Cumulative Current Event Assignment

Introduction

School has historically been considered a safe place for youths. When killings occur in schools or on school grounds, it draws special attention for many reasons, including the following: (1) killings in school are relatively rare, (2) in many cases killings in general are rare in communities where school shootings have occurred, (3) in many cases the offenders—often students themselves—have gained unusual (i.e., illegal) access to the firearms used in their assaults, and (4) the victims are by any standard undeserving of their fates, and in many recent, well-known cases, innocent children have been victims of a rampage.

Discussion

Public perceptions of school shootings—particularly in the United States—are heavily influenced by the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, in which two students killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others. According to sociologist Glenn Muschert, the Columbine event is an example of a rampage shooting, where the shooters, who are usually students, attack students and/or teachers with the purpose of seeking revenge on those who have wronged them or gaining power in some fashion. Muschert argues, however, that the rampage shooting is only one of five types of school shootings, albeit the type that gets the most media attention (Fast, 21-39).

Despite the media attention to school shootings—and rampage shootings in particular— studies of crime and victimization in schools tend to conclude that incidents of serious violence in schools are relatively rare, and school shootings are rarer still. Victimization data in the United States indicate that of all homicides involving school-aged children, only 1% to 2% occurs at school. The number of firearm-related homicides in, en route to or from, or at an event sponsored by public or private primary and secondary schools has been 20 to 30 per year on average from ...