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Amaechi Havily Nwakuche

Mrs.Price

English II Honors

17 October, 2018

School Shootings

Since January first of 2018, there have been 154 school shootings. Just in May of 2018,

there was 23 shooting in 21 weeks. Meaning there was a shooting per week where at least one

person was killed or hurt. By June the statics reach almost one school shooting a day. Like the

amount of shooting, the number of mass shootings is rising. A mass shooting is where four or

more people are shot and killed. The whole community is greatly affected and suffers because of

these shootings. Many can see that one of the greatest obstacle faced by generation Z is school

shootings and gun violence to solve this there need to be more gun regulations and to secure

firearms in the household.

Year-by-year school shootings are getting more deadly. From 1979 to the 2000s The

average of the deaths in school shooting rose from 12 to 55. Survivors can suffer from a

posttraumatic stress disorder and this can be very detrimental like doctor Matthew Tull said:

“likewise, people with PTSD often have problems at school and are less likely to make it through

high school or college”. These school shootings can affect the rest of the survivors live and they

have to carry this traumatic event with them. The community and families are never the same

and can also suffer for mental illness. Melissa Dumaz founder of Uhelpyou states “It is common

for those affected directly and indirectly to have increased anxiety, depression, absence of

feelings of safety and security, increased anger, hyper-vigilance, grief, loss, and guilt” and this is

only a small portion of the effects. In other words, this increase of shootings are causing the
school environment to not be seen as a safe place and is causing a rise in mental illnesses in the

community and the families grieving. Another key point is that the majority of the shootings

were adolescents, ages 11 through 18. This means that kids are able to easily get a firearm that

they use to fulfill bad choices or decisions. Adolescents often suffer from mental health issues

and poor conflict resolution skills. It is more alarming that studies prove many kids with mental

illness have firearms that are unlocked at home “adolescents with self-reported mental health

condition were as likely to report easy access to household firearm”(Ilgen MA, Zivin K). In

today’s time, these factors are a direct cause of school shootings. Many of the school shooters

had mental issues and because of lack of reasoning they go to school and hurt people. A gun

being unlocked inables them to do so.

Making guns less convent to the wrong people will decrease the number of school

shootings. To keep guns out of the wrong hands there need to be stronger gun laws and more

regulations. 19 of the mass shooting guns were bought legally with a background check and at

least nine of the shooters have mental illnesses or had a criminal record, showing anyone can

easily get a gun. JAMA international medicine study showed that states with stronger firearm

laws had lower rates of firearm homicides and on the other side of the spectrum the states with

weaker gun laws had more. For instance “After a mass shooting that led to the deaths of 35

people in Australia in 1996, the country enacted stricter gun control and initiated a major gun

buyback program. They have only had one school shooting since”(Robyn Pennacchia). America

should take this as an example of how stronger gun laws will help this violence. This state is

proof that the requirements of regulations in the United States need to be raised. This was even

confirmed in a study by the American Journal of Public Health that showed a relation with gun

laws and deaths by firearm “minimally restrictive "right to carry" laws with a 6.5% increase in
total homicide rates and an 8.6% higher firearm homicide rates.” The right to carry allows people

the carry a concealed gun in public and around others. When this right had fewer guidelines and

rules there were more deaths. Another way to keep guns out of the wrong hands is to lock up

firearms in the household.

As said before other areas have been successful with applying sterner gun laws and had a

positive reaction. A different solution is to lock up guns to make guns less accessible for kids to

obtain. Of the school shooting “80 percent were taken from the child’s home or those of relatives

or friends”(Cox John and Rich Steven). Many of those shootings would not have happened if the

gun was secured and the child did not have access to it. The school shooters should have never

had a gun in the first place, and all could be prevented if the gun owner took the right

precautions. In The Washington Post’s article reveals there are “More than dozen devices for

under $250 designed to secure pistols like the one used in the Marshall shooting”(Haber Bill).All

those losses could have been avoided only if a simple action was made. The price to lock up a

gun is very cheap and is not a hard demand to make into a law. This restriction is a small price to

pay compared to the lives of many kids.

Stricture gun laws could lower the abundance of school shootings in generation Z and

save many lives. The gun problem in generation Z can be helped if adults take action to keep

guns from the wrong hands. It is time to end this epidemic and take action to keep schools safe.

Really at the end of the day, a gun unlocked and unregulated is never worth a child's life.

Work Cited

Melia Robinson, Skye Gould and Samantha Lee, “There have been 154 mass shootings in the
US so far in 2018 — here's the full list, publishes the year of 2018”, 2018,

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-mass-shootings-in-america-this-year-2018-

2, 17 October 2018

Jugal K. Patel, “After Sandy Hook, More Than 400 People Have Been Shot in Over 200 School

Shootings”, New York Times, 2018,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/15/us/school-shootings-sandy-hook-

parkland.html, Accessed 17 October 2018

Saeed Ahmed and Christina Walker, “There has been, on average, 1 school shooting every week

this year”, CNN, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/us/school-shootings-2018-list-

trnd/index.html, Accessed 17 October 2018

Antonis Katsiyannis, “Study shows rapid rise in mass school shootings in the US”, phys.org,

2018, https://phys.org/news/2018-04-rapid-mass-school.htm, Accessed 17 October, 2018

Robyn Pennacchia, “The scientifically proven explanation for why better gun control really will

stop school violence”, Quartz, 2018, https://qz.com/1257292/the-scientifically-proven-

explanation-for-why-better-gun-control-really-will-stop-school-violence/amp/, Accessed

17 October 2018

Sonam Sheth, “States with stricter gun control and higher mental health expenditure have fewer

school shooting, study finds”, Business Insider, 2016,

https://amp.businessinsider.com/study-states-with-stricter-gun-control-have-fewer-

school-shootings-2016-12, Accessed 17 October 2018

Science News from research organizations, “Rapid rise in mas school shootings in the United
States, study shows”, Science Daily, 2018,

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419131025.htm, Accessed 17

October 2018

John Woodrow Cox and Steven Rich, “‘The Gun’s Not in The Closet’”, the Washington Post,

2018,https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/08/01/feature/school-

shootings-should-parents-be-charged-for-failing-to-lock-up-guns-used-by-their-

kids/?utm_term=.428c7c7f7fe9, Accessed 17 October 2018

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