Argument and persuasion techniques

Ineffectiveness of Gun Control: Violence in America's Schools (A Case Study on Kip Kinkel)

Psychologist Jeffrey Hicks, after counseling 14-year-old Kip Kinkel, diagnosed the young boy's condition that "Kip had difficulty with learning in school, had difficulty managing anger, some angry acting out and depression." A year later, in May 21, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered 2 students and injured 25 others when he attacked at the school cafeteria at Thurston High in Springfield, Oregon. One day before, on May 20, Kinkel killed his parents, Bill and Faith, using a.32 caliber Beretta semiautomatic pistol. Almost 5 months after the Thurston High killings, Kip Kinkel was finally sentenced to 111 years in prison on November 2, 1999.

Kip Kinkel's case illustrates one of the most prevalent social problem in America today -- the increasing occurrence of schools shootings in the country's elementary and high schools. The Thurston High killings is just one of the numerous cases of killing sprees that happened within school corridors, killing and injuring innocent school children and teens. These school killing cases often center on the issue of extreme depression and stress among America's children, which is similar to Kinkel's case, who have Major Depressive Disorder. Solutions to this issue involve early intervention and constant guidance on the child/teen's behavior to avoid these killings from happening again.

However, one major issue that was also confronted in these cases of school killings is the easy access on the guns that Kinkel used to kill his parents and children in Thurston High. In killing his parents, Kinkel used a.32 Beretta semiautomatic pistol; while in Thurston, Kinkel used three guns: a.22 caliber semiautomatic Ruger rifle, his father's 9mm Glock pistol and a.22 caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol. How Kinkel was able to procure these weapons raise the issue of how ineffective gun control had contributed to the possibility of violence being inflicted on Kinkel's parents and Thurston students. More than any other issue raised in these incidents of killing, it is important to focus first on the medium with which these killings became possible, which is to know how these guns became accessible to minors, and come up with solutions to solve this pervading problem in American society.

Indeed, lax gun control measures contribute to the prevalence of these killings. The legal system of the country regarding gun control is ineffective in implementing strict control of gun possession among individuals under the legal age of 18. An article by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) cited that the U.S. federal law does inhibit gun acquisition/purchase for individuals under the age of 18, but gun possession restrictions are not the same in all states in the country. As was stated in the report, "possession of handguns and rifles by juveniles is regulated solely at the state level. In many states it is legal for juveniles to possess shotguns and rifles, although other states regulate or prohibit possession of long guns." Thus, through this statement, it is evident that the law regarding gun ownership, acquisition, possession is inadequate to fully implement a strict and legal gun control measures to prevent another episode of youth violence from happening again in the American society, whatever the intentions of an individual are in possessing the said weapon (whether it is for self-protection or not).