I like to think no one wants it to be their child.
Scientific American’s article (#184) is really interesting, as is the 538 article.
Today’s NYT has very good data on school shooting in the last half century. If those under 21 did not have access to guns, about 90% of the incidents would not have occurred, with boys aged 14 thru 18 being the overwhelming majority of shooters. Why children and very young adults have legal access to weapons is beyond me.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I would have thought is goes without saying, but Venezuela is not relevant to this conversation. Several posts deleted. Additionally, let’s not presuppose that the USA can/will go the way of Venezuela.
@roycroftmom that may be the most objective, clinically sound article I’ve ever read about school shootings.
I don’t know where you came up with the 90% prevention statistic, though.
In 15 of the 111 events, the shooter was aged 22 years or older ( or roughly 13%), while those younger accounted for the remaining 87% of perpetrators.
Got it. I certainly haven’t taken the time to research the circumstances surrounding all 111 school shootings, but I know 14-18 year olds can’t legally purchase and transport a handgun. Access is anything but legal when they steal a firearm from their parents.
I bet parents didn’t lock or secure the guns used in most of these cases, as they had no legal obligation to do so, sadly. I don’t think most of the shooters stole the guns from others prior to the event. The guns were in the household, just as accessible to kids as kitchen appliances. That is the problem
While making schools safer would go along way to saving life in a mass shooting situation it won’t help the gun issue in this country. Contray to popular belief school shooting isn’t the only gun problem we have. In cites like, Brooklyn, Chicago, Detriot, and places in California more people die from gun violence than some wars. But there isn’t ever any discussion about gun laws surrounding that. It seems like people only care when it happens in white affulent areas.
@sensation723 If you’ve missed all of the national discussion about Chicago, specifically, you haven’t been paying attention.
Some of the very places you name with gun violence problems already have strict gun control laws, so it apparently hasn’t solved the problem. Maybe we should look at big cities with less gun violence and see what has helped them achieve that instead.
It really doesn’t help to have strict gun rules in your house (or any rules, TV, diet, etc) when one can simply and freely go to the neighboring house to indulge when they want to. It’s not like someone has to cross an international border and go through an inspection to return.
True, but they have to break state and federal laws to do that most of the time. Criminals are emboldened to do just that because firearms laws are rarely enforced…
The “others” they stole the guns from were most likely their parents, as you stated. I believe every gun should be securely stored in the home but that isn’t the way the law is written in many states. Because they stole them from their parents doesn’t make them any less stolen.
Brooklyn is not a city on its own, it is one of the 5 boroughs that comprise NYC. One thing that people don’t really notice about NY is that the crime rate has decreased dramatically. In 1990, when my oldest child was born, there were over 2000 murders, including one just a block or two from the hospital the night before his birth. Now, we are down to about 300. Of course, one is one too many.
I don’t think the parents reported the guns stolen, do you? More likely they were the ones who taught the kids to shoot and left the weapons around the house, easily accessible to all, just like the kitchen can opener. Because they take gun safety about as seriously as kitchen can openers, and we don’t have laws imprisoning them for doing so. Yet.
Another point that should be brought up is that handguns are relatively easy to make, and will only get easier to make with emerging technologies.
do you mean GK(post 200) that people with criminal intent are willing to break laws to commit their crime?
@younghoss, if that is your position, why have any laws? Someone will always break them. We have speed laws because fewer people die in car crashes when we do. Yes, some people still speed, and yes, not all car crashes are due to speed. But it is absolutely clear more lives are saved with speed laws. basic concept easily transferable to other areas for public safety
There have been very few details released about the shooting. The students were told not to say anything and while a few have been interviewed, there has been no time line or other info about what exactly happened. After the fiasco of the vigil the second day becoming political, most of the news sources are just doing profile pieces. The newspaper named the 16 year old and that is controversial. My friend who won a Pulitzer for Columbine coverage is very disappointed in how this has been handled.