Informative Speech Going Out with a Bang General Purpose: To inform. Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the causes of school shootings in America. Central Idea: The main causes for school shootings are easy access to guns, mental instability and trauma. INTRODUCTION I. (Attention Getter) Imagine sitting in the cafeteria with your friends like any normal day at school. You lean down to get another bite of your peanut butter sandwich, and you hear a scream. You look up and you see two boys with masks carrying big guns. Everything happens in a blur and you’re hiding under the table with your friend who is lying on the ground unconscious. That may seem absurd to you, but it is the reality of many American students over the past decade. …show more content…
(Sub-subpoint 1) 87% of students said that the main cause of school shootings is because they want to level the playing field. (Alfred University) 2. (Sub-subpoint 2) For example, a 12-year-old from Nevada opened fire at school because he was bullied. He was called “an idiot, a retard and gay”. (NY Daily News) B. (Subpoint 2) Traumatic experiences like physical and sexual abuse will impact young individuals negatively and eventually cause them to lash out with gun violence. 1. (Sub-subpoint 1) Traumatized shooters come from dysfunctional families, in contrast with shooters that are psychopathic. The shooters have all faced some sort of physical/sexual abuse and have had at least one parent with a criminal record. (Peter Langman) 2. (Sub-subpoint 2) An example of a traumatized shooter is 16-year-old Evan Ramsey. In 1997, Evan committed a school shooting in Bethel, Alaska. Evan was abused sexually and physically at foster homes. He was suicidal. Friends convinced him to shoot other people at school. (Transition: To summarize, the main causes of school shootings are easy access to guns, mental instability and trauma.) CONCLUSION I. (Summary statement) The three main causes of school shootings are easily accessible guns, mental instability and