Essay On School Shootings

So far in 2018 there has been an average of two school shootings every week across the United States (Jeffrey, Courtland). We need to start from the beginning and look to parents to help decrease these numbers. Kids relationships with their parents, holding kids accountable and easy access to firearms at home are all big factors that go into school shooters and need to be taken more seriously.

Kids relationships with their parents has a huge impact on the increase of school shootings. A survey was conducted by Gallup News asking people, what is causing the sudden increase in school shootings. In this survey 92% of people said that home life and kids relationships with their parents is the biggest factor. Many kids go home after school and receive no attention from their parents. Although this may not seem like a huge deal, it can have a big impact on a child's life. When a kid is feeling neglected at home they may resort to planning a school shooting to get the attention that they don’t receive at home. Parents need to take responsibility for their kids and show them that they don’t need to act out to get attention. Being themselves is enough. “...children are

being injured and killed through the shameful negligence of the adults who are responsible for them,” stated Erika Christakis from Time magazine.
Failure of holding kids accountable is another factor in the increase of school shootings.

By having children you’re responsible for teaching them right from wrong and holding them accountable for their actions. Too many kids grow up playing violent video games and don’t realize how different they are from reality. “Studies have shown that these games cause aggressive behavior and can lead to violence,” stated Bill Korach. As parents, teaching your kids that actions you can take in video games are much different from reality is your job. When children act in violence they need to be told that that isn’t how you show your emotions and anger in real life. To help kids make this differentiation they need to spend less time playing violent games and more time exercising and spending time outside (Korach,

Bill).
In the same survey mentioned earlier, conducted by Gallup News, the availability and ease of obtaining guns by students comes in second when asked about causes making the number of school shootings increase. If guns weren’t so easy for kids to obtain the number of school shootings would dramatically decrease. Many kids could simply walk into their house and grab a gun without having a key or knowing a passcode. “Roughly one-third of households with children report owning at least one gun. Forty-three percent of these homes report keeping firearms in an unlocked place...” stated Erika Christakis. This shows that if people are truly serious about getting the problem of school shootings under control, carefully considering if a gun is even necessary in a household with children and at least locking it away if it is deemed necessary, are two great steps to take to get closer to this goal.
School shootings need to be stopped. In order to stop them we need to look to the parents and how kids are raised. Parents investing in their kids, holding them accountable for their decisions and making sure firearms aren’t in easy reach are the first steps that need to be taken to put a stop to school shootings and making kids safe at school.