charleston Church, Colorado Movie Theater, Sandy Hook shootings along with others are clear messages displaying why the United States should implement greater gun control laws. The mass shootings are only increasing with time as little is done to take preventative measures on gun possession. According to Mona Chalabi from The Guardian, “An analysis from the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University last year found that between 1982 and 2011 mass shootings occurred every 200 days on average. Between 2011 and 2014, they occurred every 64 days” (Chalabi, 2015,
The millennials generation have witnessed 65 mass shootings since 1990. The number of victims? 936(Mass shootings in America, Follman; 2015). The first mass shooting of the generation occurring on September 14th, 1990 when 47 year old Joseph Wessbecker entered his former workplace and gunned down 9 people, and injuring 12 others before committing suicide. The most recent mass shooting happened on October 1st, 2015 when 26 year old Chris Harper Mercer opened fire at Umpqua Community College in which he killed 9 people and injured 9 others. Wessbecker and Mercer had one thing in common, They both suffered from mental health problems. Out of the 65 shootings, over 50% of them were caused by people has prior signs of mental illness. But, there
After 2006 there has been a distinct rise in mass shootings, this is evident with tragic example like Sandy Hook Elementary and Virginia Tech University. These incidents are
Mass shootings are a serious problem and the U.S. has the most of them every year. People are scared, some so scared that they won’t hardly leave their house. There is all kinds of different things that can lessen the mass shootings. When are mass shootings looked at as terrorism? There is a lot of things to take in to account and look at and some are pretty shocking.
Mass shootings have become a commonality for Americans, and we as a country have become used to the high death toll associated with these tragedies. Killers armed to the teeth seek a highly dense hunting ground to rake in as many kills during their bloodbath. Mass shootings are not uniquely an American problem, but they are uniquely common here. Federal bans, public safety campaigns, and state laws have attempted to attack the mass shooting dilemma. As shootings continue, the issue remains a prevalent debated topic in politics and leaving many dumbfounded on what course of action needs to be taken to save us from the plight we’re in. Extreme anti-gun hardliners issue cries exclaiming weapons are to blame and banning assault rifles would eliminate mass shootings entirely. The predicament is America is extremely well-armed with the assault rifle, so more would need to be done in conjunction with the ban to combat the issue such as a
In recent years, the American public has been continually plagued by mass shootings; events where an individual, or individuals, with access to firearms, open fire on people, committing seemingly nonsensical acts of violence. Compared to other developed countries the United States holds the highest rates of gun violence and mass shootings, both of which are complex issue that affects American regardless of socioeconomic status. Although the definition of a mass shooting varies depending on the organization, the most widely recognized definition is one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); as defined by FBI a mass shooting is an incident where at least four persons are killed or injured with a firearm in a random act with little
The shooting at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 shook America and was known as the worst high school shooting during that time. Two high school students that attended Columbine, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, walked in and killed 13 people in total, 12 of them being students and one a teacher, as well as wounded more than 20 others. At the end of it all, they decided to kill themselves along with the 13 they had already killed. Since then there has been a numerous amount of school shootings across America and some have proven to be much more destructive than Columbine