School Shootings Argumentative Analysis

School shootings are a reoccurring problem in the United States. As of 2018, there have been over 18 school shootings in America (Cuddy). However, this is nothing new to us. Every year they are countless reports of school shootings ending in injury or death. It should be obvious that schools are the safest place for parents to send their children during the day, the sad truth is, it is not. Although most of us are not physically involved, our nation itself is highly affected by these incidents. Every school shootings come with a political debate between gun violence and mental health and arguing which side to blame. Whether it is because of guns, mental health, or the school’s security itself something needs to be done to limit these horrid

It does not take long for a debate to arise after a school shooting to argue which side is to blame. However, the debate has done nothing but made it worse for the trend of school shootings as it typically results in nothing. With two opposing sides, they barely consider any reasonable solutions since they are more focused on worrying if the gun or the shooter is to blame for the death of hundreds of people. In an article written by the Gallups’ Lida Saad concluded, “According to two recent Gallup polls, from 2011 and 2013, more people believe that mass shootings result from a failure of the mental-health system than from easy access to guns.” Gun advocates are in favor of this reasoning because they believe that the system is failing to identify mental health patients in regards to gun violence. However, in the book, Gun Violence and Mental Illness, published by the American Psychiatric Association they found, “Overall, mass shootings by people with serious mental illness represent 1 percent of all gun homicides each year.” State governments have already imposed bills that restrict any mental health patient to purchase a gun. But with the 33 states that allow for private sellers to sell firearms with no background checks, potentially shows a prominent reason for guns falling into the wrong hands of people. With the continuing disagreement of both sides to the argument, the United States government has only worsened the situation by not putting their differences aside and failing to focus on protecting the future of our