Social Institution Paper

SCHOOL GUN VIOLENCE1

School Gun Violence

[Student Name]

Professor Small

Wichita State University

School Gun Violence

Problem Statement

America is very well known for school violence, and more specifically, school shootings.

Seventeen people were killed and more than 15 injured in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman

Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, bringing the total number of

school shootings in the United States since the beginning of the year to 18 (or roughly three per

week). This is the most recent shooting where there have been mass casualties, and this

ultimately started the debate on what defines a “school shooting”, because of the rising gun

violence. The difficulty of agreeing on a common definition of "school shooting" shows just how

many different types of firearm incidents occur on school grounds. The difficulty of defining it

just highlights how common it is to find guns on school grounds — in the hands of intruders,

security personnel, and the students themselves (Emery).

Literature Reviews/Discussion

The first academic journal, Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence, talks

about the two main points’ people debate on what is to blame for gun violence. Those two points

are the availability of guns and mental health. Students report being increasingly afraid to go to

school; among young people aged 12 to 24, 3 in 10 say violence has increased in their schools in

the past year. The concern over school shootings has prompted intense national debate, in recent

SCHOOL GUN VIOLENCE2

years, over who or what is to blame. The internet, daycare, movies, and other forms of media

have been blamed for the rising violence, but people mainly focus on the gun availability and

mental health debates. Firearms are the second leading cause of death to children between ages

10 and 14 and the eighth leading cause of death to those ages 1 to 4 (Kimmel). Some people

blame it on the fact that there are too many guns that are easily available, and others believe all

of this violence happens because there aren't enough guns. Big brands like Dicks have taken a

stance on this debate and raised the age requirement to purchase a firearm. The other debate

focuses on the mental health of the attacker. They say that the reason people go on killing sprees

is because they aren’t completely put together and they had a bad childhood. This doesn’t always

add up, however, because almost all the shooters came from intact and relatively stable families,

with no history of child abuse. If they had psychological problems at all, they were relatively

minor, and went unnoticed (Kimmel).

The second journal, School Shootings, the Media, and Public Fear, focuses on school

shootings as a moral panic, and it also looks at the roles played by the media and politicians in

using isolated incidents to support their interests or distract the public eye. In the journal, they

define moral panic as when a “substantial portion of society feels that particular evildoers pose a

threat to the moral order of society. As a result, the general consensus among the group is to “do

something” about the issue (Burns)”. In this article it said that some presidents have seemed to

use the attention that school shootings get to distract the public from something that they have

done wrong. For example, President Clinton was very outspoken in responding to the school

shootings. Throughout all of the shootings, Clinton was faced with several potentially damaging

issues, including the Whitewater investigation, accusations of sexual misconduct and perjury,

and other related issues.

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The third journal, Suicide by Mass Murder, focuses on school shootings that ended with

the attacker killing themselves before they were able to be punished for their actions. More

specifically the article focuses on the school shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and

Northern Illinois. All three of which were committed by white boys who were seemingly bullied

and wanted to take revenge on innocent lives. This trope of school shootings is only becoming

more and more common with each shooting. Committing mass murder can be an instrumental

way to achieve a sense of power; and framing one’s suicide with violence and aggression may

serve to make it appear a more potent act (Kalish). The school shootings at Columbine, Virginia

Tech, and Northern Illinois all seem to be cases of what we can call suicide by mass murder.

Theory

Functionalism sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote

stability and harmony within society. Functionalism also analyzes how criminal acts can provide

some functions in society. This does not justify acts of violence against innocent people, it just

shows that crime can have a role in society, and some positive outcomes can be seen coming out

of extremely negative circumstances (Din). It can strengthen group cohesion; people seem to

unite to express outrage over a crime. We feel connected to our fellow community members.

Tragedy connects them even more deeply to one another. We carry out collective tributes of

respect and honor the people lost in the tragedy. Crime also inspires social change. Attacking

innocent civilians is something that needs to be punished. As a society we see that the killing of

the shooter by police officers in such situations is something that is accepted because of their

attack on innocent civilians.

Conclusion

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I personally believe that guns are too available. I shouldn’t be able to walk into Walmart

and purchase a gun on the spot. I shouldn’t be able to own a gun before I can legally drink; but

that’s just my opinion. Mental health is a factor in all of this, but in my opinion it doesn’t hold up

with being the main reason a shooting happens, lots of people have mental health issues, they are

getting more and more common, but not everyone shoots up a school or public area, something

else has to be going on. Take Sandy Hook for example, no one in their right mind would kill

over twenty preschoolers, that person had to be psychologically deranged, but I believe that there

has to be a motive to do something like that. Guns don’t kill people; people kill people, with that

being said there needs to be stricter requirements and longer backgrounds checks, along with

limiting the type of assault rifle available. I don’t think that politicians are intentionally

capitalizing on the attention shootings get to hide their own wrong-doings, I just think that that

all has to do with timing. Along with the last journal, it sucks that mass murder-suicides are

becoming so common. In my opinion it is awful; to kill innocent people just to make the killers

death have attention around it.

Works Cited

Burns, R., & Crawford, C. (1999). School shootings, the media, and public fear: Ingredients for a

moral panic. Crime, Law and Social Change, 32(2), 147-168.

Din, M. (2013, September 25). Analyzing Tragic Mass Shootings As A Sociologist, Part 1.

Retrieved April 28, 2018, from http://sociologyinfocus.com/2013/09/analyzing-tragic-

mass-shootings-as-a-sociologist-part-1/

Emery, D. (2018, February 16). How Many School Shootings in 2018? Retrieved April 28, 2018,

from https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/02/16/how-many-school-shootings-in-2018/

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Kalish, R., & Kimmel, M. (2010). Suicide by mass murder: Masculinity, aggrieved entitlement,

and rampage school shootings. Health Sociology Review, 19(4), 451-464.

Kimmel, M. S., & Mahler, M. (2003). Adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence:

Random school shootings, 1982-2001. American behavioral scientist, 46(10), 1439-1458.