In the past 18 years, more people have died or been injured in mass shootings compared to the entire 20th century. School shooting is an event where a student at an education facility such as a university, college, or high school shoots and injures or kills a fellow student at the facility. In such cases, no particular student is targeted. The United States has over the years experienced rapid cases of mass shootings in schools. For example, a junior high school principal turned on six adults with a gun and killed them in 1940. Among the adults were the school’s business manager. The 1960s and 1950s were quiet years with no cases of school shootings. Since 1979, mass shootings have been on the rise with the death toll shooting upwards from 12 in the 1980s to 36 in the 1990s. ("Rapid Rise In Mass School Shootings In The United States, Study Shows: Researchers Call For Action To Address Worrying Increase In The Number Of Mass School Shootings In Past Two Decades").
Most of the shooters involved in mass shootings were white males who were acting alone. Most of them were diagnosed to be suffering from mental illnesses at the time of opening fire on their colleagues. 60% of the shooters were adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. The mass shootings in schools have caught the attention of the media and even the president of the United States. Debate on gun control has majorly been the main point raised as the solution to ending gun violence in schools. However, not much has been done so far and another mass shooting will occur sooner rather than later. Violent video games have been used as a scapegoat for mass school shootings with actual problems such as bad parenting, lack of effective guidance and counselling, gun control issues and mental issues being ignored.
In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland Florida, political personalities such as the U.S president, Donald Trump have declared that there are links between video games and violence. It is no doubt that video games have become popular over the years with most youth preferring to spend time enjoying different games. The president reiterated that congress would facilitate a research that would look into the effects of video games on the young minds. However, video games are not as bad as it is claimed. Previous researchers have stated that playing violent video games have the ability of making adolescents more hostile especially for those children with less conscientious, less agreeableness and easily angered. But for others, video games represent opportunities to learn and improve on their social networking skills. In fact, most researchers agree that the popularity of video games among children in the U.S and Europe has led to fewer behavior problems, better scores on standardized tests and less violence. Hence, violent video games are not the reason for the youth problem of violence that is increasing not only in the United States but also in other countries. Clearly, violent video games are being used as a scape goat while the real issues are not being addressed. The problem of mass shooting is deep-rooted and will require that political players and other leaders be honest and promote relevant policies that will bring the issue of shootings to an end. Mass shootings in the United States is due to the gun control issues, poor guidance and counselling in schools, poor parenting and mental health issues.
Parenting
One of the reasons that gun violence is increasing in schools is due to poor parenting. Children are easily swayed by their parents who act as their role models. Growing up, children always believe that their parents are right in everything that they do. Children who come from families where the parents are in jail, doing drugs or assaulting one another in the presence of kids can easily become criminals and be violent ("Poor Parenting Contributes To Crime Problem"). Children often learn what they live. The current American society is aggressive. Parents are no longer afraid to fight in front of their children. Disputes are solved through fights and abuse. The children adopt such behaviors because they believe that life should be lived in a rather hard-core way. They find violence to be a normal occurrence as they grow up.
Early childhood abuse and neglect is crucial in shaping the future of children. Children who are abused by parents at a tender age often suffer from psychological trauma. They easily get angry because they have to live with the burden of being abused. Such children may easily engage in violence due to bitterness that may have resulted from being abused. Neglect from parents often leaves children devoid of attention ("Poor Parenting Contributes To Crime Problem"). They may adopt poor behaviors such as violence or resort to stealing in order to survive. Such children easily turn violent when slightly provoked. Generally, poor parenting instills a culture of violence at an early age. As a child grows up, they adopt the poor values and culture leading to instances of mass shootings that are now becoming rampant in the U.S.
Mental Health Issue
Mental illness is another real issue that needs to be tackled if mass school shootings are to be brought to an end. Nikolas Cruz paced up and down the hallway of his Florida high school, before killing 17 people ("How Prevalent Is Mental Illness In Mass Shootings?"). Investigations indicated that he had a history of threating others at school with violence. Lanza, another perpetrator of gun violence, killed over two dozen pupils in a Connecticut school. It was later revealed that he had been suffering from developmental disorders and was on medication which he had stopped taking when the incident occurred. Studies have indicated that over 59% of people who commit mass school shootings have been diagnosed with mental illnesses or have shown signs of mental disorders ("How Prevalent Is Mental Illness In Mass Shootings?"). Paranoid schizophrenia has been identified as the most common mental illness suffered by perpetrators of gun violence. The perpetrators often feel that people are always out to get them because they are responsible for making the lives of others unbearable. Additionally, individuals who engage in such crimes are often loners and not trusting hence having no social relationships. Other researchers have also claimed that perpetrators are usually associated with depression and bipolar disorder. They exhibit red flag behaviors such as alienation, festering anger and bitterness among others. Clearly, mental illness is an issue that has to be solved if there is any hope of ever ending gun violence in schools. Unfortunately, mental illness is often stigmatized which makes it difficult to identify at an early stage and treat ("How Prevalent Is Mental Illness In Mass Shootings?"). Families, school counselors, school officials and law enforcement have to work together to establish communication lines when a young person begins to exhibit red flags that might degenerate to violence and possibly mass shooting.
Inadequate Guidance and Counselling
School shootings have become rampant due to inadequate guidance and counselling. Budget cuts have meant that many schools have no or few psychologists, social workers and counselors among their staff. Inadequate funding poses a change because it leads to lack of facilities and resources that are used to promote guidance and counselling programs (Cole 271). The budget cuts on schools have also led to the shortage of guidance and counselling materials. The lack of materials means that counsellors are less effective, confident and productive. There cannot be direct and indirect change of behavior among students. Lack of materials such as transparency projectors, slides, video cassette and audio cassette recorders, motion film projectors and film strip projectors mean that guidance and counselling does not achieve its target even when conducted. The lack or inadequate guidance ad counselling in most schools in the United States have left students with no one to turn to especially when they are burdened emotionally (Cole 272). Most students would prefer talking to professionals about their problems. Such professionals would then give them professional advice that would give them relief and focus. The lack of such professionals in schools has left a huge gap especially when it comes to addressing certain problems such as bullying or poor performance is class (Cole 272). Such problems have been known to weigh down some students to the extent of even committing suicide. Guidance and counselling has to become a mandatory function in every school in the United States if school shootings are to be curbed. Despite budget cuts, guidance and counselling should be sufficiently funded to arrest certain situations before they get out of hand.
Ineffective gun policy
The United States has a gun problem (Street 32). The U.S. has recorded the highest number of mass school shootings, with all the perpetrators using privately owned rifles. The U.S. has the highest number of privately owned guns which underlines the gun culture in the U.S (Street 44). There is a high correlation between gun violence and gun ownership. The gun policy in the U.S is also weak with very poor database that tracks guns and bans the use of assault-style weapons. These weaknesses in the system have played a major role on increase mass school shootings. Congress has also let America down by failing to take any action. Whenever there is a case of mass shooting, the debate on gun control begins. A few bills are introduced that are overwhelmed by critics who claim that the government is trying to take away their guns. The debate stalls and the same cycle continues when another gun violence incident occurs.
Conclusion
Violent video games have been used as a scape goat when mass school shootings occur when they actually have more benefits than harm. If the mass school shootings are to be faced, real issues have to be addressed. Guidance and counselling programs have to be emphasized in schools. Mental health has to become another priority for the federal and state governments. Importantly, it is time that a robust policy on gun control is passed to reduce the number of guns falling in the wrong hands. Once these are addressed, mass school shootings will reduce significantly.
Works Cited
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"How Prevalent Is Mental Illness In Mass Shootings?." Fox News. N.p., 2018. Web. 30 Apr. 2018.
"Poor Parenting Contributes To Crime Problem." nwitimes.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 30 Apr. 2018.
"Rapid Rise In Mass School Shootings In The United States, Study Shows: Researchers Call For Action To Address Worrying Increase In The Number Of Mass School Shootings In Past Two Decades." ScienceDaily. N.p., 2018. Web. 30 Apr. 2018.
Cole, George F. The American System of Criminal Justice. San Francisco, CA: Cengage, 2018. Print.
Street, Christopher. Gun Control: Guns in America: the Full Debate. , 2016. Print.
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