Matthew Whiteford 10/27/2013 Block #7 Mrs.

White

Cause And Effect - School Shootings

A plague of gun violence has deluged all over the country. School shootings occur from all corners of America. As listed in the article "Columbine to Newtown: A tragic list of school shootings since 1999" by Michael Roberts, it spreads from places like Newtown, Los Angeles, Houston, Aurora, Detroit, Omaha, Memphis, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Washington D.C., and the list goes on. The growing trend is becoming more problematic, and everyone's in a brawl in arguing the best solution for it. The most sensible and yet the least popular proposal is gun control. No new gun laws have passed yet. However, everyone should ask themselves, why do school shootings keep occurring? First off, in the article "The social root of school of school shootings" by Brad Plumar, he points out that, "was often boys at the margins of society who carried out these shootings. They weren't loners. But they were often socially awkward and struggling to fit in." When asking Katherine Newman, the author of Rampage: The social Root of School Shootings, why do attacks on schools occur. She replied, "Think about what the shooter wants to accomplish trying to get the attention of their peers, trying to change how people around them think about them." She continues to say, "If you're looking to attack a community and change the way people think about you, the school is the place where you'll have the most devastating impact." This also correlates to bullying and how victims will return a favor to their harassers. In the article, "Lethal violence in schools" by Alfred University shows that the top reason for school shootings result

from the desire for revenge from bullying. Since school shootings have crescendo over the years. People should take a second to review the effect that school shootings had on society. Undoubtedly, school shootings have not only caused a surge of fear among the populace, but an intense downpour of suggestions on how to deal with them. As mentioned before, gun control is the most suggested as the solution to gun violence. Though it has received a storm of enmity. This has cause congress to become bellicose. Sparks fly about debate that gun control will violate our second amendment rights. Hence, any progress about gun legislation moves at a crawling speed. Due to recent school shootings, vice-president of the NRA Wayne LaPierre has suggested that congress should do whatever it takes to, "put armed police officers in every school". No one took the suggestion seriously, however, no one else has thought up of any other good ideas that avoid gun control. Mental health comes into question when debating the actions of shooters. Some have suggested that better access to mental health care could aid in the decline of school shootings. However, Newman shoots down that idea by saying, " Some shooters come from good families, some from bad ones. They are nearly impossible to profile. The FBI, for one, has given up trying." Regardless the solution, a proper response to the violence needs to be dealt with. Before more tragedies continue to occur.

Work Cited Plumer, Brad. "The social roots of school shootings". The Washington Post. 18 December 2012. Web. 27 October 2013.

No name posted. "Lethal violence in schools". Alfred University. No date posted. Web. 27 October 2013. Roberts, Michael. "Columbine to Newtown: A tragic list of school shootings since 1999". Blogs.WestWord.com. 17 December 2012. Web. 27 October 2013.