Cause Of Mass Shootings

Let's say that someone is walking down the hall in the middle of a school, then, all of a sudden a kid runs in and BOOM! Shots ring in their ears and they start to cry, looking around to see if they can find anyone else but all they see are dead bodies on the ground, covered in blood. Then, they look up at the end of the hall and there he is, holding a gun ready to shoot; what will they do? Run for their life? Then, for a moment this person closes their eyes and they wonder, why would someone do this? What is their motive? But then they can no longer think about it anymore, because they realize they might become one of the people surrounding them, so they open their eyes. He’s gone.

More school shootings have happened in America than anywhere

Many people believe that the main cause of mass shootings are the people who are doing it have a mental health problem, and sometimes they might even be right, but not everyone who has been involved in a mass shooting has had mental health problems. “...data shows that, at most, only around 5 percent of crimes in the U.S. are performed by people with mental illness and that the percentage is the same for violent crimes (link is external)—which means that 95 percent of violent crimes are committed by non-mentally ill individuals” (Psychology Today). There are cases that support that some people have had severe mental health issues, such as schizophrenia. Yet, there are also cases that prove there is very little evidence linking mental health and mass shootings together. There are very few mental illnesses that would make a person want to go and commit such a murder. Everywhere in the United States that sells guns should participate in better background checks, and better mental health checks. If someone shows any sign of a mental illness that could potentially make them owning a gun a threat to people around them, then they shouldn’t get the chance to own a weapon. On the other hand, it would be very hard to tell if someone has a mental illness because everything that comes out of their mouth could be a lie. The only thing as of right now that could prevent someone with a mental illness from buying a gun is if they have records of needing help with their illness. “Under federal law, a person can be tallied in a database and barred from purchasing or possessing a firearm due to a mental illness under two conditions: if he is involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, or if a court or government body declares him mentally incompetent”