School Shootings

The most recent school shooting happened over Valentines day of this year. In Northern Illinois University, Steven Kazmierczak entered a lecture hall full of students and opened fire, killing 6 and injuring 16. He apparently stopped taking his medication and became erratic in behavior.

School shootings date back about 50 years ago, when public school was becoming more predominant as well as a full education. The first recorded school shooting happened at the University of Texas at Austin In 1966. The killer was Charles Whitman, a student at the University. He killed 14 people and injured 31 others before turning the gun on himself. In his suicide note he requested a autopsy which later revealed a brian tumor.

Many of the 53 cases that happened in the U.S. and Canada, from 1966 until now, were commited by people with mental disorders. In the U.S. school shootings happen more then any other place in the world with a whopping 46 cases since 1966. With the lack of gun control in the states, they are becoming increasingly more frequent, with five of them happening in this passing month! Last year there were three cases apart from each other.

I don't think it's because people are 'snapping' that there is so many violent crimes occuring. The media as we all know glorifies violence because it gets peoples attention. The average person can distinguish between what's real and what's not in the media, but not everyone can. Most of the cases were from people with mental disorders that went off their medication. Many of these people adhered to violent cultures, music, books, satanic cultures etc. A lot of them were results of constant bullying.

Perhaps in this fast paced world obssessed with celebrity culture, we should be focusing on more down to earth issues. I think some of the cases could be avoided if mental disorders were given more attention. The media plays a big role in persuading the youth as well as good parenting. If there is a geeky anti social kid down your street, maybe you should see how he's doing, rather then ignoring him.