School Shootings In The USA: Social And Political Impact

The earliest known United States shooting to happen on school property was the Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre on July 26, 1764. Four Lenape American Indian entered the schoolhouse, shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown and killed nine or ten children. Only two children survived.

The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 requires schools in any state receiving certain federal funding to implement a one-year expulsion rule for students who bring a firearm to school. Students found in possession of a firearm must also be referred to the criminal justice or juvenile justice system.

THESIS

School shootings have impacted the world both socially and politically. Depending on how they are viewed, it could either have a positive or negative outcome. The negative side is pretty obvious, since lives are destroyed and communities are left to fear for their lives. On the other hand, school shootings are a way for the government to get new laws and acts passed to help ensure a safer future for Americans no matter where they are.

Political Impact: (Presidents, elections, political parties, military, foreign policy, domestic policy)

School shooting has had a huge impact on politics. It has sparked a lot of debates about gun control and violence. There has been many bill’s trying to get passed for example, Vermont, which until this year had some of the loosest gun laws in the country, passed several measures to tighten its laws, including a ban on guns in K-12 schools, a red-flag law, and a law that expands background checks and bans high-capacity magazines. A red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves. Since Parkland, red flag laws have gained support from lawmakers of both major political parties and groups on both sides of the gun-policy divide. Last year, eight new red flag bills were signed into law.

Social Impact: (cultural, morality, minorities, women, changes in education, entertainment)

School shootings have a massive impact of the lives of many people, regardless of the role they had in the shooting. Most people in the community surrounding the area where the shooting occurred are left traumatized by the experience and fear for the safety of themselves and their children returning to school. Research has shown that PTSD is very common to develop among the survivors. There is also a mental disease called survivors guilt, which makes the ones who made it out safely question the reason they were not shot or killed during the shooting. In recent news, there has been a series of school shooting survivors who have fallen victim to PTSD or survivors guilt and taken their own life. Some of the people who have taken their life due to those disorders, reported to not being able to move past the event, and the stress or anxiety took over their life. These effects can last for years after the event is over and can form in students, teachers, or emergency responders that were in the building and witnessed horrific scenes. Other people who may be left traumatized could be parents or families in community, people in the surrounding area, or even someone just watching the event on the news.

A red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves. (Denverpost 1)

The federal government later effectively banned bump stocks nationwide, with a regulation signed by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker requiring most gun owners to destroy or turn in the devices by March 26. (Melendez 1)

New Jersey passed a series of gun legislation banning armor-piercing ammunition, limiting magazine sizes to 10 rounds, allowing guns to be temporarily seized if the owner is deemed dangerous, requiring background checks for private gun sales (Melendez 1)

In the aftermath of the shootings, many schools across America enacted “zero-tolerance” rules regarding disruptive behavior and threats of violence from students.(Denverpost 1)

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PTSD can develop in people who have experienced intense trauma as well as in people who have been exposed to someone else’s severe trauma. (Social-Consequences-1)

Any child who experiences a school shooting has a 77% chance of developing PTSD. Other negative effects could include changes in school performance, difficulty with authority or criticism and re-experiencing the trauma through nightmares. (Affect Society 1)

Bystanders who witness a school shooting may witness burned, disfigured, bloody or dead bodies causing the sense of having a lack of control over the situation. That feeling has a very important role in making people feel insecure, terrified or traumatized.

School shootings rarely involve large numbers of victims, but even just a single student getting killed in a shooting has an impact on the lives of people far beyond the ones directly involved. (School-Shootings-1)

After the columbine shooting “On April 20, it took Harris and Klebold about half an hour to ignite a national gun-control debate that has smoldered for a year. Within a week, President Clinton introduced legislation banning private weapons sales at gun shows.”(Denverpost 1) this relates to the thesis because in the thesis we talked about laws created in response to school shooting and debates that started in response and this is evidence of both laws created and debates “the stress of such events on the rest of society. That includes those who survived the shooting; those who were in the vicinity, including the first responders; those who lost someone in the shooting; and those who hear about it via the media.”

This relates to the thesis because the article talks about the negative impact shootings have on the lives of many people no matter what role they had in the shooting. In our thesis, we touched on the negative effects shootings have on people's lives.

“11 states passed laws in 2018 that restrict gun access to people linked to domestic violence, and eight states, plus the District of Columbia, created ways to temporarily keep guns from dangerous or “at risk” people, according to data from the Giffords Law Center, a gun control advocacy group.”(Melendez 1) This piece of evidence supports the thesis because it shows how laws are being passed faster and more effectively, it also shows how school shooting are effecting states and how they are causing fear.

Laws have been created to help ensure the safety of children at school. People have been made very aware of the topic countrywide because of the increasing rates of shootings

Many peoples lives have been harmed or destroyed by traumatizing events such as school shootings so there is an increasing amount of places for those people to receive the help they need.

Conclusion

School shooting have mostly had a negative effect on the world, because of the loss of lives and fear to go to school but there are some positives as well. Some of the positives include the availability to get gun laws passed much faster than usual and also how communities are now making efforts to ensure safety in schools as well as in the community.