Sociology

School shooting can be defined as any act of violence involving a gun in a learning institution. It can involve either a student or an intruder. This practice is quite common particularly among high school and institutions of higher learning students. However, the reason behind such acts of violence amongst students or by intruders remains controversial. Some people have associated this to psychological impairment problem by the offenders. Others see it as a direct result of bullying acts among students. This paper is a discussion on the reasons behind school shootings. The author also gives some statistics on school shooting incidence in American schools.

Reasons why children commit these acts of violence
Bullying and gang violence among students is cited as a leading cause of school shooting (Ramsland, 2010). Bullying and racial discrimination has been cited to be common among school students. This leads to stress in the victims, a potential cause of depression. Just to be stated is the fact that depression as a psychological disorder greatly compromises the reasoning and judgmental ability of an individual (Daniels, 2002). It diminishes the individuals value for life and can result into impulsive reaction thus resulting into school shootings. Still, even without depression, the ability to contain anger varies from individual to individual. Therefore, school shootings could be acts of anger by bullied students.

School shootings have also closely associated with bad media influence on children (Brooks, 2010). According to available evidence, children in America spend an estimated six hours daily on media materials which are mostly dominated by acts of violence (Brooks, 2010). As an example, existing statistics has it that over 50 percent of teenagers in America have played adult censored video games. Media violence has been found to influence the stream of thoughts and perceptive worldview of an individual. Therefore, school shooting could be seen either as an act of curiosity by the student to practice what they see in the media or a direct result of violent character influenced by violent media materials (Brooks, 2010).

Another reason is mental impairment. Psychological evidence has it that mental impairment disorders like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can result into serious acts of aggressiveness and violence (Goetting, 2006). This type of disorder is common in children and is commonly marked with hyperactivity or unreasoned actions and highly impulsive reaction on circumstances by the child. Other than this, students with mental impairment of any type can rarely reason and act consciously. This can therefore lead to school shootings.

Peer pressure can also lead to school shootings. Students, just like other members of the society are prone to influence from their peers (Daniels, 2002). Moreover, intents of a group usually go beyond when unity amongst members prevail. Based on this reasoning, influence by a group of students to engage school violence can lead to school shooting as their collective momentum increases their aggression.

Most school shootings have been attributed to drug abuse among students (Ramsland, 2010). Drugs can either stimulate or suppress the reasoning ability of an individual. According to available statistics, over 70 percent of young Americans aged below fifteen years have either taken or are taking drugs (Brooks, 2010). Coincidentally, most cases of school shootings are witnessed in regions marked with high rates of organized crime activities and drug abuse. Therefore, school shooting can be attributed to drug abuse among students in learning institutions.

Family and school environments are a major factor in the process of modeling the character of children. These environments also serves as the bedrocks upon which children get comfort and advice in dealing with their personal problems. It has been evidently established that some school do not create a conducive environment for ensuring harmonious coexistence of students as well as addressing students individual and family problems (Goetting, 2006). On the other hand many parents only serve to corrupt behavior and character traits of their children through their constant engagement in family conflicts. All these can result into increase aggression as well as depression among students thus risking school shootings.

Some school shooting statistics in America
There are many incidences of school shooting which have occurred in American schools. However, since 1966, only three deadly incidences have occurred namely the 1966 University of Texas or The Austin massacre were 15 students died, the 1999 Columbine High School massacre were 15 students died, and the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre were 33 students were killed (Fox News, 2007, Ramsland, 2010). Other cases include Amish school shooting in 2006 killing six students, Red Lake Senior High School massacre, of 2005 which killed 8, University of Iowa shooting of 1991 with a death toll of 6, and the 1989 Cleveland School massacre which killed 6 students among others (Ramsland, 2010). All these shootings have evident injury of many students.

Conclusion
All in all, the cause of school shootings is a possible combination of varied reasons. They vary from self imposed, psychological, to environment imposed factors. Based on these, the realization of a lasting solution to school shootings and other forms of school violence must encompass all social and mental aspects of the students.