Payne 1

Christian Payne

Professor Andrew Pinkerton

English 1510

20 March 2018

Firearms on Campus

The Second Amendment in the United States Constitutions states, “…the right of the

people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” It never explicitly states what the

definition of “Arms” really is. For some it the all firearms, while others believe it is not an

unlimited right and needs to be regulated to a certain degree. One of the more recent pieces of

legislation that regulated firearm rights was the passage of the Gun-Free School Zones Act

(GFSZA) in 1990. The Gun-Free School Zones Act “prohibits any person from knowingly

possessing a firearm that has moved in or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a

place the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone” (Guns in

Schools).

“The GFSZA defines “school zone” as:

1) In, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school that provides
elementary or secondary education; or

2) Within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or

private school that provides elementary or secondary education” (Guns in
Schools).
The recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has

again raised the question; do we need more gun control to protect our children? Unfortunately,

this tragic event is being used in politics to push political agendas. School shootings should not
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be the driving factor to “prove” the need of gun control. The children and families of these

communities need our support, not to be the center of a political battle that hasn’t progressed in

years.

This figure above shows a trend of media coverage for Universal Background Check

after the Newtown Shooting in 2012. It shows a huge jump in news stories up until a Senate vote

in April the following year. After this the media coverage dipped to nearly zero. (McGinty 19).

Why is this? “News stories were more likely to include supportive than opposing messages, but

framing research suggests that the effects of these messages on public opinion and political

engagement may depend upon the strength of the competing messages in addition to the volume”

(McGinty 28). The spike simply seems to be trying to push a generalized idea that gun control is

an effective method at preventing school shootings, and the public is being persuaded by the

volume of the message. But is this true?

Let’s discuss both standings and see if there was a way we could have prevented the

disaster at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. There seems to be two large opposing groups of people

that have resulted from this political battle. The people who think gun control will prevent school
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shootings, and the people who believe gun control won’t stop these massacres. Everyone,

however, in agreeance that these shootings need to be stopped, but the issue is how to

accomplish this. Perhaps there isn’t one answer, but a mixture of solutions.

We will first discuss the characteristics of schools where recent mass shootings took

place in the United States. “The current study examined several key characteristics of all schools

where random (38) and targeted (96) fatal shootings occurred in the United States between 1966

and 2009. These were compared with a group (138) of schools randomly selected to represent the

population of all schools in the United States” (de Apodaca 363). This study by de Apodaca and

his team looked at each school’s enrollment, location, and funding. Also examined was if the

attack was planned out, or spontaneous. The examined school’s enrollment was based upon class

size and ethnicity of the students. The location was determined to be either rural, suburban, or

urban. Public funding deals with whether the school was considered to be a private or public

institution.

The results are quite shocking and may help us deduce a solution to our school shooting

problem.

“Logistic regressions showed that fatal school shootings were more than three

times more common in urban and suburban than rural schools. Further, fatal

school shootings were more likely at schools that had higher enrollment and

public funding. Fatal school shootings were 2.5 times more likely to occur at a

high school or middle school campus compared with a college campus, and more

than six times more likely to occur at predominantly non-white compared with

predominantly white schools” (de Apodaca 372).

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One of the more shocking statistics that came from this study is the fact that these

shootings are over twice as likely to happen at a high school or middle school, rather than on a

college campus. A possible reason for the decreased probability of a mass shooting on a college

campus could be the presence of police patrolling. “During the 2011–12 school year, about two-

thirds (68%) of the more than 900 U.S. 4-year colleges and universities with 2,500 or more

students used sworn police officers to provide law enforcement services on campus. Sworn

police officers have full arrest powers granted by a state or local authority” (Reaves). However, a

recent study seemed to disprove the notion that armed law enforcement helped prevent crime in

school settings.

“…this study found no evidence suggesting that SRO or other sworn law-

enforcement officers contribute to school safety. That is, for no crime type was an

increase in the presence of police significantly related to decreased crime rates.

The preponderance of evidence suggests that, to the contrary, more crimes

involving weapons possession and drugs are recorded in schools that add police

officers than in similar schools that do not. The analyses also showed that as

schools increase their use of police officers, the percentage of crimes involving

non-serious violent offenses that are reported to law enforcement increases” (Na

24).

The authors of this paper, however, state there were several limitations in their research.

These include: sample doesn’t represent the entire nation’s schooling, addition of police officers

can be compounded with other security measures, and that measurement of crime may be

influenced by the presence of an officer. This means that there are other variables that effect the
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conclusion the researches made beside addition of the police officers. There isn’t one cause or

effect from their presence.

Another opinion recently brought up and has been heavily debated is the possibility of

arming teachers or certain administration members. This idea has been even brought up by

President Trump in recent days. President Trump said in an interview to arm “20 percent of your

teaching force.” The cost to train and purchase firearms for over 700,000 teachers nationwide

“creeps past $1 billion” (Bump). This method is to potentially stop school shootings faster, rather

than prevent them. We just don’t have a clear or single way to prevent the horrible shootings.

This method, along with universal background checks could be a step in the right direction.

Perhaps the biggest push for gun reform is for Universal Background Checks from the
government. This means that every state would require a potential gun buyer to pass a rigorous
background check, no matter the state or where they intend to purchase the gun. This check
would include mental health, felonies, and other factors that might deem a person to be
dangerous with possession of a firearm.

“…states are not required under federal law to submit mental health records to
NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System). There are no
consequences if states choose not to send records, resulting in major information
gaps.

Only about 30 percent of the estimated 4.4 million mental health records in the
United States over the past two decades can be found in NICS, according to
research compiled in 2012 by the National Consortium for Justice Information
and Statistics and the National Center for State Courts” (Ferris).

Most people agree that the current background check system is inefficient, outdated, and
expensive to operate. There are over 2,000 agencies that provide information for background
checks in the United States. This number needs to be greatly reduced from the system to more
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effective and inexpensive. These laws haven’t been updated and are in need of a major revision.
“People’s names are kept in the database based on a decades-old definition of “mentally
defective,” which relies on court decisions rather than doctors’ orders. Under federal law,
individuals with histories of violent psychotic episodes can buy guns as long as they never set
foot in a courtroom” (Ferris). This allows potentially unstable people to possess a firearm, even
if a doctor labels then with a mental illness. “…at least 59% of the 185 public mass shootings
that took place in the United States from 1900 through 2017 were carried out by people who had
either been diagnosed with a mental disorder or demonstrated signs of serious mental illness
prior to the attack” (Duwe).

School shootings are a horrible event that everyone wants to prevent. The divide is how
to achieve this goal. Everyone wants their kids to be safe, and not have to worry about them not
coming home after school, a supposedly safe place. The only way that we can improve our
children’s safety is to work together. There isn’t one answer or solution to this issue, like some
want you to believe. Some argue that gun control is the sole answer, but that simply isn’t true.
Others argue that their rights are being infringed by new government regulations, but that also
isn’t true. A possible solution could be to arm teachers, but it will cost tax payers immense
amounts of money. A redesign of the NICS will also cost millions of dollars, but if one or even
both ideas can help save our children’s lives we should strongly consider them. We can always
replace money, you can’t replace a lost life.
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Works Cited

Bump, Philip. “The Economics of Arming America's Schools.” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 22 Feb. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/22/the-

economics-of-arming-americas-schools/?utm_term.

de Apodaca, Roberto, et al. "Characteristics of Schools in Which Fatal Shootings

Occur." Psychological Reports, vol. 110, no. 2, Apr. 2012, pp. 363-377. EBSCOhost,

www.library.ohio.edu/ezpauth/redir/athens.php?http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%

2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dcmedm%26AN%3d22662391%26site%3deds-

live%26scope%3dsite.

Duwe, Grant, and Michael Rocque. “Actually, There Is a Clear Link between Mass Shootings

and Mental Illness.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2018,

www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-duwe-rocque-mass-shootings-mental-illness-

20180223-story.html.

“Guns in Schools.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Giffords Law Center,

lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/guns-in-public/guns-in-schools/.

Ferris, Sarah. “Lack of Data Makes It Hard for Background Checks System to Work Properly.”

The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Aug. 2014,

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/lack-of-data-makes-it-hard-for-

background-checks-system-to-work-properly/2014/08/28/d166c1b4-2ed8-11e4-be9e-

60cc44c01e7f_story.html?utm_term.

McGinty, Emma., et al. "Common Sense or Gun Control? Political Communication and News

Media Framing of Firearm Sale Background Checks After Newtown." Journal of Health
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Politics, Policy & Law, vol. 41, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 3-40. EBSCOhost,

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.ohio.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=0

47d53de-3e41-424e-b462-fca6f4199803%40sessionmgr4008

Na, Chongmin., and Gottfredson, Denise. C. “Police Officers in Schools: Effects on School

Crime and the Processing of Offending Behaviors.” Justice Quarterly, 2011, pp. 1-32,

https://ccjs.umd.edu/sites/ccjs.umd.edu/files/pubs/Police%20Officers%20in%20Schools-

Effects%20on%20School%20Crime%20and%20the%20Processing%20of%20Offending

%20Behaviors.pdf

Reaves, Brian. “Campus Law Enforcement, 2011-2012.” Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Jan.

2015, www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5216.