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School Rampage in America
one of the most dreadful events that have faced various schools in the United States is
that of mass shootings, which leaves several students, teachers, and other school staff
members dead. Imagine watching or hearing on the news that a shooting occurred at your
child's school and no one knows whether or not your child is safe, or receiving the phone call
that your child was one of the victims. Schools are presumed to be a secure and serene place
where students can enjoy learning without any form of external aggression perpetrated by
criminal elements. However, most of the incidents of mass shootings that have happened in
schools have revealed that the threat is more within than from the outside. Most of the
perpetrators of school rampages or mass shootings are students or former students of the
school. Research into this problem has continued to explore some of the contributing factors
that compel students to engage in school rampage. Two of the most factors that have been
blamed on the issue and problem of school rampage include poor mental health care and
rampant cases of bullying incidents among students in the school.
Causes
One of the notable factors that have been attributed to mass shootings in schools is
poor mental health among the perpetrators. Scholars agree that poor or deteriorated mental
health and wellbeing are a constant factor among most of the shooters that have engaged in a
mass shooting (Lankford and Silva 639). The most popular incident of a mass shooting that
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has become a befitting case study of school rampage and shooting is the Columbine High
School Massacre that ended with the death of up to 15 people including the shooters
(Lankford and Silva 638). After an in-depth analysis and investigation into the incident, it
emerged that the shooter was under mental health medication, and was having severe mental
disorders. Some of the analysts and scholars have indicated that the poor mental health of
shooters could have played a crucial role in their rampage undertaking.
Another factor that the researchers and the psychologists have found to be playing a
critical role in triggering school rampage includes bullying. Some of the various research
studies that have been undertaken in this area reveal that most of the school shooters
experienced high-level victimization, which made them feel socially excluded and rejected
(Raitanen, Sandberg, and Oksanen 101). One of the common characteristics of school
shooters is that they also exhibit social withdrawal triggered by the constant bullying in
schools, which should be taken as a pathological mental problem. Unfortunately, the bullying
happens without the intervention of the teachers or the school’s administration, and it is for
this reason that the shooters target even teachers when they engage in the rampage. Some of
the shooters believe that getting a gun and shooting their victimizers would bring an end to
the issue of bullying in school. Considering the availability of guns in the United States, it,
therefore, becomes easy to acquire and access a gun and engage in the violent act of rampage.
Impacts
Mass shootings in schools usually have a wide range of implications. The most direct
implications of the shooting are the loss of innocent lives to unjustified violence. The
survivors of the shooting are adversely impacted and affected after the incident. The research
studies and surveys that have been conducted on the survivors of the mass shooting in schools
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reveal that they experience and develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a
popular mental health disorder that a person develops after undergoing a highly traumatizing
experience or event (Lowe and Galea 64). The issue and the trauma is exacerbated by the fact
that the survivors of these mass shootings are children whose minds are fragile, and the
impact is far much bigger than it may affect or impact an adult. The rampage incidents also
results in the survivors being paranoid, where they lose confidence in the security measures
that the school have put in place to protect them from such attacks. If the measures that are
put in place would have proven effective in barring and preventing such attacks from
happening, the students would have a lot of confidence on the school’s security intervention
and measures (Lowe and Galea 65). However, in this particular case, it makes the survivors
doubt and have no confidence on the security measures implemented by the school.
Consequently, these students will always be in a state of anxiety as long as they are in school,
something that significantly impact their concentration in class, and affects their academic
performance in the long run.
Solution to the Problem
Mass shooting is an event that warrants drastic intervention that should be
implemented at multiagency level. One of the potential solutions to the issue of mass
shootings is reviewing the gun laws in the country, and especially in the manner in which they
can be bought and accessed. The current laws are highly flexible and sloppy and allow
anybody to acquire a gun without raising a lot of questions. The gun laws should be reevaluated to introduce a thorough background check on any person that has expressed interest
to acquire a firearm (Newman and Hartman 1530). The current gun policies will always
facilitate and contribute to mass shootings because of the ease of acquiring a gun from the
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stores without being subjected to any form of evaluation or vetting about the intentions of the
gun. It is for this reason that in some of the countries, those intending to own a firearm must
undergo an elaborate psychiatric examination to establish that they are mentally fit and stable
to own a firearm.
Another potential intervention includes accelerating mental health screening in schools
to ensure that all students are mentally healthy. Those with underlying mental health
conditions should be provided with the necessary professional and social support until they
overcome and manage the disorder. Some of the scholars and analysts state that the
Columbine School massacre could have been avoided if the shooters were receiving the
necessary mental health support and care. The escalation of his mental disorder must have
compelled him to undertake the violent act. The management of schools should also formulate
policies that would ensure that the learning institutions have zero tolerance on bullying and
peer victimization. There should be harsh measures and interventions for those that are found
engaging and perpetrating bullying such as expulsion or prolonged suspension from school.
In conclusion, evidence is available on how poor mental health and continued and
high prevalence of bullying among students stand as among the primary causes of mass
shooting in schools. Some of the shooters that have engaged in the violent act had a history of
mental disorders, or were under the treatment for various mental health disorders. Bullying is
another social issue that have been blamed to school rampage as the shooters perceive the
shooting as a way of avenging the victimization and social exclusion that they suffered under
the hands of their colleagues. Therefore, the solution to the primary issue and problem of
mass shooting in schools can be addressed by countering these causative factors. It is upon the
management of the school to introduce policies that ensures zero tolerance on bullying and
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ant form of victimization between students. The management should also collaborate with the
parents to ensure that all the students are screened to ensure that they are free from any form
of mental disorder.
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Work Cited
Lankford, Adam, and Jason R. Silva. "The timing of opportunities to prevent mass shootings: a
study of mental health contacts, work and school problems, and firearms acquisition."
International review of psychiatry, vol. 33.no. 7 (2021): pp. 638-652.
Lowe, Sarah R., and Sandro Galea. "The mental health consequences of mass shootings."
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, vol. 18.no. 1 (2017): pp. 62-82.
Newman, Benjamin J., and Todd K. Hartman. "Mass shootings and public support for gun
control." British Journal of Political Science, vol. 49.no. 4 (2019): pp. 1527-1553.
Raitanen, Jenni, Sveinung Sandberg, and Atte Oksanen. "The bullying-school shooting nexus:
Bridging master narratives of mass violence with personal narratives of social exclusion."
Deviant behavior, vol. 40.no. 1 (2019): pp. 96-109.