Public Mass Shootings In Schools

According to LA Times, “at least 59% of the 185 public mass shootings that took place in the United States from 1900 through 2017 were carried out by people who had either been diagnosed with a mental disorder or demonstrated signs of serious mental illness prior to the attack,“ (Duwe). These numbers refer to public mass shootings, which include, but not only refer to schools. What this statistic means is 109 shootings at most could have been avoided by having schools identify students with mental illnesses and making schools provide effective support for these students. However, PBS claims, “Schools do not all screen students for mental health issues. Even if students are successfully identified, many areas lack the community-based mental health treatment options that would be needed to help

Just 38 percent of youth with a mood disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder receive treatment services. Many students’ mental health problems continue to go unidentified and untreated,” (Gold). In summary, schools are not identifying the students who need help and those who do need help rarely seek it. Identifying students with mental health illnesses is a step for schools to prevent school shootings and creating a safer community.
Schools would also be less likely to be shot down if they cracked down on bullying and assisted victims of bullying. A report by the Safe Schools Initiative suggests that 71% of attackers of 409 school shootings were victims of bullying, (Paolini). On a similar note, Paolini, a school counselor, has similar speculations, saying “there are two leading causes of school shootings: bullying (87%), as well as both non-compliance and