Category: BBC SCHOOL REPORT

Since 2013 there have been a whopping 300 school shootings in American schools. Just this year, there have already been 9 shootings and it is only March! In the UK there has been 1 school shooting ever and that happened in 1996, almost 22 years ago… Why the big difference? Why are there still no solutions?

 

People all over the world were shocked to find out that 17 young people were shot and killed on Valentine’s Day… A day for love and happiness, not shock and disaster.19 year old, Nikolas Cruz, former pupil of the school, entered the building armed with a semi-automatic rifle with plans to kill children.

Bullets were flying from the gun as children and their teachers ran for safety. Try and imagine the teenagers doing what teenagers do on that special day in their lives. Sharing ‘I love you’ for, unbeknownst to them, the very last time. As the children made their dramatic escape the gunman blended in with the fleeing crowd in order to confuse he police trying to capture him. Nikolas Cruz was later arrested in the residential area of Coral Springs after sauntering away from the school. He now faces charges of murder and attempted murder.

 

American President, Donald Trump has said that he will consider arming teachers in an attempt to stop school shootings.  He says that he would give teachers between a 10% and 40% pay raise if they were to carry a gun. Trump’s words were:  “But if he had a firearm, he wouldn’t have had to run, he would have shot him, and that would have been the end of it. This would only obviously be for people who are very adept at handling a gun. It’s called concealed carry, where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them. They’d go for special training and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone. Gun-free zone to a maniac, because they’re all cowards, a gun-free zone is: ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack, because bullets aren’t coming back at us. An attack has lasted, on average, about three minutes. It takes five to eight minutes for responders, for the police to come in, so the attack is over. If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.” He has taken his idea of arming teachers from the idea that ‘most’ pilots now carry gun:  “You know, a lot of people don’t understand that airline pilots now, a lot of them carry guns, and I have to say that things have changed a lot.’’ The thought of my school teachers being armed with guns seems surreal. School is meant to be a safe place for children to learn and grow up in. In the USA there are over 300million guns and instead of removing them from the hands of those who may take advantage of having them, they are adding more to the market? They removed the belt from schools all across the UK in 1980s because it was thought to be child cruelty. Hurting children for doing things all children do? Now, imagine teachers were given a gun… As a young child coming into a class where the teachers are armed that would be terrifying. Fighting fire with fire is irresponsible and would cause more damage than good. I believe that some teachers would use firearms as a threat to the children.  In my opinion I believe that all guns should be removed from public use. I think that the American laws should be tightened and that guns should only be used be the police and military. I find it disgusting that people these days are still affected by gun crime in America and I can only imagine how horrific it must be to have been scarred by an event like this.

 

As of the 15th February 2018 there have been an estimated 239 school shootings since Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012.

The last school shooting that occurred in Scotland was in March 1996 at Dunblane primary school near Stirling. After this shooting, gun laws were passed to ban almost all handguns. Since this law was passed there have been no other school shootings in Scotland to date.

The second amendment says “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” It has been in place since 1971 but is it right? President Trump wants to arm teachers in schools but could this cause an increase in school shootings?

By arming teachers in schools the risk of a school shooting occurring is increased. Young children can easily get a hold of guns if they are not locked away securely. Any shooter that enters a building will then have more than one weapon at his disposal due to the teachers having guns. If a teacher shoots back at the attacker any student could accidently get shot in the cross fire. That teacher can then be accused of murder because of an accident during the attack.

Teachers across the nation are against bringing weapons of war into a school environment where innocent children could potentially be harmed. President Trump seems to think that arming teachers would be more useful than waiting for the first responders and has even said that any teacher willing to be armed will get “a bit of a bonus”. The first responders arrive at the scene 5-8 minutes after the shooting has been reported. At the school shooting in Florida bullets were fired for 4 minutes. Word has Every school shooting in the USA since 2013 The most recent school shooting happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida. 14 students and 3 members of staff were shot and died during the attack on the school. Shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, aged 19, has been jailed on 17 accounts of murder and has admitted to the attack. Friends and family of the victims met with President Trump at the white house to express their feelings of fear and sorrow over the attack. President Trump met with grief stricken students and family members in search of a solution. Samuel Zeif, 18, told of texting his parents and brothers from the second floor of Stoneman Douglas, believing that he would be killed, and he dissolved into tears as he begged the president, “Let’s never let this happen again — please, please.” These students have to live with the memories of their friends and teachers being shot and not being able to do anything about it. Going back to the high school to continue their educations they have to live with the memories of fear and panic haunting them as they walk through the halls. They will never forget that they are no longer innocent; they have seen things that most people could never begin to imagine.

It has been spread across the nation and to other parts of the world that an armed officer in the Florida school did nothing to stop the shooter. The officer, Scot Peterson, was suspended without pay and placed under investigation, then chose to resign. The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane primary school near Stirling, Scotland. The massacre happened on the 13th of March 1996 when Thomas Hamilton broke into the gymnasium and began shooting at a class of 5 and 6 year olds. Tennis star Andy Murray, who was aged 8 at the time, and his brother Jamie, who was 2 years older, were at school during the shooting. “Andy’s class had been on their way to the gym,” Judy Murray told the Radio Times. “That’s how close he was to what happened. They heard the noise and someone went ahead to investigate. They came back and told all the kids to go to the headmaster’s study and the deputy head’s study.” The Sandy Hook shooting took place at Sandy Hook Elementary, Newtown Connecticut. The shooting took place on the 14th of December, 2012. Adam Lanza, aged 20, shot 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 and 6 adult members of staff. Lanza also shot himself after the attack and his mother before the attack. The children and adult victims of the Sandy Hook shooting died less than 2 weeks before Christmas leaving families and friends devastated. In the years following the Sandy Hook shooting, parents have tried to move forwards with their lives while honoring their children’s memories. In anticipation of the 5 year anniversary of the massacre, parents spoke a child that they each lost that day.

Scarlett Lewis, mother of Jesse Lewis, said “Jesse was larger than life from the beginning, very loud, very energetic, responsible and mature and strong and courageous.” She said that she wasn’t surprised to hear that her son had reportedly helped save the lives of some his classmates during his last moments. During a pause in the shooting he shouted at them run, several students did what he said and were able to escape. After hearing of this action his mother said, “You can’t always choose what happens to you, but you can always choose how to respond. You can always respond with love.

Children and adults across the nation are living in fear of going to school or sending their children to school. They don’t know if their children will come home after school or if they will be a victim of another tragic school shooting. Students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school were aided in their return school by therapy dogs which were there to make the transition back to school after the tragedy slightly more bearable. Federal law prohibits handgun ownership by any person under the age of 18, with a handful of exceptions. However there is no minimum age for owning a long gun (rifle and shotgun). Twenty states and the District of Columbia have set their own minimum age laws ranging from 14 in Montana to 21 in Illinois, but in the remaining 30 states it’s technically legal for a child to possess a long gun. That doesn’t mean that a child can walk into a gun show and purchase a gun. If a boy’s father wants to buy him a gun for his thirteenth or fourteenth birthday then it is within his rights to do so. The boy is then legally able to shot that gun at any shooting ranges across the country. Gun ownership in America would be better off restricted because it gives people who think about shooting anyone, anywhere less of an opportunity to do so. By restricting guns in America citizens will be safer due to the decreased amount of guns across the nation. Guns should be removed from the hands of those unable to use them responsibly either at a shooting range or in self-defence. There are pros and cons to having gun control in the USA but I feel that they should be controlled. There are many pros and cons that can be debated however one pro that stand out from the rest is that there will be less shootings if guns are controlled. Fewer lives will be taken or affected by the aftermath of another shooting. People across that nation would agree that another shooting is not what  anybody needs. School shooting or otherwise controlling gun laws will save lives.

 

Recent School Shootings in the US.

So far in 2018 there has been more than one school shooting per week in the USA. Shootings near New Orleans and Los Angeles. Shootings in Kentucky, Arizona and Texas. And recently a shooting in Parkland, Florida that has left 17 dead and many wounded. You may have heard on the news Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, has stated his solution to lower the number of school shootings is to arm school teachers with guns in case of an attack.

This has caused many controversies as many agree and many don’t.

Sandy Hook Elementary School

The Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting is one of the most infamous shootings in the world. It took place in Newtown, Connecticut, USA on December 14th 2012. 20 year-old Adam Lanza shot 20 children between six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members before killing himself. It began with Lanza stealing his mother’s guns after shooting her in the face, killing her. His mother, Nancy Lanza, was a gun enthusiast and often took Adam to gun ranges so it wasn’t very difficult for Adam to find a gun in his house.  How easy is it to get a gun in America?

Unlike the UK, where you need a licence to even own a gun, in America it is as easy to buy a gun as it is to buy bread. Many shops sell guns , big chains like Walmart which is like a Tesco to us, or even little corner stores. There is also markets around many streets in America where private sellers set up stalls and you can walk away with a gun in the space of five minutes. Any one of any age can walk into a shop and purchase a gun and some states even allow students to carry guns on campuses. The National School Walkout On March 14th 2018 at 10.am, students, faculty, parents and supporters from around the world will walk out of school for 17 minutes, one minute for each life lost in the recent Florida School Shooting. They will protest against gun crime and some schools will even have speakers at the walkout. They will demand that Congress take action on gun control and help make their schools safer.

UK Gun Laws  Gun ownership in the UK is far lower than in the USA. On average Britain has 6.5 guns per 100 people whereas America has 101 guns per 100 people. The last mass school shooting to occur in the UK was The Dunblane Massacre which took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland. It occurred on the 13th March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children and one teacher before killing himself. After the horrific event, public debate focused on gun control laws, including public petitions calling for a ban on private ownership of handguns. In response to the debate two new Firearms Acts were passed, which banned private ownership of handguns in the UK. After the Dunblane shooting there has not been a single school shooting in the UK since, this has made many people think, why can’t America do the same?

Gun-related deaths unfold in tragic circumstances across the country daily, with more than 1,800 people killed by guns this year alone. There are more public mass shootings in America than in any other country in the world. Gun violence in America follows a ritualized playbook. Shootings happen, outrage is expressed, debate occurs, preventive ideas are suggested. Then the backlash begins. And nothing happens. Unfortunately a mass shooting every week is becoming normal. However, thankfully we will never experience these tragic events and could never imagine fearing for our lives by simply sitting in our classrooms. We hope to never have to experience anything like what America experience daily. Gun control laws would help the country greatly and could save thousands of lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the year 2013 America have experienced around 300 school shootings but here in the UK we have experienced none. Why is that?

Well in 2018 alone America have already had 12 School shootings. Here in the UK the last school shooting we had happened in 1996. What has the UK done to stop this from happening?

The UK has restricted the use of guns in the UK and because of this no other school shootings have occurred.

Some of the worst school shootings were in Parkland, Florida and Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Parkland shooting happened on February 14th which is meant to be a day of love and happiness but for the students and teachers of this school it is the day that their whole lives changed forever. We all feel sympathy not only for the 17 killed but for the students who lost their friends, the teachers who lost their colleagues and the families that have been affected in any way.

Sandy Hook occurred in 2012 in an American elementary school on 14th December just 11 days before Christmas. It was a chilly Friday in Connecticut and at approximately 9:30 am the shooter Adam Lanza begins to shoot his way through the school doors killing 20 children and 6 adults. The children of this school were getting prepared for Christmas to come but it never came for the children killed. School shootings continue to happen in America after all those innocent lives were lost.

What the President thinks should happen?

Donald Trump thinks that arming teachers is the best way forward. Here in the UK we think this is the worst idea possible as teachers would need specialist training which costs more money but we are all waiting for a time where a teacher gets angry and frustrated and shoots a student or worse the whole class. During his most recent speech about the Parkland shooting he gives his sympathy to those affected but to many that is not enough. I personally think that they should restrict who can buy guns or ban them altogether. Teens from as young as 12 can go to private buyers and buy rifles etc. People can go to gun shows and buy a gun very easily as they don’t need to do background checks and can therefore get a gun within minutes. I think this is a huge concern and needs to be dealt with in a specific manner. Gun crime needs to be stopped so what are you going to do President Trump?

I propose America looks at what many other countries do to stop school shootings and take advice from them. Many countries such as UK and Australia had a school shooting then restricted guns and none has happened ever since. I hope for America’s sake they make changes to the way there law works so that no more school shootings occur again.

 

 

Following the tragic event of the Stoneman Douglas High School it has been highlighted across the world that school shootings have become a very serious problem in the USA. It is very clear that action must be taken in order to prevent further massacres in the future.

 

However, much of the nation’s opinions are divided on what type of action should be taken by the US government. The opinion of many citizens is that all guns should be banned from the public in America to prevent any further shootings. President

Trump recently released his rather controversial opinion on the matter which was that he thinks all American teachers should have the right to carry hand guns and be trained in the use of armed weapons in self-defence.

 

In Scotland there has only been one school shooting, the Dunblane shooting. Immediately after the shooting the Scottish government took action by banning all guns in the country and so far there has been none since. Many people would hope that this action would lead by example across the globe.

The issue in America is that guns are so easily acquired by all ages of people. An experiment was conducted by a 14 year old boy which showed that every shop showed disgust when the boy tried to purchase cigarettes and alcohol although when the boy tried to purchase an automatic firearm he was able to and left the shop within 15 minutes with a deadly weapon. This emphasises the fact that shootings could happen anywhere and could be carried out by anyone. Many people also argue that all guns should be banned from public purchase across the country however this could be classed as almost impossible now as there are already so much guns in circulation that it would be a near impossible task to carry out.

The US government are doing a lot to raise awareness about school shootings. Many TV adverts have been showcased teaching people how to check for signs of unusual behaviour in people which could result in future shootings.  Teachers and students are now conducting frequent drills to protect themselves in the event of a shooting. Teachers are also attending different self-defence courses on protecting themselves and pupils in the event of shootings. Many schools across the USA are now being fitted with buttons underneath teachers desks which when pressed directly calls their local police department and police are dispatched to the school immediately. The shocking truth about America is that there have been a mind-boggling 31 school shootings since 2000 and something needs to change in order to stop this from happening.

In America, it’s not unusual for people to have a gun. Almost every adult can own or carry one. It is seen as a person’s basic right to be allowed to do this. That’s because when the USA was founded, the right to buy and carry a gun was put into the constitution (a list of basic rules that the country is based on).

 

People in the USA are easily allowed to purchase guns without any age, mental health or criminal history checks.

 

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.This year alone there have been around 18 school shootings.

 

Recently in Parkland Florida, 17 people were shot by a 17 year old student, Nikolas Cruz. The shooter was let into the freshman building and used an AR- 15 style firearm to kill 17 people.

 

After this shooting happened there have been many campaigns and movements for the government to enforce stricter gun control laws. People have said that there should be strict background checks for anyone who wishes to purchase a firearm.

 

The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

In the UK, members of the public may own sporting rifles and shotguns but handguns were effectively banned after the Dunblane school massacre in 1996 with the exception of Northern Ireland. Dunblane was the UK’s first and only school shooting. This is different from the gun control in the USA as there have been hundreds of school shootings in the USA in the past yet there have been no changes to the gun laws in the USA.

Since 2013, there have been a massive 300 school shootings in the USA; which averages out at one school shooting, per week. In The United Kingdom, in 2013, there were no shootings. In fact, there hasn’t been any since 1996.What is the reason for all these shootings across the pond?

Donald Trump the American president’s response was that they should arm the teachers with guns because: “the attack lasted 3 minutes, it takes 5-8 minutes for responders to get there but if a teacher has a gun the attack would be over as soon as it starts and the gun man would be dead immediately. The teachers wouldn’t need to try and flee for their lives as they would be safe because they had a gun. They could not just protect themselves but protect their class as well.” There are 265 million guns in the USA and instead of taking the guns away like the United Kingdom, the USA is just going to put more guns on the market. After the United Kingdom had a school shooting in Dunblane in 1996, they tightened their laws on guns and it has never happened again. Australia had a school shooting and tightened their laws afterwards and it hasn’t happened again. Should the USA tighten their laws or is giving teachers guns the answer?  I don’t think the United Kingdom will ever be able to understand the reality of school shootings and I hope we never have to as I couldn’t imagine going to school and not coming home.

 

 

In the US, there have been 9 school shootings since the 1st January 2018. On what is meant to be a day of love and happiness, tragedy seeped through the corridors of Stoneman Douglas High School in the shape of a school shooting. On the 14th February 2018 in Parkland, Florida, a former 19 year old student of the high school, who was previously expelled, entered the school with a semi- automatic rifle. He was allowed entry to the school by a member of staff. Little did they know, he had the intention of killing teachers and children. He pulled the fire alarm and as the children and teachers fled the building he started to fire shots at the innocent people. He killed 17 people and left 14 injured. Nikolas Cruz, the suspect, blended in with the escaping students and got away from the school and police. He was later arrested in a residential area of neighbouring Coral Springs. He is now facing charges for attempted murder and murder.  The students would have said ‘I love you’ to the dearest family and friends without knowing they would never say it again.   I personally think that guns should be removed from the USA because I don’t think that arming people with weapons is the answer to stopping these horrific crimes. The thought of my teachers having a weapon in school completely baffles me. It’s crazy to think that fire can be fought with fire.

 

 

In light of the school shooting in Florida there have been split opinions on how to resolve the issue of gun crime in America.

 

In the United States of America, the second amendment reads: “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This means that Americans have the right to own and keep guns and weapons. This law has been in place since 1791, almost for 227 years. This law is still in force, although there have been 8 school shootings already in 2018.

 

More than a third of Americans say they or someone in their household owns a gun. There are various estimates of how many guns are in the USA, it ranges from 270 million to 310 million guns. That’s almost one gun for every person in the whole of America.

Some people believe gun control should be stricter, yet others believe that gun control is not needed in America. Does there really have to be any more gun deaths in the USA? How many more innocent, young lives need to be ripped from this world before gun laws change?

 

Americans, who believe that gun control is not needed, feel attacked as others want to take their second amendment away from them. Most Americans who own a gun – or various guns – use them for self-defence and protection. The complete opposite of what many guns are actually used for in the USA; death and devastation. This means, that they only have the gun to protect themselves from dangers, such as robbers in their home.

For example, Brad Pitt said, after the Aurora theatre shooting in 2012:“America is a country founded on guns. It’s in our DNA. It’s very strange but I feel better having a gun, I really do. I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel the house is completely safe if I don’t have one hidden somewhere. That’s my thinking, right or wrong.” Yet, some Americans who own guns believe that tighter gun control is unnecessary as relatively few people are killed by guns. This means, compared to the ways people die, guns are not a high number of these. For example, according to the “Leading Causes of Death Reports”, that between 1999 and 2013, Americans were 21.5 times more likely to die of heart disease and they were 18.7 more times likely to die from malignant tumours.  Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there have not been any outright changes in terms of gun control, yet six states expanded background checks to all gun sales. Also, in Washington state, they created the opportunity to take guns away from domestic abusers. So there has continued to be state-by-state progress, yet on whole, there has not been a great law change.

The president of the USA, Donald Trump – who American citizens have a split opinion on – has expressed his opinion on gun control for many years. He recently tweeted:  “I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!”  Also in December 2012, Trump supported President Obama’s remarks about tighter gun control, after the Sandy Hook mass shooting. Yet in July 2015, he said during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that mass shootings were “a fact of life.” And again in October 2015, during a Republican  debate Trump said he carries a gun “on occasion, sometimes a lot. I like to be unpredictable.”  Furthermore, the president of a major gun violence prevention group challenged President Trump to a debate after Trumps response to the London Terror attack. Lastly, since the deadly Las Vegas shooting, Trump has avoided talks about gun control legislation and offered no policy solutions. Even though these things have been said, nothing has been done to prevent school and mass shootings. In my opinion, although these statistics show that guns are not the leading cause of death, I believe that the gun death toll is too high.  In Britain, after the tragic Dunblane massacre, The Conservative government legislated to ban higher caliber handguns in 1997. After the New Labour government swept to power that May, it added .22 caliber handguns to the prohibited list. Now, since the Dunblane school shooting and the change in law, there have been no school shootings in Britain.  Personally, after my research I think that gun control should be tighter. I believe this as thousands of innocent people are shot and school shootings take place on a regular basis in America. Although, I do think that people who take an interest in shooting animals etc., should not be stopped. I think that a licence should be involved to own a gun and only for use of hunting animals. Through creating this article I have learned a lot and have had my eyes opened to how large and serious this problem is in America.

 

SEVEN children and teens are killed with guns in the US on an average day.

Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in America — an average of about one a week. Just seven weeks into 2018, there have been more than a dozen school shootings at US schools that have resulted in injury or death.

Seventeen people have been confirmed dead in a recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day. Less than a month later, two people were shot dead at a dormitory on the campus of Central Michigan University.

However, The Dunblane massacre in 1996 brought gun ownership in Britain to the forefront of the political agenda for the first time. The Snowdrop Campaign, set up to reform gun laws, blossomed into a nationwide movement. Its co-ordinator, Ann Pearston, founded the campaign after discovering that nine victims of Michael Ryan at Hungerford and all 17 of Thomas Hamilton’s at Dunblane had been slain by legally-held handguns.

Following a nationwide gun amnesty, 160,000 handguns were surrendered to police and the Snowdrop Campaign disbanded, seemingly with its work done. There have been no school shootings in the UK since 1996. When will America realise that having stricter laws is the only solution?

 

In 2012, one of the biggest school shootings in America occurred in Conneticut. On December 14th, 20 students and 6 teachers were gunned down by a crazed killer, Lanza, who was only 20 years old. He became one of America’s most notorious mass murderers. His mother Nancy – who he shot dead before launching his school rampage – was a gun nut with a weapon stashed in her bedroom drawer. She and her estranged husband Peter communicated with their deeply disturbed son mainly by email – but loved to take him shooting or hunting.

Police pictures show the aftermath of 11 minutes of gun terror at the school – eerily deserted classrooms with shattered windows, bullet-blasted walls, blood-stained hallways and a pistol discarded on the floor before Lanza shot himself dead. Is mental illness the cause of gun violence? NO. Gun violence is a bigger public health crisis than mental illness, top medical officials say. In the wake of the mass shooting at a Florida high school on Valentine’s Day, experts have been quick to remind the Trump administration that mental health is not the real problem. Media has to STOP equating mental illness to violence. Media and politicians have to stop using the excuse of mental illness for these extreme massacre shootings that are happening almost every day in America. Research published in 2016 found that more than a third of news stories linked mental illness with violence toward others, which does not reflect actual rates of interpersonal violence where mental illness is involved. Sure, there are cases where mental illness might play a role in gun violence. But the reality is fewer than 5 percent of gun-related killings are committed by someone diagnosed with a mental illness, according to research. An overwhelming amount of the general public, who are affected by some form of mental illness, are extremely offended that media is using this as an excuse for the perpetrator to make their actions seem reasonable.

I believe that the only solution to gun violence is gun control. An increase in brady background checks should be put in place to ensure the gun buyer is using the gun in the correct manner.

 

Dunblane Survivors

 

The American School Shooting Crisis – Abbie

The U.S.A is one of three countries to include gun-ownership in their constitution, along with Mexico and Guatemala. The right to “keep and bear arms” is the Second Amendment, which was established in the 18th Century in an attempt to allow states to protect themselves against threat.

There are an estimated 270 million guns in the U.S and since 2013, there has been nearly 300 school shootings in the country – an average of about one a week.

School Shooting – An attack on an educational institution, such as a school or university, involving the use of a firearm.

One of the deadliest school shootings ever to take place in America was the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, leaving 20 children under the age of 7 years old and 6 staff members killed. The perpetrator of the attack was a troubled 20 year old, Adam Lanza. Adam gained easy access to his mother’s gun which was kept in their home in Newton, Connecticut. When his mother tried to calm him down and retrieve the gun back, he instantly shot her in head, then proceeded to kill innocent children and himself after.

One of the most recent, terrifying shootings at a school was in Parkland, Florida on February 14th . The perpetrator was Nicolas Cruz, a 19 year-old challenged pupil who was expelled from the school a year earlier due to threatening other pupils. This obviously indicates that Nicolas is aswell, extremely young to have any access to a gun at all, but due to American politicians insisting that they keep the law, these horrific incidents will continue to happen almost every day. On 13th March,1996, gunman Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. This remains the deadliest, but very last, massacre in Scotland’s history. Britain’s lawmakers rightly introduced new legislation — the Firearms (Amendment) Act — making registration mandatory for owning shotguns and banning semi-automatic and pump-action weapons. In comparison to America, there has been 1,126 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook school shooting, yet laws about the right to bear arms are still in place today.

So many people in America and the rest of the world are asking the same question. How many of these shootings have to occur before Donald Trump and the rest of Americas lawmakers realise that this law does not have a place in the 21st century? In conclusion, I think that gun control should have been put in place a very long time ago, and sincerely hope that something is done soon about these horrific attacks that are occurring far too often.