Preventing School Shootings

There is a lot of talk about school shootings and how to prevent them—especially in the wake of the most recent shooting in Florida, where 17 individuals lost their lives. Some say that guns should be banned (Ingraham). Others say the age limit should be raised (Epstein, Dopp) and that teachers should be armed (Rucker). Others view gun ownership as an unalienable right protected by the Constitution (Peck). And while guns themselves receive a lot of attention after such incidents, they are not the only factor.

Family life, drug usage, and even other elements—such as the inability of federal and local law enforcement agents to act on tips to prevent a situation from worsening (Benner, Mazzei, Goldman; Brown). The fact of the matter is that there are many variables and factors involved in every school shooting, and no two cases are alike—so establishing a plan to prevent them is much more complex than simply passing a new law or condemning one side of the argument.

The Adam Lanza shooting, for example, involved a teenager whose family life had deteriorated to a dangerous low: his father had left, his mother was incapable of providing the son with the guidance he needed; Adam resented his parents because of their divorce and was increasingly alienated and prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to help his mood.

In many shootings, the shooters themselves have a history of being prescribed SSRIs, and it should be worth looking into as to whether or not these drugs themselves have a risk in destabilizing a person’s mind. Not much is yet known about the high school shooter in Florida—but the details that have emerged present a picture of an orphan, who had no guidance in his life, who had suffered a childhood trauma, and whose behavior should have been a red flag for authorities.

In this case, there was inadequate intervention in the child’s life and the result was that he did not receive the help he needed in time before disaster struck. From the guardians in his life to the FBI—an overall lack of involvement and help was missing throughout the child’s life and his mental disturbance took a deadly turn when his emotional stability crumbled. Preventing school shootings is not something that is going to happen just because Congress passes a law banning guns.

Drugs are banned in the U.S. too but the black market is rife with them and more people die from drugs sold on the black market today than they do from prescription drug usage. Banning the sale of guns will not get rid of guns because the black market thrives when products are made illegal—just look at what happened during the Prohibition Era.

What needs to be done, instead, is for society to take a good, hard look at itself: why are we failing our youths? Why are they turning increasingly aggressive, hostile and violent towards their peers? It is not because guns are the problem—they are just viewed as a means to an end for these children who want to lash out at society. Instead, we have to examine our method of intervening, our method of raising them, our method of giving them a reason to want to be good.

Our children are lacking, in many cases, in a character education—and as they age, they themselves become adults and in turn have children and the lack of knowledge on what it means to be alive and to have a purpose in life is passed on to the next generation so that there is an entire age group of children who are essentially adrift, left without direction, and angry as a result.

When they suffer trauma because of something beyond their control, they need help and should not be ignored. The problem here is that society is failing in its duties towards youth and our culture needs to seriously address this issue. That is the only way school shootings will be prevented in the future. Works Cited Benner, Katie, Patricia Mazzei, Adam Goldman. “FBI was Warned of Florida Suspect’s Desire to Kill but Did Not Act.” The New York Times, Feb. 16, 2018.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/fbi-nikolas-cruz-shooting.html Brown, Ruth. “Four sheriff’s deputies hid during Florida school shooting.” New York Post, Feb.