Characteristics Of School Shootings

Like any math equation, to be able to find a solution, we must first understand the problem. We must use this same concept into this public health issue. Research and reports are beginning to provide patterns for understanding the individual’s motive to kill and the characteristics of the different schools where shootings occur (Wike and Fraser 2009). According to Wike and Fraser, making sense of the senseless, holds the key for designing prevention programs. An individual’s drive to commit such crimes can extend from factors such as bullying, their mental health, their environment, and lack of support.

Emotional wellness issues have been frequently shown another big cause of these shootings. Most school shooters were mentally sick or demonstrated side effects of psychological wellness issues. An opportunity for mental and psychiatric help could help stop these shootings. According to newyorker.com, ¨, from 2011 and 2013, more people believe that mass shootings result from a failure of the mental-health system than from easy access to guns. Eighty per cent of the population believes that mental illness is at least partially to

In order to solve the problem of violence in schools, we must first find out who the problem is. Being that not every teenager is prone to participate in such violent acts as what happened at Columbine, there must be specific environment imposed on a particular biology to turn a teenager into an Eric Harris or a Dylan Klebold. These are not normal, healthy teenagers, and they don’t just become killers overnight. They become killers because they are already deeply disturbed individuals who can be sent over the edge by all sorts of innocuous influences. Violent teens often have specific characteristics that put them at high risk for committing these crimes. These high risked students may display some of the following traits. First,

“Shooting massacres” in school settings, a new phenomenon within the past 50 years, are extremely rare events. Over 23 years, 1990-2012, 215 fatal school shooting incidents resulted in 363 deaths, equivalent to 0.12% of national firearm homicides during that time period …… Among these, just three shooting rampages – Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy Hook Elementary School – accounted for 72 (53.3%) of these 135 deaths. The frequency of random/ rampage shooting incidents in schools has remained within the narrow range of 0 to 3 episodes per year.” (Shultz, et al., 2013, p. 84)

One of the many misuses of firearms are the mass shootings that seems to becoming a normal tragedy in the United States schools. Mass shootings that occur usually have a motive or some kind of emotional tie to why these types of murderous actions took place. Phillip Cook and Kristin Goss explains emotional ties of the killers and what drives them to murder:

School shootings have become well known around the world due to the coverage by the media. . These shootings are a serious concern and have parents constantly concerned about their child’s safety when they are at school and also have students thinking twice about any unusual or suspicious behavior. The media appears to play a large part in school shootings and it is important to analyze the deviant behaviors of the shooters in these horrific instances and the fear they create in schools. Does the media play a large part in school shootings or does the media play a large part in the sensationalism of school shootings and the fear they create both in schools and with parents?

Research in school shootings have been administered in many categories, including sociology, psychology, and etc. past studies, and direct later studies in school shootings, offers a sociology stand point for understanding the differences of school shooting incidents, including rampage shootings, mass murders shootings, and examining the mass media dynamic of school shootings; as well as presenting a combination of causes said in the research, including those on the individual, community, and social levels. Suggestions for studies in the future in school shootings are still yet to be explored.

With the large number of shootings that have occurred in United States’ history one expected a pattern to exist for the shooters yet it seemed nonexistent. Many variables existed, almost 40 (Mongan,2007), making predicting when a school shooting would occur impossible. Even threats stating a shooting would occur were not valid signs of an upcoming shooting. Many threats originated from students “blowing off steam” and no intention existed to carry out the threat. The FBI created a list of possible ways to evaluate a threat but they caution the reader that not every threat resulted in violence(FBI).

So how could someone commit a mass shooting? Many psychologists have given their own thoughts as to why someone would fulfil such a deadly personal mission. For the most part, it would appear that many school shooters do what they do for their moment in the spotlight. In this day and age of modern technology, there's no doubt the killer's face will soon be on everybody's social media feeds and on the front of newspapers all over the globe. Others, however, may commit a mass shooting to make themselves seem powerful. This is common when the shooter has been a victim of bullying or abuse, as being the one with control over everybody else gives them a certain rush of adrenaline and feeling of dominance they may have never had had before.

When thinking about school shootings names like Columbine and Sandy Hook pop up. Those are the most tragic by far, however everyone always ask why such a horrible crime happens, but no one has never stopped and researched why such hate crimes like those happen. Instead people resort to Channel 2 or Fox 5 for answers, not realizing that their story isn’t the full truth. I am truly against school shootings; looking for answers myself. If there’s one thing I’ve picked up from the media is how they portray school shootings with mental illness, but according to Alfred.edu/teen violence says, “They want to get back at those who hurt them or revenge.” Many adults always struggled to realize why things as vigorous as shootings happens; also fail to realize they are the start of something so tragic. There are several reasons that lead to a school shooting but only five are common.

On December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza (just barely out of his teens) shot and killed six adults and twenty children at Sandy Hook Elementary School after murdering his own mother at home. He then turned the gun on himself bringing the morning’s fatalities to twenty-eight. As horrible as this crime was, it is only one in a growing number of similar shootings in other schools across our country. Two of the worst examples occurred in the late 90’s. In Springfield, Oregon, fifteen-year-old Kipland Kinkel killed two students and wounded twenty-two others when he opened fire in a crowded cafeteria in his high school on May 21, 1998. This was after he killed both his parents the night before (Grapes 6). In

Most of the recent shootings seem to be contagious as their shooters’ plans and motives are almost all quite alike. These shooters have set a “stereotypical shooter” profile. They are typically male, white, and around the age of 20. Of all the mass shootings, only one was done by a woman (Mass Shootings in the U.S.). They are usually quite smart, part of a middle class family, and are normally quiet, lonely, and introverted. They are almost always socially awkward and have few-no friends. Yet, no one expects them to kill others as they are quiet. These shooters keep everything to themselves which may be one of the reasons why they are full of hatred. Often, they consider suicide, yet they refuse to talk to any sort of counselor. They are almost always constantly on a computer, frequently playing violent video games. Their shooting plan is almost always pre-meditated far in advance. They plan to make their shooting “great” and to ‘gain fame’ for their mass shooting. After the shooting, most commonly, they kill themselves.

The Columbine shootings occurred because two individuals who were mentally unstable and were prone to committing acts of violence had access to weapons. In addition to this the staff and parents did not report any suspicious behavior that was seen prior these crimes. The combination of social, psychological, and anger problems triggered a violent and deadly response. This could have been preventable if the initial warning signs were taken seriously. The video essay “trench coat mafia” should of lead to psychological evaluation that questioned and analyzed the mentality and perception of Eric and

Rampage-style school shootings are rare and tragic events. Although measures of prevention have become more advanced, school shootings have increased in frequency over the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Here in the United States, they have become especially prevalent, with 63 shootings just this year (Acevedo). The aftermath of rampage shootings leaves gaping holes and questions in communities. People try to heal and seek closure at their own pace, but the biggest question most are left with is “why”? In Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, Katherine S. Newman seeks to answer this question. She lays out her research and methodology for studying rampage shootings and comes to the conclusion that shootings are not spontaneous, but rather the build up of psychological issues and negative sociological situations within a student’s community that causes them to seek to regain power over their own lives through a rampage shooting. The story Rampage builds out of the narratives of shooters and their victims along with national data and trends is important because it highlights the places that our societies fail in providing a safety net for deviant students and their peers.

It is without a doubt that there has been an increase in violent crimes in schools throughout recent years. School shootings continue to become more and more common, especially in North America. Safety concerns for any and all students and staff in schools are at all all time high due to the high number of fatal and non-fatal occurring incidences. Since 2013 to the present, it is estimated that the United States has seen approximately 205 school shootings. Weekly, that is a shocking one shooting on average. Many of these shootings have resulted in the injuries and deaths of multiple of students and staff members. (Everytown Research, 2017) Evidently, school shootings are tragic events that affect so many more people than just the victims. However, these events are also interesting to look at from the psychological and sociological point of views. Through much research, it can be concluded that school shootings are a complex problem that are caused by a mix of improper brain development and societal and media influences which motivate school shooters to emerge. Psychological factors may include struggling with mental illnesses and/or abuse that leads to damaged brain development. Additionally, being bullied and/or the role of the media are examples of sociological factors.