There have been 141 people killed in a mass murder or attempted mass murder at a school since the Columbine Shootings. (Pearle) Sandy Hook Elementary School, Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and University of Texas at Austin are just a few examples of the tragic events that we are reminded of during debates on gun control. It is foolish to believe that having stricter laws on guns will control the school shooting epidemic. With this argumentative essay, I hope to provide multiple sustainable reasons why harsher laws on guns will not stop mass school shootings.
To begin, after the shock of the tragic events, the world begins to analyze the shooter’s mental capacity. President Obama believes that we should have harsher laws regarding
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After every tragedy, reporters from the top news shows, such as; ABC NEWS, NBC, HSN, and CNN rush to the scene of the crime. I understand that coverage is needed, but the issue begins when the coverage discusses the shooter with more importance than the victims or event. The media contributes to the problem with its 24/7 coverage and its intense focus on the killers and their backgrounds. This type of coverage attracts unstable individuals and increases the risk of future tragedies. (Dikel) According to Sherry Towers, mass shootings may be contagious. Using a mathematical contagion model typically applied to the spread of diseases, the study found that 30 percent of mass killings and 22 percent of school shootings appeared to have been inspired by previous events. One possible reason is media coverage. “What we found was, in ones that didn’t get a lot of media attention there was no contagion, and in the ones where we did see a lot of media attention, that’s where we saw the contagion,” Towers says. (Kutner) From reading the above statements, this leads me and other American to believe that media plays a larger role is mass shootings than once believed. Of course, we need coverage, but reporters should use caution when reporting because releasing unconfirmed reports can re-traumatize survivors and make innocent people become