Victimization At School Essay Example for Free

Victimization At School Essay One type of victimization that can happen at school is school shootings. We have seen too many times where students and teachers have been victimized by other students who bring guns to school and take innocent lives, due to many personal reasons. There is a huge need for stricter gun control laws to make certain that students are safer in their educational institutions. Too many deaths occur where school students are victimized when individuals decide they want to bring weapons to school and use them against innocent victims. Hugh LaFollette explains to us that (LaFollette, 2000) â€Å"The literature of gun advocates supports my contention that guns are inherently dangerous. They advocate the private ownership of guns to prevent crime and to arm the militia. Guns can serve these purposes only because they are effective means of inflicting and threatening harm. † It is fair to say that guns still cause innocent victims to lose their lives and shouldn’t be available for easy access to dangerous individuals. The recent massacre at Virginia Tech and other needless shootings proved that guns can end up in the wrong hands and cause innocent victims to lose their lives. Maggie Rodriguez from The Early Show on CBS tells us that (Rodriguez, 2007) â€Å"Its been eight years since Columbine, Helmke said via satellite from Washington, D. C. Weve done nothing as a country. Its been six months since the Amish school shootings. Weve done nothing as a country. We need to be asking out elected officials what they can do to prevent people from getting these kinds of high-powered weapons. Weapons have been easily accessible and have ultimately reached the hands of the wrong people who have taken the life of many innocent people in our schools. We have seen too many times how guns have been the weapons utilized by deranged individuals, used to cause too many senseless injuries and fatalities, at schools. We also have the argument from those in the pro-gun camp who will easily say that if people are permitted to carry concealed weapons to protect themselves, they can prevent these kinds of fatalities from taking place in our school settings. By allowing everyone to carry guns, we would be placing too many other’s lives in danger. Although, there would be instances such as the killings that took place at Virginia Tech, where guns could have possibly stopped the shooter, there would be more instances where lives would be taken because of this easy access to guns. By keeping guns away from the general public, we would make it more complicated for people like the gunman at Virginia Tech to get their hands on guns to kill innocent victims. Many gun rights groups, that are led by the National Rifle Association will argue that proposals that ask for stricter gun laws breach on the constitutional rights of every law-abiding citizen. They assume that these bans on the sale of specific types of weapons haven’t proved effective in decreasing crime, and that proposals for stricter background checks at all gun shows are formed to eliminate gun shows, themselves. Many gun manufacturers have easily volunteered the support for safety locks, but the NRA has criticized these safety locks for placing a huge burden on gun manufacturers, without benefiting to the public. Georgeann Rooney who is a specialist at a Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center explained a 2002 federal study where 37 school shootings and attacks were looked at from 1974 to 2000. Rooney explains that (Rooney, 2007) â€Å"While the study said there is no accurate profile of students who engage in targeted violence at schools, it noted that many said they felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others before the attacks oIn the Santana High incident, Charles Andy Williams complained about being bullied before he went on a shooting rampage at the Santee campus, leaving two dead and 13 wounded. † The same study showed that â€Å"Most attackers had access to and had used weapons before the attack and prior to most incidents, other people knew about the attackers plans. We learn that â€Å"Most attackers had difficulty coping with significant losses or personal failures and many had considered or attempted suicide. † We see very often that most attackers who take innocent lives on school property have serious mental disturbances. We learn from The National Center of Vital Statistics that (NCVS, 1999) â€Å"The risk of death at school based on 93 incidents that occurred in the nations 119,000 schools over a ten-year period, the annual probability of a school experiencing a student-perpetrated homicide is about 1 in 11,520. † The biggest concern is that there are many people who should be allowed to collect and carry guns, because they pose no threat to society but far too many times student, teachers and other school staff members suffer at the hands of disturbed individuals. Not everyone should be considered dangerous individuals because they carry guns, but by allowing guns to remain in their hands, we are making it too easy for tragic shootings to take place at our schools, when these when these weapons end up in the wrong hands. We learn from News Batch that (News Batch, 2005) â€Å"Gun control was not a major issue in the 2004 Presidential campaign. The percentage of Americans who consider gun control as an important issue has declined from 3% to 1%. Fewer Americans are supportive of gun control in general and handgun control in particular. † By not making gun control issues an important issue, we are ignoring a dangerous situation, where young students suffer to needless killings at school. Even with background checks, it is far too risky to allow individuals to have easy access to guns. The shooter at Virginia Tech was able to purchase guns because he had a background check that was clean because all shooters have criminal records. Gun control activists still believe that it is far to easy for criminals to obtain guns and that an alarming proportion of the population remains armed. Their concern has been fueled by an unprecedented recent rash of school shootings and fatalities. Many experts are blaming this phenomena on violent video games and poor parenting but in each case the youths involved had easy access to the weapons that they used. Gun control advocates support measures which would require locks on all guns, which would apply the provisions of the Brady bill to gun shows. These gun control advocate groups also advocate a federal law allowing only one handgun purchase per month and raising the age for gun ownership from 18 to 21. By increasing the age limit for buying guns to 21, we may decrease the number of shootings that take place but we aren’t eliminating the possibilities for dangerous individuals to get their hands on guns that kill. John W. Mashek (Mashek, 2007) tells us that â€Å"The tragedy at Virginia Tech should open our minds to a problem our nation refuses to confront. The easy access to guns and lethal weapons is a national disgrace. In Virginia alone, gun owners are limited to one purchase a month. I can hear the response from the NRA already: People kill people. Yes, but they do it with guns and too frequently with those easily accessible weapons. † He goes on to say that â€Å"The condolences from the NRA are of little comfort to the mourners of those slaughtered in Blacksburg. The NRA, to put it bluntly, has too many willing friends in Congress from both political parties. Campaign cash flows to them in hefty amounts. Members of both parties should be ashamed. † Without easy access to guns, criminals are less likely to kill. There are many individuals who will argue that â€Å"People kill, not guns. † Yes, this may be true, but without guns, they have less opportunity to kill. When killing is on the mind of a deranged individual, they usually look for guns to commit murders and by not making guns easy to buy, we are decreasing the threat that is upon society. Michael Daily, a daily news columnists asks, (Daily, 2007) â€Å"Still love those guns, Virginia? It is clear that many people are fed up with guns being so available to the general public. There must be serious restrictions placed on buying weapons. These restrictions should make it impossible for the entire general public to purchase guns. It is a fact that guns do kill and we must remove this threat that is causing so many needless shootings at our schools across the United States. Guns can be accessed much too easily and it is up to all Americans to stand up and say that we are tired of worrying about ourselves and our loved ones being taken out by individuals who have problems dealing with society. It is unfair for innocent victims to lose their lives because someone is having a bad day and can easily walk to the gun store and purchase a gun, in a rather small period of time. We must vote for strict gun control laws and make it far less possible for guns to reach the hands of the wrong people who kill and victimize students too often! Reference Page LaFollette, Hugh. (2000). â€Å"Gun Control†. Ethics. Vol. 1. P. 263-81. News Batch. (2005). â€Å"Gun Control Policy Issues†. www. newsbatch. com/guncontrol. htm. Mashek, John W. (2007). â€Å"Guns Kill People. Period. †. A Capital View. US News and World Report. Rodriguez, Maggie. (2007). â€Å"Shootings at VA Tech Spark Gun Debate†. The Early Show. CBS. Rooney, Georgeann. (2007). Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center. The National Center for Vital Statistics. (1999). â€Å"Serious Violent Crimes in Schools†. www. youthviolence. ed.