Essay Sample about The Causes Of School Shootings

đź“ŚCategory: Education, Health, Mental health, School, Social Issues, Violence
đź“ŚWords: 668
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 24 January 2022

A school shooting is where a student shoots and injures/kills another faculty member or student on school campus. School shootings have plagued the World for the majority of the 21st century. Furthermore, it has become an increasing issue in the United States. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the United States has experienced over 200 school shootings. This has led to many lives lost and distraught families. However, the shootings typically have a catalyst for why the shootings occur. The main causes of school shootings are the shooter getting bullied, having mental health issues that were not recognized beforehand (depression, schizophrenia, etc.), and the easy access to guns for people under the age of 18.

First, bullying is a primary cause of school shootings in the United States. Bullying is any time a student experiences behavior that is detrimental to them physically and/or mentally. Bullying can also include cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is when a person is repeatedly told hurtful words or has hurtful things spread about them (rumors). Approximately, 87% of school shootings are caused by the shooter getting bullied (Paolini 3). This shows how prevalent bullying and how this is a major cause of the shootings. Furthermore, the bullying can lead to a sense of worry and embarrassment. “In fact, one report found that 64% of students who were bullied never told anyone about it. Even when injuries occurred, 40% of bullied students still never reported the incident.” (Gordon, para. 3). The students would rather have the bullying eat them inside instead of telling people which can lead the student feeling a sense of hopelessness. Since the student has this feeling, the student might resort to drastic measures to feel like they have a sense of “control” in their life. Bullying is a big issue and has led to students to perform these heinous acts because of the student wanting some sense of control in their life and feel like they have a sense of power.

Second, mental health issues in students have led to them performing school shootings. Mental health is anything that deals with someone’s emotional and/or psychological well-being. In a good amount of school shootings, the perpetrator had mental health issues that went untreated or was not recognized beforehand. “Vossekuil et al. (2002) reported that only one-third of attackers (34%) ever received a mental health evaluation and less than one-fifth (17%) were diagnosed with a mental disorder,” (Paolini 3). Due to this ignorance, the student will feel a sense of hopelessness. Not only that, but the student is also already experiencing other issues mentally and these will stack up on each other and can lead to rage and anger. While the student is enraged, the student could make very harmful decisions, such as a school shooting. Mental health issues should not be ignored and pushed over to the side. If mental health issues are ignored, more school shootings are inevitable.

Lastly, guns are way to access for students and can lead to students living out their fantasies and commit school shootings. Gun access is the ease of retrieving a gun from a certain area. “One in six children live in a home with an unlocked gun.” (Viola, Para. 7). This is an alarmingly high percentage. These children can just easily get the gun and do anything they want with it. In terms of school shootings, a student does not need to do a lot of preparation since the gun can just be so easily accessed and go ahead perform the act they want. However, some states are helping enforce more stricter laws in terms of gun access. “Right now, about a dozen states have some kind of mandatory storage rules,” (Mann, para. 12). Unfortunately, this shows that a large majority of the states still allow unlocked guns in their house. This easy access to guns leads to students being able to commit school shootings.

In conclusion, all of these causes, mental health issues, bullying, easy gun access, are things students and faculty have to spot before the school shootings occur. However, the causes tend to get ignored. The signs will continue to get missed and the school shootings will still happen. All of these causes can be prevented, yet, they often go unnoticed. Due to this, these will continue to be the main causes of school shootings for many years to come.

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