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Youth Gun Violence Issues in Middle Schools

Any loss of innocent life is always tragic. However, when the life lost is someone as young as a middle school student, at the hands of anther student, in a place where he is supposed to be safe, it is especially so. The sad topic of gun violence in middle schools is surrounded by a variety of issues.

  1. Gun Access

    • One controversial topic surrounding middle school shootings is how students that commit these crimes on their campuses get their hands on the guns in the first place. While federal and state governments strictly control who can get guns through legal channels, things get murkier once those guns get into the buyer's home. Gun safes and locks can keep children from using their parents' guns to hurt themselves, or others. However, laws mandating the use of such locks or safes in the home are a point of intense contention between gun control and Second Amendment advocates.

    Bullying

    • After any middle school shooting authorities and the public often ask why did a student choose to take other lives in such a violent fashion. One answer subsequent investigations reveal is the shooter struggled with bullying on campus. Because of this, many schools have started programs to both crack down on bullying when it occurs and educate students on ways to prevent bullying. This includes traditional ostracizing behavior on campus and the more recent phenomenon of cyberbullying.

    Video Games

    • One line some commentators, such as former military psychologist David Grossman, draw is between school shootings and violent video games. Commentators such as Grossman argue that playing violent video games conditions young people to commit violence, which makes incidents such as school shootings more likely. However, as of 2011, there was not a lot of scientific research data to back up this assertion. The studies linking violent behavior with video games suffer from poor methodological structures that compromise the value of their findings, according to Henry Jenkins, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

    Armed Teachers

    • In addressing questions of how to prevent future school shootings some lawmakers, such as Wisconsin state Rep. Frank Lasee, propose arming teachers. The idea was students would be discouraged from committing violence if they knew adults on campus had weapons. If this deterrent did not work, proponents argued armed teachers could take steps to protect students, and themselves, from pupils who brought guns onto campus with the intent to commit violence.

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