As I am writing this article, the most recent school shooting in the United States occurred only twenty-four hours ago. It was at Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Kentucky, where two students were shot during a football game and one is currently critically injured. The assailant still hasn’t been caught. Despite the tragedy, the shooting was not largely publicized as in America. When there is a shooting every other day we have unfortunately become desensitized.
About two weeks ago I sat in my history class with Mr. Gervais as he talked about the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia. We had a moment of silence, but then he said something I didn’t expect. He said that he knew this news had become normal for us. That same day when I went home, I went on Tiktok only to see a video that said, “…if your school is next. Don’t be a hero. Hide.” It currently has two million likes and over eleven million views. The comments are filled with students tagging and begging their best friends and classmates to follow what the video says.
In the past year, there were fifty school shootings and counting, which is a shocking improvement compared to the eighty-eight in 2023; however the bar is very low. Statistics show that as the school year starts up again, school shootings rapidly increase. Around half of the shootings recorded each year take place on September 19th or later. For example in 2023, thirty-seven shootings happened during the end of the last school year, and 45 occurred past September twentieth and on into 2024. Still, while most people in America are aware of these trends, it is crucial to acknowledge the need to better approach factors of the issue as a country.
` In an article by The Week, Matthew Walther writes an opinion piece about the language we use when we refer to school shootings. He writes the following line about the language journalists and news agencies use to describe school shootings “Here we have acts of almost unimaginable savagery reduced to a vague ‘incident,’ another ‘situation,’ that has mysteriously come into being. The words are dehumanizing to an extent that is almost impossible to convey” (Walther). Furthering his argument, Walther refers to the fact that when gun owners are asked why they need an assault weapon, most simply cite the Second Amendment and the right to bear firearms rather than give a reason. Walther’s argument is a perfect example of the normalization of guns in America. The word “…incident,” can refer to a minor fender-bender or a massacre and it is in this wording where gun violence becomes a “…situation,” and solving the problem becomes “preventing,” it.
The prevention of gun violence also normalizes it in our country. Lockdown drills are a thing that most American children born after 1999 have experienced. However, the only other country that commonly practices lockdown drills is Canada. Even so, Canada’s school shooting rates are far lower than those in the United States, making it hard to find data that shows a trend in their numbers of school shootings. Lockdown drills are common here, every school practices them, and almost no students past elementary school take them seriously. But students aren’t at fault for this, the way schools handle lockdown drills makes me question if they help; Indeed, a shooter isn’t going to take the time to open locked doors and active shooting drills have been proven to help prepare students for a shooting. But these drills come with negative emotional side effects and they don’t prevent shooters, they just prepare students to deal with them. Lockdown and active shooter drills are a perfect example of the normalization of mass school shootings, as they expect students to deal with and accept the responsibility for the attack, they require students to come to terms with the fad5t school shootings are common.
In America having a gun is like a second nature to many. In New York, it takes around six months to a year to get a pistol license with a government background check, but who knows where those guns go once they are bought and registered to someone? As long as they don’t forget to renew their license, which lasts five years, that gun could be anywhere and anybody could know about it. This is a major problem, as there is no way to track where the gun goes and who it ends up in the hands of. Even more terrifyingly, in New York state it is legal to own a shotgun or rifle without a license anywhere but in New York City. This means that even if the government background checks are thorough, there is still potential for guns to get into the wrong hands and be misused. Maybe that is why guns are normalized, or it’s the fact that in New York State anyone eight or older can shoot rifles at a shooting range with an adult over twenty-one. Following this fact, anyone thirteen or older can shoot pistols legally when accompanied by an adult over twenty-one. This lack of regulations and safeguards means that guns are easier to access and use; The potential for misuse and tragedy is higher.
Guns are ingrained in American society, some may call that an opinion but the Second Amendment of our Constitution states that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (US Const. amend. II). This amendment has been interpreted to mean that citizens of America have the right to own firearms for self-defense. This has led to an increase in gun ownership in the United States, which has in turn increased the likelihood of gun violence. It is readily available information that states with high amounts of gun ownership have higher amounts of gun violence. The states most people would consider the South such as Tennessee and Louisiana have the highest levels of school shootings per 100,000 population. Georgia, Arkansas, and Mississippi, which are all highlighted in red for school shootings per 100,000 population, have some of the worst gun control policies in the country. Louisiana and North Carolina lack gun control laws present in almost every state according to Everytown, a non-profit for gun safety. While there are exceptions and odd-ones-out, overall, states with stricter gun control laws have fewer school shootings. This data suggests that tougher gun control laws are key to preventing school shootings.
Sadly, I’m just a student. I do not control national security; I am not a politician and I hold no position of power in America for I cannot vote, and I have no say in gun policy or laws. However, one day the numbers for gun violence and school shootings in America will go down, or at least I can hope. In any case, school shootings have become normalized among the youth of America for many reasons, and I’m almost certain that there are even more than listed in this article. Stay safe and be a voice for change.
https://www.cnn.com/us/school-shootings-fast-facts-dg/index.html
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year-how-many-and-where/2024/01
https://theweek.com/articles/774000/how-america-normalized-murder-schoolchildren
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/05/nx-s1-5101684/preventing-school-shootings
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/school-shootings-database/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1155011/number-school-shootings-g7-countries/
https://www.everytown.org/solutions/active-shooter-drills/
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/ny-gun-laws/
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-01683
https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/
