Essay On School Shootings

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"Columbine", this one word sparks the horrific images that took place on April 20, 1999. It is considered the worst school shooting in U.S. history. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their high school on the morning of April 20 with high-powered weapons and homemade bombs. The boys entered the school cafeteria and library with every intent to kill (Stone 1). The boys were considered outcasts and were picked on in school. Many people have come to believe that the motive behind this murderous spree was they were tired of constant ridicule and teasing from classmates. Bullying is a constant problem in schools all over the world; when taken to far this is one example of a horrific outcome. According to the National Threat Assessment Center…show more content…
If a solution can be found to reduce the amount of bullying then the number of school shootings will decline drastically. In a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over half the offenders felt victimized in at least one way (Newman 241). The kids being teased may laugh the situation off, but it really hurts them on the inside. For example, in the book Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings by Katherine Newman the story of Michael Carneal is discussed. He was a freshman at Heath High School in Heath, KY, who was constantly picked on. Michael had the impression that kids could take advantage of him and he would never stand up to the people bullying him. The rage just continued to build up inside. After a humiliating experience at school where Michael was rumored to be gay: he snapped. He was quoted as saying, "they ALL mocked and slaughtered my self esteem it got so bad I had to turn to drugs." Only days after Thanksgiving, Carneal walked into school with his arsenal of weapons and opened fire killing two students (Newman 26-27). Another example from the book is that of Andrew Williams of Santee, CA. Similar to Carneal, Williams was harassed and teased because of his scrawny appearance. He seemed to take this in stride though, however, on the inside he was being destroyed. This led him to bring a gun to school: he walked into a full boy's bathroom and began

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