Writing about guns on campus and school safety

School shootings are a nightmare scenario for parents, students, and teachers. Unfortunately, massacres in American schools take place quite often.

Since the beginning of this year, several cases of armed attacks resulting in injuries and deaths happened in American schools. According to statistics from Washington Post, starting from the massacre at Columbine, more than 150,000 primary and senior students from 170 schools have witnessed murders or became victims of shooting on campus.

All these events explain the relevance of gun violence essays. The idea of possession of firearms by teachers and ordinary citizens has both supporters and opponents. In this article, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the history of this issue and the most common opinions on how to approach it. On their basis, you can draw your own conclusions and write a quality weapons for college safety research paper or essay.

Analysis of tragedy in Parkland for school violence essay

If you are writing a persuasive essay on should guns be allowed on campus, this recent case might be of a special interest for you. The incident in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, was not similar to many other tragedies of this kind. The criminal was detained alive; he testified, cooperated with the police, and behaved in a way which is rather uncommon for criminals. The fact that the 19-year-old assassin, Nikolas Cruz, repeatedly demonstrated antisocial behavior is unprecedented. The shooter was earlier expelled from this school because of problems with discipline

A fire alarm sounded ten minutes before the end of the lesson. Survivors told that at first, they thought it was a drill. Cruz was in a gas mask and had smoke grenades. When children went out into the corridor, he had the opportunity to shoot them. The shooter was detained about an hour and a half after the start of the incident. Among the 17 victims, 12 people were killed inside the school, three more – outside the building, and two died in the hospital.

Immediately after the arrest, the police began to study Cruz’s social networks and found a lot of disturbing evidence. It became obvious that there were reasons for worrying and suspecting something wrong. For example, Nikolas had published photos with guns and cold steel. In addition, he had openly declared the desire to commit an attack, including one on police officers. Perhaps, the tragedy might have been prevented if some measures were taken.

‘He was always depressed, talked about weapons, and often tried to hide his face,’ recalls one of Nikolas’ friends from the school. Some of his acquaintances remember that Cruz had problems with other students and was worried by the fact that he did not receive any help from the teachers. Teenagers even joked that if someone could ever attack the school, it would be Nikolas.

The mathematics teacher, in whose class the boy studied in 2016, said that Cruz was ‘quiet’ and ‘unproblematic.’ However, last year, he was banned from entering school with a backpack after teenager threatened other students.

Weapons: constitutional right or threat?

After the Parkland tragedy, the discussion about gun control in the US raised again. However, one of Donald Trump’s main campaign slogans was the defense of the second amendment, which is the Americans’ right to possess weapons. President often reproaches Democrats for their attempts to deprive the country’s citizens of this freedom.

Many people were outraged by the fact that Nikolas Cruz was able to legally acquire an AR-15 rifle worth $500, and a stormy social reaction was quite understandable. In Florida and other states, protests were held demanding to tighten control over the circulation of guns to prevent future tragedies.

However, Trump said that the main reasons for the tragedy were the attacker’s ‘mental problems.’ This way, the head of the White House avoided touching upon the topic of gun control.

Gun ownership has always been among burning issues in the US. For Americans, constitutional rights are sacrosanct. The second amendment of the Constitution came into force immediately after the attainment of independence by the US. It guaranteed that the government would not be able to take away weapons from citizens as the British did at the end of colonial rule.

Today, the topic of gun control is inextricably linked to the political, social, and cultural splits in the American society. A rich and influential National Rifle Association impacts the appropriate moods.

After the carnage in Parkland, there were people who argued that the problem was not only in the free access to firearms. In their opinion, if schoolchildren and teachers were prepared for the attack, they could confront the shooter. However, many people consider this point of view unacceptable. What do you think about it? A school violence research paper is a perfect chance to express your opinion.

‘Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.’ – this quote by Sarah Hutto became the slogan of supporters of free possession of firearms in the United States. It makes sense in some way as the widespread use of guns does not necessarily lead to a large number of murders. For example, in Switzerland, there are weapons in 1 out of 4 houses (the highest level in Europe), while there are only 0.7% of the murders for every 100,000 inhabitants (the lowest level in the world).

So the issue is that there is a large number of firearms and a lot of people who are ready to use them in the United States.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that the United States has the largest number of weapons in the world. According to the GunPolicy.org portal, there are 101 guns per 100 Americans. It turns out that the country has more weapons than residents. Serbia is in the second place (58.2 guns per 100 people).

In addition, American mass culture (cinema, television, music, and video games) promotes excessive and ill-considered use of firearms. This might serve as one of the strongest reasons for school violence. However, many people think that this argument is unpersuasive. And what is your opinion? Ponder over it in your essay.

Other crimes examples for a research paper on school shootings

The case described above was included in the list of the bloodiest crimes in the United States over the past few years. However, there were other shocking incidents. You can also use the information about them for a should students be allowed to carry guns on campus essay.

2012: Sandy Hook Elementary School - 20 dead children aged 5-10 years and 6 adults

On December 14, 2012, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who had a mild form of autism, armed himself with a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, two Glocks, and Sig Sauer pistols and opened fire. As a result, 20 children aged 5-10 years and 6 adults were killed.

Before going to school, he shot his 52-year-old mother, Nancy Lanza, in the head four times. Then, on her car, the shooter went to the elementary school, broke the window with a shot, and got inside. He attacked people at close distance, almost at point-blank. At the time special forces and rescue services arrived, the criminal had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

2007: Virginia Tech - 33 dead, 29 wounded

Another terrible story happened on April 16, 2007. At the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, a schizophrenic 23-year-old student from South Korea, Seung-Hui Cho, opened fire from pistols in a dormitory and educational building and then committed suicide.

As a result of the shooting, 33 people were killed, and 29 more were injured. Between the murders, the offender sent an open letter and a video manifesto to NBC News in which he compared himself to Jesus Christ.

The police found out that the slaughter at Virginia Tech was preceded by a criminal’s quarrel with a girlfriend. After that, he broke into the German language class in the engineering department, shot a professor in the head, and then started killing students. The massacre in Virginia occurred on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the shooting in Columbine High School.

1999: Columbine High School - 13 dead, 24 wounded

The mass shooting in the Columbine High School in Colorado on April 20, 1999, was one of the biggest tragedies in American educational institutions. Two young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, broke into the school with weapons in their hands. In 4.5 hours, terrorists killed 12 students and one teacher, wounded dozens of people, and then committed suicide.

The work on this crime involved 80 investigators who collected 10,000 pieces of physical evidence and interrogated 1,400 witnesses. Both boys were from well-to-do, stable, and decent middle-class families. However, they were ‘outcasts’ at school: did not excel in sports and did not enjoy the respect of classmates. They wore long black raincoats, played “bloody” computer games, listened to cacophonic compositions of metal bands, and were obsessed with the Nazis. By the way, their crime coincided with Hitler’s birthday.

Unfortunately, attacks on schools in the US occur almost every month. Therefore, each should guns be allowed on college campus essay is not an abstract philosophical work intended exclusively for awakening the author’s creative abilities. The serious problem of life and death is touched upon. A list of tragedies written above can be supplemented by the following points:

• On February 1, 2018, a student in one of Los Angeles’ schools used firearms in the classroom. Two teenagers were injured.
• On January 23, 2018, there was a shooting in a high school in Kentucky, which resulted in the death of 2 people, while 19 were injured.
• On January 22, 2018, there was an attack in the school in Ellis County, state of Texas; as a result, one person was injured.
• On December 7, 2017, there was a tragedy in the city of Aztec (the north of New Mexico). 2 people became victims of the shooting. The criminal who opened fire was eliminated.
• On November 14, 2017, an unknown man opened fire on the territory of primary school in Texas. Four people died and four more, including three children, were injured. Later, the number of victims increased to five people as the body of murderer’s wife was found in his house.
• On September 13, 2017, there was a shooting in the Freeman High School in Washington State. The criminal was detained. One person was killed, and four were wounded.
• On April 10, 2017, in an elementary school in San Bernardino County in California, an unidentified man opened fire and then committed suicide. Two people were killed – a teacher and a student, and one more student was injured. It turned out that the shooter was an ex-husband of the killed teacher.
• On May 6, 2016, one person was killed, and one was injured in a shootout in a secondary school in Maryland.
• On February 12, 2016, two girls were killed as a result of shooting in a school in Glendale, Arizona.
• On October 24, 2014, an incident occurred in the school in Marysville, Washington. Armed with a pistol, 14-year-old Jaylen Fryberg entered the cafeteria and opened fire. As a result of the attack, one person died on the spot, and seven got injuries of varying severity; two of them died in the hospital. The attacker shot himself.
• On January 5, 2011, the shooting was arranged by Robert Butler Jr., the 17-year-old son of the head of the Omaha Police Department in the Millard High School in Omaha, Nebraska. His body was found later in one of the cars next to the school. He committed suicide. As a result of the incident, two people were killed, and one was wounded.
• On December 10, 2007, in the suburbs of Denver in the state of Colorado, an unknown person opened fire in a school for Christian missionaries. Two people were killed, two more were injured. The offender, a 20-year-old man (according to the description of the witnesses), disappeared from the crime scene.

On one hand, all these cases might help you support your statements in an argumentative essay on why guns should be allowed on campus. Many Americans believe that the availability of weapons for school personnel will be a serious obstacle to the massacres. Most of them could be prevented if criminals knew that they would face confrontation.

On the other hand, the abovementioned facts can as well be used in a banning guns on campus argumentative essay. Just as many people believe that arming teachers and professors might lead to more casualties as the behavior and reactions of both the killers and the teachers can be unpredictable.

The main question of school shootings essay: do teachers need firearms?

One of the aspects you can cover in a violence in schools essay is a political one. Donald Trump ordered to strengthen control over the purchase of weapons after the shooting in Florida. According to the President, teachers and school employees should be allowed to have guns. This privilege will be granted to approximately 20% of educators who have passed the appropriate training.

Donald Trump emphasized in his speech that criminals understand that no one can resist them in educational institutions. Employees who know how to use the guns will be able to put an end to the attack very quickly. Also, Trump suggested hiring former military officers who know how to handle weapons for school security. Moreover, at the meeting with teachers and students of schools, the President promised to tighten checks for issuing permission to purchase guns, including mental health testing. If you have a different opinion, you are welcome to list the shortcomings of the abovementioned approach in the school shootings research paper.

Let’s consider at least one shortcoming of such an idea. To ensure that military people or law enforcement officers use weapons in combat correctly, an effective range of activities is carried out: shootings, exercises, etc. Will there be any training of such kind for the armed teachers at schools? If you want to write an analytical should teachers carry guns in school essay with a share of valid criticism, it’s definitely worth paying attention to these details.

In general, there are many questions regarding this issue. Most US citizens hope that the safety of schools will be strengthened in other ways. However, it is quite possible that soon we will see a revised reform plan. Indeed, fundamental work must be carried out by the government to dispel doubts of people.

Useful tips on writing a how to prevent school violence essay

After you form your own attitude to the problem and come up with the main idea of your guns on college campuses essay, you need to take a look at the rules of writing academic papers.

The essay is perhaps one of the most common and interesting genres in the literature. You have probably heard that it is a ‘free flow of thought’ and that anyone can write a work of this kind. Still, getting acquainted with certain patterns of writing will increase your chances of creating a high-quality paper.

There are some key features of an essay genre:

• Free form. It is possible to think and philosophize here, and teachers are unlikely to reproach you for this. Describe everything that comes to mind, analyze, and sum up what was written.
• The essays are rather short in length, but you need to consider the word limit your teacher has set if any.
• There must be some relevant or insoluble problem. You should come up with good guns on campus essay thesis and build strong arguments.
• Emotionality and imagery. The brighter the language is, the more interesting it is to read your argumentative essay on the pros and cons of guns on campus.

These are the main characteristics of such papers. However, before writing an actual paper, you should answer a few important questions to yourself:

• How to write a an essay correctly?
• What is the purpose of the essay writing?
• What is more important for me: to convey my own thoughts or to create an impartial essay?

Next, despite the fact that one may express creativity while writing an essay, all papers of such type have several components which should not be omitted:

1. Introduction. Do not immediately rush to prove something in your gun violence essay introduction. First, it is necessary to prepare the basis for your essay and create some kind of intrigue so that the readers would be engaged in reading your paper. Think thoroughly about argumentative essay on guns on campus hooks. Come up with phrases which will catch the attention of examiner or reader.  
2. The main part. Remember that the central idea that you build your arguments around should be formulated clearly and concisely. No one likes vague statements. Your task is not only to list but also to substantiate selected arguments. Are you writing a “why guns should be banned” essay? Prove this point of view based on the theories of competent psychologists or by giving examples of the above-described shootings.
3. Conclusion to essay on guns on campus. It is a good idea to conclude your essay by restating all the essential aspects of the problem and the thesis. Only this way, you will be able to finish the text and show the value of the information written.

So we have answered the necessary questions on how to write a should teachers be armed essay correctly. Now you know what components must definitely be included in the paper. What is next? Let’s consider some other important points.

Topic

Think how well you know the issue you are going to write about. For example, you were assigned a task to write a concealed guns on campus essay. Can you offer some new information on this topic? Writing an essay, you have to be original. Even if the subject is well-known, there is a need to provide some unconventional point of view on the problem. Can you do it? Then go ahead.

Materials

Try to study your topic from different points of view, opposing the opinion of some other authors, or vice versa, supporting it. An essay on safety rules at school should be a paper written by an educated person with an innovative way of thinking. Moreover, be careful with the choice of sources. You can visit your local library or surf the Internet for some credible materials.

Be specific

Make your essay on school violence extremely interesting and educative by providing your audience with specific and factual information. Finally, make sure that your essay conveys some valuable message to the reader.

Three points

As soon as you understand the points you want to convey, write down the main ideas and thoughts on the paper. Choose three best  ideas which will become the basis of your  essay on school shootings. If there are more points, you risk to appear superficial and incomprehensible, if less – boring and conservative.

Style

Using an appropriate essay style is one of the most important aspects to consider for getting an excellent mark. While writing your paper think about the following: How logical is your composition? Is it easy for you to formulate your thoughts? Are they interesting for readers?

Sometimes it is worth adding some simple phrases not to focus on dry facts only. However, do not make your paper sound too colloquial. An essay against guns on campus or the proof of their necessity requires being serious because you consider one of the most important and sore subjects. So it is not recommended to descend to a frivolous tone. Still, it is not a good idea to be a boring philosopher as well. Develop your own style of presentation that will be inherent only to you.

Editing

Have you finally written everything and expressed all the ideas you wanted? Now re-read the text of your safety in school essay and check the transitions between paragraphs. Were you able to disclose the main idea? Are there any extra suggestions you would like to make? Is everything written in the same style? Are the arguments sufficient? Have you corrected all the mistakes? You can ask yourself a great number of questions at this stage. Make sure the paper is of a good quality and well-structured.

Carrying guns on campus essay title

The title is perhaps one of the most important parts of the essay. It is better to come up with it at the very end of the work when you have re-read the final text and are ready to formulate a compelling. The readers should become interested once they see the title of your paper.

An honest look at things

Do not write about theories in which you do not believe. Do not focus on facts if you are not sure they are precise. Discuss what is really interesting and true. When the argumentative essay on guns on campus is written with a sincere interest in the topic, reading his or her ideas is extremely pleasant.

Truth is the only thing that is valued at all times. When a person reads an essay, they want to answer some questions to themselves and see the real picture and order of things. And of course, they are interested in what others have already learned. You are welcome to share your experience and use reliable information, but not to mislead readers.

Innovation

It is claimed that everything has already been written before us, so it is impossible to create something new. Still, you have to write a do we really need more guns on campus essay and introduce some new information. Does it mean that you are at a dead end? By no means! As an old proverb goes, “Many men, many minds.” Just provide your own sincere opinion on the matter as well as some solutions to the problem which you consider the most effective.

Now you know how to create are guns allowed on college campus essay. Finally, here is the last tip. Do you want to write an academic paper but do not know how to start? Use your favorite quotation, proverb, or saying as a hook phrase.

In time, writing will become much easier, as you will be more experienced. Just keep up and reach your goal. Good luck