Mass public shootings have become more frequent and much more deadly in the recent 20 years, the congressional Research Service concluded in a report that could reignite the Capitol Hill issues over more strict control over firearms in the United States. The average rate of firearms wounds and death have rose to more than seven victims killed and more than six wounded from either self inflicted firearm wounds or incidents with other people from 2010-2013.( Shastry,2015) In recent reports statistics have shown that there has been an increase to 74 days between incidents in the last 10 years, compared to reports of 282 days between shootings in the early 1970s. Mass Public shootings in defined as four or more people killed in a single incident involving guns in a public place including, workplace or school but does not in include family related mass shootings or crime-related mass shootings.
A congressional Research Service report published in 2013 counted 78 incidents over nearly the same period, in which 547 people were killed. The report excluded those for whom terrorist ideology or criminal profit was a motivation. When the General Social Survey asked Americans about whether they have a gun in their home for decades, the previous year recordings of 2009 concluded that it was essentially tied the record low level of gun ownership reached in 2010. 31% of adults reported having a firearm in their house in 2014 while that is 17% lower then the peak gun ownership form 1977 to 1980.(Ehrenfreund, 2015). Overall, about one third of all citizens with children under 18 at home have a gun in their household, including 34% of families with children that are below the age of 12 years old.
While African Americans are singnifically more likely than whites to be gun homicide victims, African Americans are half as likely as whites to conceal a firearm in the comfort of their own home with a 41% white compared to 19% for Blacks. The FBI has conducted a study regarding active shootings over a 13 year span from 2000-2013. The numbers have drastically changed over the last 7 years when incidents of active shootings have risen to 16.4 compared to 6.4 active shootings per year from 2000-2006 . Some of the deadliest shootings ever in the United States has happened in the past few years. These massacres at Schools include Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn and at Virginia Polytechnic institute as well as the Columbine shootings. Two of these shootings claims the most lives out of all previous recored mass shootings in either a school related shooting and mass murder .
One of the worst terror attacks since 9/11 came with the mass shooting and murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando Florida when Omar Mateen,29, went into the gay bar and shot and killed 49 individuals and injured over 50. Mateen carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the crowded Pulse Nightclub at 2 a.m.( McLaughlin,2016). After a standoff of over three hours, while hostages in the club began to call and message friends and family to inform them that they might not make it, police were able to crash through the building with an armored car and using stun grenades and finally killing him. The Police Chief of Orlando, John Mina, said that this mass murder was “very organized and well-prepared”(Fantz 2016) During the standoff with the police, Mateen called 911 and pledged his allegiance to the terrorist group knows as ISIS and mentioned aspects of the Boston Marathon bombers. Although there has been no claim on responsibility for the attack on behalf of ISIS, ISIS has expressed praise of the attacks. President Obama mentioned that there was more than enough evidence to prove that this mass murder was a act of terror and hate. Mateen’s parents who were born and still reside in Afghanistan, reported that he expressed great anger after seeing two men kiss in Miami but the parents never considered him religious or have any connection to the terrorist group. He was a married man in 2009 to a women from Uzbekistan, Sitora Yusufiy claimed that her and Mateen were together for around 4 months although a diverse took a long time to complete due to the fact they live in different parts of the company. Yusufiy claimed that Mateen was an normal husband at the beginning of their marriage but then he started abusing her after a few months of the relationships. She said Mateen suffered from bipolar disorder although there was no formal medical diagnosis. She also explained that Mateen has also had a history with performance enhancing drugs which could of caused him his devastating aggression(Karimi, 2016).
Another example of one of the deadliest mass murders comes from the Colorado theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20th 2012. James Holmes, 24 at the time was described by those who knew him as a doctoral student as a clean cut, quiet and responsible person.Holmes was described as a bright student, he entered the University of California, Riverside in 2006 as a scholarship student and a graduated with the highest honors with a bachelors degree in neuroscience in 2010. He withdrew from the Medical Campus in Aurora in June of 2012 just a few months before the tragic murder(Carter,2012).On the night of the midnight release of the Dark Knight Rises shortly after midnight, Holmes walked through the emergency exit door into the parking lot to his car to put on his all black, ballistic helmet , tactical ballistic vest, protective leggings a throat and groin protector and a gas mask. He also carried firearms that included two handguns, an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun as well as over 6,000 rounds of ammunition ( Castillo,2012). With the amount of bullets that Holmes had in his possession he did not intend to kill only a few people, he had enough ammo to kill every single person that was in the theater. At the end of the shooting, the police arrested Holmes after he murdered 12 people and wounding over 70 people. On March 27th, 2013, court documents reported that Holmes offered to plead guilty an spend life in prison in exchange for avoiding the death penalty that became the original verdict in the case. On May 13th, 2013, Holmes pleads not guilty by reason of insanity as he believed that when he performed the shootings that he was the “Joker”. The judge accepts Holmes plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and Holmes was taken to the Colorado Mental Health institute. When a criminal pleas not guilty by reason of insanity, it reflects society belief that the law should not punish defendants who are mentally incapable of controlling their conduct( Cornell law).
There is no official government figure that exists to show how many guns are in the United States, though there are thought to be around 300 million that is held by about a third of the population which shows that there is almost enough guns for every man, woman and child in the country. When we look at the annual deaths related to gunfire in the US that death toll recorded form 1968-2015 has surpassed all wars ever fought by the country and that number is a scary statistic, there were about 1.4 millions firearm deaths in that period of war (BBC,2016).
A form of mass murder that has been on the recent rise has been school shootings. Youth violence refers to harmful behaviors that can start early and continue through young adulthood. The young person can be either a victim, offender, or witness to the violence. Youth Violence is widespread in the United States, it is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24. In 2012, 4787 young people aged 10 to 24 years old were victims of homicide thats an average of 13 children per day .
Every town has began to track gunfire in schools and in universities beginning in 2013. The although the U.S Department of Education concluded a annually number on students killed on campus per year- which they concluded to be 15 homicides and 5 suicides annually, they only track shootings at primary and secondary schools and fail to look at higher education institutions. Between 2013-2015, Every town identified 160 school shootings across 38 states, nearly 53% of the shootings took place at K-12 schools and the remaining 47% on college and university campuses. In 95 incidents, over half of the perpetrators intentionally injured or killed atlas one person by the hands of a firearm. In eight of those incidents, the shooter has then turn the firearm to themselves and commit suicide. Contrary to this in about 20 separate incidents over the two year span, the shooter has completed or attempted to commit suicide without coming any attacks against another person first.Between 2013 and 2015, there has been on average two school shooting that take place at schools of K-12 each month, thats 70 school shootings in just Kindergarten through High school not including college and universities. 56% of the shootings at these institutions were conducted by minors. Unsecured firearms frequently make their ways to school, a recent study found that nationwide, a child brought a gun onto school property almost on a daily basis.
One of the deadliest shootings on School grounds happened at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20th, 1999. At approximately 11:19 a.m, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, dressed in trench coats, began shooting fellow students outside Columbine High School Located in a suburb south of Denver. Investigators later learned that Klebold and Harris arrived in separate vehicles about 9 minutes before the shootings began, then the two went into the school cafeteria, where they had two duffle bags each contained 20 pound propane bomb that was set to explode 2 minutes before the shooting began.The pair then moved inside the school, where they gunned down most of their victims in the library. By around 11:35 a.m, Klebond and Harris had killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded more than 20 others. At around 12 pm the to shooters have turned their firearms to themselves (History, 2009). With the aftermath of the shootings many schools across America enacted “Zero tolerance” rules regarding disruptive behavior and threats of violence from other students. Mark Manes, the man ho sold a gun to one of the shooters and bought him 100 rounds of ammunition the day before the shootings was sentenced to six years in prison without parole and law enforcement even arrested Philip, Duran, who was the man who introduced the shooters to the man who sold them the guns and ammunition, Mark Manes.
Another mass shooting that showed to be one of the deadliest shooting in U.S history . On April 6th 2007 At Virginia Tech at around 7:15 a.m, Seung Hui Cho, a English major and student at the university opened fire. Cho, a 23 year old senior, shot a female freshman and a male dormitory resident before fleeing one of the buildings. When police arrived on the scene, Cho was already gone, and with no knowledge of the shooters identity, the law enforcement agents pursued the female victims boyfriend as a suspect as a domestic violence incident. At 9:40 a.m, Cho who was armed with 2 handguns and over 100 rounds of ammunition, entered a classroom building, chained and locked several main doors so no one on the outside could enter the building and stop him. He then went from room to room shooting and killing people. After only 10 minuets after the who rampage began, he committed suicide. In just 10 minuets, the shooting had left 30 people dead and another 17 wounded, 27 students and 5 facility members died as a result of the shootings.
After the investigation began, authorities found no proof that Cho, specifically targeted any of the victims of that day. Ex classmates described Cho as a loner, who rarely spoke to anyone and had a history of mental health problems, it was also soon revealed by some of his old professors and students that he would write very angry and violent assignments and raised concern among them but took no action against it. The mental health record of the Virginia Tech shooter showed that he had two telephone conversations and one in-person visit at the Cook Counseling Center, the Universities student mental health services provider. The in- person consolation followed from his release form the psych ward at Carillon St. Albans hospital on December 14th 2005(Friedman,2009) Cho was admitted to the psych ward after his roommate came concerned when Cho threatened to take his own life, when he was interviewed at the counseling center, he mentioned that the comment he made was a joke and that he has no reason to harm himself and would never do it. Although there was no presence of severe mental disorder, he still has the though process in which he mentioned self harm and/or harm to others which could of been as much as 2 year previous indication that he would fall into the path of a shooter and or criminal actions.
One of the most recent and most talked about is the shooting rampage the took place at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza 20, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza in the home that they hared in Newtown, then he drove in her car to Sandy Hook Elementary school that his mother Nancy taught kindergarten. In his mother vehicle, he possessed there guns including a rifle, two pistols and a glock. At the school, Adam shot and killed six adults, including the elementary schools principal along with 20 children. They were shot in two different rooms of the school until it was all over. Police arrived at the school at 9:35 a.m and while the officers search for the shooter, they found Lanza short after but he was dead by a self inflicted firearm suicide, the officers did not have to fire a shot. The shooting became the second deadliest shooting at the time in the U.S only coming second to the rampage that took place at Virginia tech 5 years earlier that claimed the lives of 32 citizens. The shooting of Sandy Hook took place so shortly after the mass shooting just 5 months prior at the Aurora Colorado Movie theater shooting in July (Fahrenthold,2012) It was after Sandy hook that the U.S became accustomed to public shootings and it was something that wasn't going to stop. When Ryan Lanza, Adams bother was taken into custody hear his home in N.J to be interviewed to see if he had any part in the tragic shooting (Horwitz, 2012). Beth Israel who lived for a long time on the same street as the Lanza family recalled the Ryan was the more normal one and that Adam was always withdrawn but not in a threatening way. Adam was described as by Beth Isreal as “ a socially awkward kid, I don't know, shy and quiet. Didn't really look at you in the eyes, just kind of a weird kid” ( Israel, 2012). When Israel heard that Ryan Lanza was the shooter she felt they had the wrong brother, she quoted “ It had to be Adam, Not Ryan.” ( Israel, 2012). Police then looked into the guns that were used in the shootings to see if they were purchased illegally and there should be investigation at gun stores. Police then came to the conclusion that the firearms have been purchased legally and were registered to one of Adam’s family members (Vogel,2012).
At different stages of his childhood, Lanza was diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Asperger syndrome. Reports claim that Lanaresisted takin medication for his anxiety and Obsessive compulsive disorder, a decision that was supported by his mother, Lanza disagreed with the diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome. Lanza cut off contact with his father early in 2010 and did not respond to multiple emails from his father who plead to want to spend time with Adam. This seclusion could of been a point where something could of went wrong In Adams childhood development since his parents split in 2001. In December of 2013, descriptions of sporadic treatments for Adams mental health troubles related, At one Point, experts at Yale Child studies center, prescribed him antidepressants/anxiety medication but at his mothers discretion, discontinued any treatment after her son was not able to raise his arm after taking medication and then never scheduled any follow up appointments nor wanted to try other alternatives.
When the Yale child center evaluated Lanza first at age 14 doctors recommended that Lanza received extensive special education supports, ongoing expert consultation and rigorous therapeutic supports into his daily life due to how severe his condition was. When he later showed signs of severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems, his mother still allowed him to retain multiple firearms and high capacity ammunition. Mrs Lanza did not this that is was possible for her son Adam to get better and she believed that keeping him sheltered that he would be better off. After his death Adam was diagnosed with anorexia when the coroner determined that he was over 6 foot tall and only weight 112 pounds which psychologists believe could of led him to malnutrition and cognitive impairment. His mother reported that he was involved in obsessive workouts with Dance Dance revolution game which often times left him in a pool of swear and would not give his body the proper nutrition that he needed. What was confusing to many of the new sources was that the fault was also in school systems for not providing the correct resources and doing the right job monitoring the progress of Adam as he was allowed to be home schooled due to his difficulties that he had in social settings.
On June 17th, 2015, Dylan Roof opened fire at at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, a historic black church in Charleston. Prior to the shooting, Dylan’s website hinted as to why he choose Charleston to shoot nine people to death. He has a long, hate filled life where he posted photos of himself burning the American flag and also posting pictures of himself with a pistol and posing proudly at historic sites that were linked to Confederacy. Roof was prompted by the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, who was shot down by George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted for the murder and Roof began to search online for black on white crime. In a chilling 2,000 word text titled “An Explanation” the writer hints as t why Charleston was targeted. Roof wrote, “I have no choice, I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me”(Sanchez,2016).
Dylans website, called “ The Last Rhodesian”, sees him wearing a jacket with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and nearby Rhodesia, a former British colony that a white minority ruled until it gained its dependence in 1980. Images on the website include a .45 caliber Glock pistol, Roof is also seen taking pictures where he is taking aim with the gun and posing in front of a sign that says “ Sacred Burial site, Our African ancestors, and he is also seen outside of South Carolina’s Museum and Library of Confederate History where he is standing on and burning an American Flag. One night when Roof was drunk with friends, he boasted about an unspecified six-month plan to do something crazy, this was reported by his friend Joey Meek. Roof was talked about being very kept to himself but when he began to drink he walked about the return of segregation and vague plans to start a race war. Meek, hid Roof’s gun and have it back to him the next day when Dylan sobered up and with the information Meek was given, he did not take any of the claims to the authorities before Dylan opened fire on the church. Meek reported that Dylan was not a serious person, always joked around and no one really took him serious but if someone had taken him serious this whole situation would of been avoided. Of course family members and friends of Roof who spoke with CNN after the shooting painted a picture that he gee up in a trouble family with no indication that he would grow up and be accused of such a hate crime. Dylann spent his early years going back and forth between his parents who had separated in 1991. Dylan also struggled in school where teachers said his attendance was poor and Roof was very transient and he came and went as he pleased. He also flunked the ninth grade twice before he dropped out of school. Dylann’s friends said that although he was kind of wild when they went out, he was not violent at all. He was a heavy drinker, and liked to smoke pot. in February 2015, he was arrested at a local mall for possession of Suboxone, a medication used to treat heroine addiction.
On the day of the shooting, at 4:44 pm the day of the shooting, Roof posted on his website that , “At the time of writing I am in a great hurry.” At around 9:05 pm on Wednesday, June 17,2015, the Charleston Police Department began receiving calls of a shooting at Emanuel AME Church. A man was described to be white with sandy-blond hair around 5 foot 9 inches in height, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans, opened fire with a Block 41.45 caliber handgun. During the hour preceding the attack, 13 people indulging the shooter participated in Bible study. According to the account of people who talked to survivors, when the shooter walked into the church he immediately asked for Pinckney and sat down next top him and listened to others during the mass It was then he had a disagreement when the individuals of the church began to talk about the scripture. After eating for others to begin praying he stood up and pulled a gun out of his fanny pay and aimed it at members of the church. Tywanza Sanders, tried to talk him downing asked him why he was attacking churchgoers. The shooter responded, “I have to do it. You rape out women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go.” After the massacre, Dylann walked out the church into his car and just drove off. The next morning Roof was apprehended at a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina, about 245 miles north of the Charleston Church. Officers report that “Roof had a handwritten note I’m his car with the names of several churches on it, a Confederate flag, a burned U.S flag, a gun, an empty box of ammunition and a laser attachment for a gun that helps with accuracy (Shapiro,2017).
On December 15th, 2016, Dylann was found guilty on all 33 counts in his federal trial, including hate crime resulting in death and obstruction of exercise of religion resulting in death. During a chilling trial, survivor of the shooting Polly Sheppard testified that Roof asked her if she was shot and when she told him no he replied that he wouldn’t shoot her so he was going to leave her alive to tell the story. On January 10th, 2017 Roof was sentenced to death. This is the first time in history that a death penalty verdict was rendered in a federal hate crime case. The Jury spent less than one day deliberating Roof’s fate. Roof told the jurors in a closing statement of his case, “I still feel like I had to do it” (Shapiro,2017). Roof was in full understanding of how horrific the nature of the crime was and although Roof expressed sorrow to his parents and pity for himself, he did not shed a tear for those people that he has killed. Instead of going through a second trial, on April 10th ,2017, Roof pleaded guilty to all state charges, including nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. Dylann’s guilty plea in state court was i exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The most recent shooting that has effected the United States is the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida on February 14th, 2018. This is the worst mass shooting in 2018. and one of the many that has happened since the beginning of the year. 19 year old Nikolas Cruz walked into his old school, Majory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentines day and opened fire using an AR-15 assault rifle, killing 17 people and injuring many more. Nikolas Cruz who was a former student and images on his social media accounts show that he was not only a problematic kid but also he showed a desire to perpretricate the same exact type of violence he became accused of on February 14th. According to police, Cruz wrote social media posts so threatening that he was reported to the FBI and was not monitored after. Cruz was reported to throw slurs at blacks and Muslims, and according to the Anti- Defamation league, Cruz has ties to white supremacists. Cruz noted that he would shoot people with an AR-15 rifle assault rifle and single out police officer sand anti-fascist protestors as deserving of his vengeance. Five months prior to his shootings, he stated that he as aspirations to become a “Professional school shooter”.
At Stoneman Douglas High School which had about 3,000 students, the few that knew of Cruz described him as a troubled kid who enjoyed showing off his firearms, bragging about killing animals and who’s mother would resort to calling the police to have them come to their home i order to try and talk some sense into him. Although he had very few friends, he stayed to himself because he stuck fear into some of the students because of his history with erratic behavior and an affinity for violence (Hagg,2018). Students reported that Cruz always had guns on him which stuck fear into student and he got kicked out of school multiple times for the possession of the firearm and continued to come to school with the weapons. Students also mentioned how there was a girl that Cruz had a crush on and was to the point of stalking her. Students also reported that if there were to be any who were going to shoot up a school it was going to be Cruz. Stoneman Douglas High School declined to say why Cruz was expelled form the school but one of his fellow classmates Elizabeth Samaroo said he was expelled for bringing knives onto campus multiple times and also bragging about how he loved killing animals(Kovaleski,2018).
Lynda Cruz, his adoptive mother who died from pneumonia in November 2017, told mental health investigators in 2016 that her son suffered from ADHD, depression and autism but insisted he received his necessary medication as prescribed, according to the report. She told investigators at the time that her son did not own a gun, beyond an air gun that she had taken away when he "didn't follow house rules about only shooting it within the backyard at the targets”(McCausland,2018). After his mothers death, Cruz and his younger brother were taken in by Rocxane Deschamps who also reported having behavioral trouble with Nikolas. On November 28th only weeks after the death of his mother, 911 was called saying that Cruz was distraught and violent after losing a photo of his mother. In the phone call, Cruz told the operator “ I got kind of mad, and i started punching walls and stuff and then a kid came at me and threw me to the ground and he started attacking me, and kicked me out of the house and he said that he was going to gut me”(McCleary,2018). The Florida Department of Children and Families was alerted after Cruz sent out a Snapchat video in which he cut both of his arms and shared his intention "to go out and buy a gun," according to the report. The report noted that "Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms" and that in 2015 he'd had a "Nazi symbol drawn on his book bag" and "hate signs on a book bag stating, 'I hate n——s.” (McCausland,2018).
Cruz attended weekly therapy sessions between February 2014 and December 2015 at Cross Creek, a school in Pompano Beach that specializes in students with behavioral and emotional disorders, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald. In one session on May 3, 2014, Cruz said he had a dream “of him killing people and covered in blood."( Lam,2018).Therapy sessions in the following months also disclosed the 19-year-old’s obsession with guns and shooting before he engaged in the massacre at Marjor Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Cruz would talk about researching wars, military and terrorist topics on YouTube, according to the report. His mother, Lynda Cruz explained her son’s obsession developed through “excessive gaming.”(Lam,2018)
The school therapist and psychiatrist at Cross Creek wrote in a letter before summer 2014 that they were concerned about Cruz's “aggressive and destructive” behavior at home. “At home, he continues to be aggressive and destructive with minimal provocation,” the letter stated. “For instance, he destroyed his television after losing a video game that he was playing. Nikolas has a hatchet that he uses to chop up a dead tree in his backyard. Mom has not been able to locate that hatchet as of lately.” It is also reported that when upset he punches holes in the walls and has used sharp tools to cut up the upholstery on the furniture and carve holes in the walls of the bathroom.(Lam,2018).
When we look at how psychological development comes into play hen it comes to mass murder shooters there are often some aspects to look at as an early warning. In the case of Adam Lanza, failure to treat such significant cognitive disorders that could be easily treated, have shown to show signs of aggression that could lead to a future criminal history. There are a few clues to show personality of a child that could show to express aggressive motives are how the child copes with conflicts, disappointments, failures and insults that the will encounter i everyday life. How the child expresses anger or rage, frustration, disappointment and humiliation. How the child responds to rules, authority figures and instructions. One of the major aspects is how they display empathy with feelings and experiences of others. An aspect that is also important is the relationship that these individuals have with their caregivers starting at a young age and how the relationships progress or deteriorate over the years. Children that are involved in abusive and neglectful families will exhibit more aggression and more violence as the years progress and they could become involved in gang related activities and often times children end up in the juvenile justice system.
Americans are struggling to make sense of the issue of mass shootings plaguing the United States. President Trump is trying to steer the national conversation to questions about the mental capacity of those pulling the triggers, not blaming the weapons and the gun laws itself. After almost all mass shooting wether in schools or outside of schools, Democrats are putting blame on gun control laws and how lax they are. President Trump has represented himself since his presidential campaign as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment rights to bear arms. For gun-rights supporters, the focus on mental health has become the standard response to shooting massacres, just as more gun control has been the standard response from the other side of the ideological divide. Shortly after becoming president, Mr. Trump signed legislation repealing a regulation enacted by Omaha intended to add the names of mentally ill Americans registered with the Social Security Administration to the database for gun purchase background checks. The regulation which was Obama's response to the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn (Baker,2017).
Florida has seen three mass shooting in 20 months, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the Fort Lauderdale airport and now at Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School in Parkland. The shooting in Parkland shifted the focus of many people in Florida and nationally to mental health. President Trump and other leaders were quick to call the 19-year-old man who killed 17 people at his former high school mentally ill. The mental health provision is attached to controversial gun legislation passed by the Florida Senate. It raises the age of most firearm purchases to 21 and institutes a mandatory three-day waiting period for all firearm purchases and this also will ban the sale of bump stocks which are devices that can be attached to a weapon that will enable it to fire more quickly(Ochoa,2018). A piece of legislation that has received a lot of attention in Florida is the provision that would allow some teachers to have guns in schools but this la would also designate an influx of cash for mental health services. Since 2000, Florida has spent 40% less on mental health but hasn't increased since over 4.5 million people have moved to Florida since.
The Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that left 17 people dead has ignited a national debate about whether schools would be safer if teachers carry guns. But 78 percent of North Carolina educators say it’s a bad idea, according to a recent poll (Helms, 2018). The 379 teachers who took part in the survey, conducted between Feb. 28 and March 5, were promised confidentiality. A teacher reported “Look, I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to kill anyone,” said Leigh Sanders, a sixth-grade English teacher at Swift Creek Middle School in Johnston County. “I want to teach, and if anyone wants to arm teachers, please for the love of country, let it be with school supplies, nurses, counselors and, above all else, trust.(Hui,2018)."
Certain mental illnesses can be associated with violent behavior, but so can many other factors, said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.“There are a lot of factors that can cause violence,” he said. “Untreated psychosis may be one, but there are definitely other factors (Alexander,2018)."