School Shooting Research Paper

Words: 891
Pages: 4

Disputes on whether or not the government should “harden” schools by arming teachers or “soften” them by not are spreading like wildfire. After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, lots of attention have been brought to the students and the mental stability within the school. It’s also been brought to attention that some of the statistics about the number of shootings in 2018 can actually be wrong. The world has been trying to figure out what is considered a real shooting and how to keep students safe from them. Further, these types of irrational solutions, such as arming teachers, are only caused by mis-guiding information. Overall, people should be more aware of the real statistics on shootings and reasonably decide on prevention …show more content…
However, Everytown, a web group that is dedicated to counting those statistics, has recently spread inaccurate calculations that need to be reconsidered. According to an article written by Anya Kamenetz about the number 18, it states that “On the afternoon of Jan. 3, a 31-year-old man who had parked outside a Michigan elementary school...killed himself.” Such incident is recorded on the group’s website as a “school shooting” and the first one of the year. Which, according to the official definition of a school shooting, is not considered one. The event hadn’t even taken place inside the school building or injured any students since it was after classes had finished. Kamenetz agrees by saying that, “Everytown has long inflated its total by including incidents of gunfire that are not really school shootings.” As the list goes on, the more absurd and ridiculous the events get. The same article also describes another incident where “a man in an Indiana high school parking [let his gun] accidentally [go] off in his glove box…”. This example hadn’t even been a deliberate decision by the man and was indeed a simple accident. Nonetheless, Everytown still includes the incident on their website. As a vital part of backing an argument, politicians and the public need evidence to support their opinion. However, when unreliable information such as the one from Everytown circulates in social media, the public is misinformed and such evidence cannot be