We Need to Have a Serious Talk About School Shootings

The problem of school shootings is more complex than just one issue.

By Liberty McArtor Published on February 15, 2018

Once again, Americans are devastated after a school shooting — the deadliest in five years — left 17 dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

While gun violence in general has gone down, school shootings are increasing, and fast. Children, whether in first or 12th grade, can no longer go to school without wondering if they’ll be shot. And not just in violent cities; Parkland was named Florida’s safest city last year.

It’s time to do something, and it’s no surprise that liberals and Democrats consider that something to be gun control. But the fact is that while guns must be part of the conversation, they cannot be the whole conversation. The problem of school shootings is more complex than just one issue. We need to accept that if we’re ever going to solve it.

It’s Not That Simple

I’m proud to say I’m a gun owner, and I have ardently defended the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Still, if we could guarantee that banning guns would mean no more school children would ever be shot, I’d be among the first to hand over my gun. I think many other gun owners would join me.

It isn’t that simple, though. One reason gun owners fight gun control rhetoric so vehemently is that we know it won’t solve the problem of gun violence. At worst, it will rob us and our children of protection from such violence. Research reported in The Washington Post shows little reason to think that America’s gun violence would be reduced much by Democrats’ gun control measures.

Guns should play some part in the discussion we need to have. But if we view gun control as the answer, we’re just slapping a band-aid on an underlying disease.

Neither Practical Nor Helpful

One gun control measure Democrats often point to is Australia’s mandatory gun buyback program of the 1990s. But they forget or ignore some of the reasons that would be both wrong and impractical in the U.S. Mandatory gun confiscation would pose a grave violation to our Constitution — a point the Australian government didn’t have to contend with. Its government bought 650,000-1 million citizen-owned guns, which was about a fifth or a third of the nation’s guns. Since over 300 million guns currently exist in the U.S., a similar program would require forceful government confiscation of 60-105 million guns. That’s just unrealistic.

Besides that, other research casts doubt on whether gun control measures like those in Australia or in Britain are actually the reason for fewer mass shootings in those countries. It certainly doesn’t prove that such measures would be successful here.

Until someone comes up with a proposition that is relevant to the U.S., backed by accurate research, and that will curb gun violence without punishing or endangering law abiding gun owners, Republicans and conservatives won’t be on board.

Rising Rates of Mental Illness

We have to acknowledge other factors at play. What about teens themselves? Burgeoning research shows that the boom of teen smartphone ownership correlates with the steep decline in teen happiness. We must also note that recently, the U.S. ranked among the most depressed countries in the world.

In the years since the Columbine shooting, which arguably ushered in this current era of common school violence, we’ve seen a rise in divorce among Baby Boomers — the parents of many millennials and members of Gen Z and the 24/7 news cycle. Along with that we’ve seen increasing depression and anxiety, isolation, cyber bullying and suicidal behaviors among teens.

How are we dealing with the rising rates of mental illness, especially among teens? Some experts suggest the answer is that we’re not doing nearly well enough.

Warning Signs and Copy-Cats

But even that’s not the full story. It’s impossible to separate the rise in school shootings from the rise in mass shootings in general.

On Thursday David French at National Review pointed out that in many recent mass shootings in the U.S., the shooter exhibited signs of mental illness, aggression or even intent to kill. Sometimes these signs were ignored or not dealt with adequately. Wednesday’s Parkland shooter seems to follow that pattern, based on what we know so far.

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French also notes that some argue the rise of mass shootings in the U.S. can be attributed, at least in part, to copycat behavior. Social media and the constant news cycle make it ever easier to follow in the footsteps of the last shooter.

What are we doing to address our failure to read warning signs and prevent would-be killers from becoming the next mass-murderer? Again, not enough, it would seem.

Hard Answers to Heartbreaking Questions

Whenever there is a tragedy, people, in their anger and grief, look for the easiest culprit to blame. When there’s been a school shooting, that culprit is always guns. But as long as Democrats limit their cries for change to “gun control now,” and Republicans limit their response to “that won’t work,” we stand at an impasse. Nothing changes. The real problems go unaddressed.

Guns should play some part in the discussion we need to have. But if we view gun control as the answer, we’re just slapping a band-aid on an underlying disease. And that disease will find another way to rear its ugly head before long.

I don’t have definite answers. But I know that all of us — left and right — need to broaden our conversation if we’re ever going to find any.

 

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story referenced reports that a member of a “white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization” claimed the shooter as a fellow group member. Since then, law enforcement officials claimed there is no evidence of the shooter’s connection to the extremist group. Media fact-checking revealed that reports of the connection were a result of deliberately-spread false rumors, picked up by the Anti-Defamation League and multiple news outlets. The quoted group member claimed he was also misled.

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