School Shootings are Horrible!
BUT: Are we being told the Truth?
We all know the facts about school shootings. There have been a lot of shootings, starting with Columbine, up to the recent Uvalde Texas shooting. These shootings are horrible and all of us want our children to be safe. We are being told that changes need to be made to stop these shootings. They say simple laws can be passed and these shootings will end. But are they telling the TRUTH? Let's look at their claims.
Claim #1: School Shootings Pose a
Huge Risk to your Child.
How many School Age Kids are murdered by guns at School each year? Surprisingly, that is not an easy number to find. The Federal Government does not track this. So we have to turn to other sources.
James Alan Fox, an internationally respected criminologist at Northeastern University says, “The average number of children who are killed at school by guns in an average year is about seven.”
Another source, The Washington Post says there have been 185 gun murders at public and private, primary and secondary schools since Columbine in 1999, up through the Uvalde shooting, which is an average of 8 school shooting deaths per year.
Other sources come up with higher numbers, because they count shootings that occur on the bus to and from school, while waiting for the bus, at all School sanctioned sporting and other events, including after school or on weekends. They also count the perpetrator and teachers and other adult victims. Using this very broad criteria, the National Center for Education Statistics show an average of:
31 gun homicides per year, based on the last 6 years.
Their 10 year average is 28.
If you exclude the pandemic years the average is 25 per year.
Without splitting hairs, without subtracting adults and perpetrators, let's take the highest number. That gives us 31 school gun homicides per year, on average, out of 50 million students.
According to the CDC website, based on a 10 year average, 1,249 school age kids are murdered with guns each year. Because only 31 of those gun murders happen at school, it means school is already the safest place to be. School kids are 40 times more likely to be murdered with a gun outside of School, than in School.
Claim #1 is WRONG! Your Child is Far Safer
at School than at Home or any other Place.
School Kids have 40 times less chance of being shot at school
than any other place!
Claim #2: The Republicans Have Caused This Crisis.
Many of these articles have clearly stated that the Republicans have blood on their hands. They claim, if not for the Republicans, Congress would have enacted laws that would have prevented these shootings.
Instead of blaming Republicans, they should be giving credit to these policies that make schools so safe.
Entrance is limited through locked doors and other barriers.
Many schools have resource officers and security personnel.
Teachers must pass a background check.
Visitors must be cleared by administration prior to visiting.
These well thought out and effective policies are why schools are the safest place for our children.
Schools are also Gun Free Zones, but it is doubtful that this policy really helps. Gun Free Zones acts as an attraction to bad actors. Bad Guys know they can shoot up a school, with little chance of anybody shooting back. Gun Free Zone laws do not deter criminals from bringing a gun to School, because criminals don't obey the law. Gun Free Zones only affect the law abiding people.
If Schools eliminated the Gun Free Zone policy and allowed teachers that already have Concealed Carry permits to carry on school grounds, it would probably deter some of these shootings. Many school teachers have military and other gun training. Some of these Bad Actors might think twice if they knew many of the School Teachers were packing. A simple change like this could make the already safe schools, even safer. And at no additional cost to the tax payer!
Claim #2 is WRONG! Common Sense Policies,
promoted by Republicans and others have
already made Schools Very Safe.
Allowing Concealed Carry could
make the Schools even Safer!
Claim #3: We must Reduce or Eliminate
the Guns in Circulation.
Reducing the number of guns in circulation, is an obvious solution according to some people. These people advocate gun buy backs, gun confiscation and other ways of reducing the number of guns in circulation. They cite Australia and other places as examples. But there are some flaws in this line of reasoning.
There are over 350 million guns currently in private hands in the US. Whether the Government does a gun buy back or confiscates all guns, the criminals aren't going to give up their guns. The net effect would be law abiding citizens would be disarmed, and at the mercy of well armed criminals.
Ahh, but the Police can keep us safe, some would say. Not likely, when every major city in the US is experiencing surging homicide rates with only about half of the murders leading to any arrests. Seattle currently does not even refer rape cases to detectives, because the police are too understaffed to investigate sex crimes. This is NOT the time for law abiding citizens to give up their guns.
For the sake of argument, lets say Government really could take everybody's guns, and not even the criminals had guns anymore.
What about Ghost Guns? These are guns that people make at home. They are unregistered and have no serial numbers. I've heard it is quite easy to do.
And 3-D printers. You can make guns from 3-D printers from plans you get on the internet. These guns can be made from 100% plastic, to evade metal detectors.
Even if the Government were able to totally confiscate all guns today, tomorrow criminals would just make new guns and we would be at their mercy.
Some people claim fine tuning of existing gun laws, may help. They call for:
better background checks to keep dangerous criminals and others from buying guns,
and suggest raising the legal age from 18 to 21 to buy guns,
and implementation of so called Red Flag laws.
These types of changes may help to some degree and we SHOULD consider them.
Many pundits cite the fact that we have more gun violence than some other countries. Although it is outside the scope of this article, there are lots of reasons why that is the case. In any event, just acknowledging that fact doesn't change anything and it is highly unlikely that any combination of new laws would make us like Sweden or Denmark. We have to deal with reality, not wishful thinking, and taking guns away from law abiding citizens will make the situation worse, not better.
Claim #3 is Mostly Wishful Thinking.
Congress and the States should
honor the 2nd Amendment,
while making Minimal, Well
Thought out Changes.
If regular life could be made as safe as School is, the annual gun murder rate of school kids would be reduced from 1,249 to about 150. That would save about 1,100 lives a year.
Since kids are safer at School than anywhere else, why do some politicians focus on School Shootings?
There is a biblical expression that says "You will strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." School shootings evoke a lot of sympathy, and some politicians seem intent on using the issue to get votes, to be able to implement their agenda.
There is political strategy that says: "Never let a good crisis go to waste." According to these politicians, every single tragedy needs to be exploited to convince as many people as possible to vote for them. This is their strategy to Get Elected and Re-Elected. And the Main Stream Media seems to go right along with their agenda. But you shouldn't be fooled.
Now you know the TRUTH.
Schools are the SAFEST place for kids.
Common sense policies are working very well.
Fine tuning these policies, and allowing Concealed Carry by Teachers at Schools, could make the Schools even Safer.
Help get the word out. We need to keep our school kids safe by staying the course. We need to continue the policies that are working.
CW Jasper
June 2022
I think we should repeal the Second Amendment. At the time that of the constitutional convention, we had just come from being ruled by the British. The states wanted to have their own militias in case we were attacked by Britain again. The gun, as we know it today, had not been invented. The bullit and the Colt six-shooter was not invented until the 1830's.
The difference between the US and every other modern country that has violent movies, rap lyrics, video games, etc. is the Second Amendment. When mass murder has happened in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, etc they changed the laws after the first incident. in the US, we can never implement any gun safety laws regarding access…
Thank you Dr. Jasper. I was hoping you would explore the mental illness factor of school shooters today. With violence emphasized in the movies coming out of Hollywood and the gaming industry and the vulnerability of impressionable young people today, addressing mental health seems to me to be something worth exploring. Also, the breakdown of family (increasingly the lack of a fatherly influence) contributing to depression and isolation of young people can also lead to violent behavior.