We’re only nine weeks into 2018, and there have already been at least 12 school shootings in the US.
During the last year, multiple schools across the U.S. have been impacted by shootings, which have resulted in the deaths of both students and faculty members. On Valentine’s Day, authorities once again rushed to the scene of a deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. The most recent school shooting taking place not even a month after in a University.
According to figures from the US Department of Justice and the Council on Foreign Affairs, 11,385 people died on average annually in firearm incidents in the US between 2001 and 2011. In the same period, averages of 517 people were killed annually in terror-related incidents. The US has nearly six times the gun homicide rate of Canada, more than seven times that of Sweden, and nearly 16 times that of Germany. The US also has by far the highest number of privately owned guns in the world.
Estimated in 2007, the number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 88.8 guns per 100 people, meaning there was almost one privately owned gun per American and more than one per American adult.
Something has to change about this. I believe that not just mental health and how people’s childhoods were are the main causes of these shootings every year. Guns are.
Dunblane Massacre
In 1996, The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 13th March, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children and one teacher before killing himself. Public debate about the killings centred on gun control laws, including public petitions calling for a ban on private ownership of handguns.
In response to this debate, two new Firearms Acts were passed, which outlawed private ownership of most handguns in Great Britain. Ever since this attack in 1996 there hasn’t been one school shooting in the UK.
When will Trump realise gun control is the only way to fix this problem?
Sandy Hook
In 2012, one of the biggest school shootings in America. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old, Adam Lanza, fatally shot 20 children between six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members. The incident was the deadliest mass shooting at either a high school or grade school in U.S. history. Prior to the attack, Lanza took his own mother’s gun and proceeded to shoot her four times point-blank in her head. He then continued to drive to the school and begin his awful attack. I personally believe more should have been done to tighten the laws on gun control so something like this cold never happen again. In conclusion, I personally believe that America should have gun control and tighter laws against guns. Media and Politicians need to stop using the excuse of mental health for these horrific attacks. Mental health isn’t the only reason that these crazed people commit these crimes and people must stop blaming it. Using this excuse can also affect other people with mental health issues as they are seen as dangerous members of the public when in most causes this is not true. If a number of major mental illnesses were cured, gun violence would only go down by 4% in the US. Since Sandy Hook there have been 1,126 MASS shootings in America even though they said it would never happen again. This should not be continuously happening in the 21st Centenary. Finally, I hope that something does change in America and they realise that tighter laws are the only option before it’s too late.
