Why does America have more school shootings than other countries?
Exactly. If it wasn’t school shootings, it would be bus stop knifings, or whatever was played up in the media. I don’t think so. A firearm provides a unique brand of superiority and dominance not really found elsewhere. These loner kids are not going to go out and try and physically assault people – they just can’t. You can’t blow off steam running around knifing people or hitting them with a baseball bat, you’d get tired for a start, and the first person bigger than you would stop you in your tracks. As soon as someone clicked to what you were doing you’d be wrestled to the ground and arrested in no time. A gun is different. I have no experience at all with firearms but they clearly make people feel invincible and that must be attracive to this type of downtrodden kid. You are untouchable to individuals of any size, groups of people, adults, and to a certain extent even the police. Albeit for a short time only.
The source may be that in American culture of late it is politically incorrect to label anyone as disturbed, and in need of help. Everyone is so afraid of litigation that teachers and other caregivers, heck even the police in some cases won’t be the one to say “this kid/person is dangerous and needs to be institutionalized before he hurts hismelf or someone else.” If as in the V.T. case someone does point out potential problems he is often un-supported by the ‘authorities’ because of privacy issues and that threat of litigation.
Last night I went to see The Killer Within which is a documentary about one of the origainl school shooters, Bob Bechtel, who shot up a Swarthmore College dorm in the 1950s. The movie featured a Princeton sociology professor Katherine Newman who has a book called, Rampage, the Social Roots of School Shootings, which might shed some light on your question. In the movie her ideas came across as totally spot on and rock solid, I could paraphrase them but a summary of the book would probably do more justice.
The Monash University shooting aside, in Australia it is very hard for a minor to get hold of a gun. By law all weapons must be stored in a very secure locked box with firing components separate, which makes it hard to take Dad’s rifle to school. Even if you did, all weapons have small magazines (5 shot max from memory) that makes a mass shooting impractical. There is next to no possibility of acquiring a gun oneself as a minor, the expense is high and even higher for an illegal weapon. Even an adult must first undergo a training programme in gun safety before a license is issued, and the license itself is $200 for 5 years. Add to this you need a “genuine” reason to apply for a license like belonging to a target club or having written permission from a rural land holder to hunt on their property. Consequently, gun ownership across the board has dropped greatly. When I was a lad it was quite common for Aussie kids to have an air rifle or even a .
Well, although I mostly agree with ijsbrand, I think there is an element of fashion at play here as well. People may just start doing shooting sprees because that’s what other people did and it got them enough fame/infamy and attention. In the UK, you have football hooligans. In France, you had car burnings. In Germany you have neo-Nazis. In my home country (Greece) we got “student demonstrations” with 25-year olds that burn down university buildings. At the end of the day, I think all of these are just exercises in frustration, and these kids channel them in the way that’s feasible (no guns freely available in mainland Europe) and fashionable (so that they know it will get them at least some positive attention). For the US shootings though, I think there’s also a mental health factor. The VT shooter and the Columbine shooters before him had clear mental health issues, and their support system (family, school) did not address them.
