Please Forgive Me, I Woke Up Today Inside of Someone Else...: School Shootings: An excerpt from my newest book, “Sticks and Stones: A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying”

School Shootings: An excerpt from my newest book, “Sticks and Stones: A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying”

Though school shootings have been an existing problem in our society since the first known instance of a shooting in a public school (not bullying related) was reported on November 2, 1853, it is a relatively new threat to most. Much of the time these shootings are motivated by the intense pain and/or anger that the shooter feels because of bullying.

The fact is, this isn’t a new occurrence [the frequency is new however.] Years ago, news like this was not reported on as often as it is now. It seems that virtually every day you hear about a new shooting in a school somewhere in America. As horrible as it sounds, these shootings are becoming so common it has almost developed a sense of normalcy to it. [President Trump feels that building the wall is more important than school shootings] That in itself is a scary thought.

The history of school shootings is unknown by most. In fact, many believe that the first school shooting was the unspeakable massacre that happened at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999… The important thing to remember is that before Columbine there were school shootings reported in many other states. Many of the lists of shootings you will find online only date back to the 1960s. In fact, we did not start taking regular record of school shootings and/or researching causes for them until somewhat recently with the beginning of the ‘Crime and Safety Reports’ and the ‘National School Safety Center...’

Picture Courtesy of Guard911.com

Per the History of School Shootings in the United States, between 1986 and 1990 there were at least 76 individuals killed at school with a gun. 65 of those being children, 6 being employees.

Per the same report, it is indicated that the ‘National Safety Center’ reported the following figures [pertaining to individuals killed in school shootings per year.]

1992-1993: 55 deaths

1993-1994: 51 deaths

1994-1995: 20 deaths

1995-1996: 35 deaths

1996-1997: 25 deaths

1997-1998: 40 deaths

1998-1999: 25 deaths

1999-2000: 25 deaths

2000-2001: 19 deaths

2001-2002: 4 deaths

2002-2003: 14 deaths

2003-2004: 29 deaths

2004-2005: 20 deaths

2005-2006: 5 deaths

2006-2007: 38 deaths

2007-2008: 3 deaths

2008-2009: 10 deaths

2009-2010: 5 deaths

All together it is reported by the nyupress that between 1979 and 2008, “170 students and 110 school faculty or other adults were killed; at least 397 students and 75 adults were wounded [in school shootings.]” The motives for each school shooting varies, but many are related directly back to some sort of bullying.

The motives most commonly named are:

challenges to masculinity

gay-bashing

girl-bashing

domestic violence

gangs

and racism.

It is suggested by the nyupress that “in three years (2009-2011), 43 shootings took place. This is almost two thirds of the number of shootings that occurred in the preceding decade. In subsequent decades, it seems likely that shootings will continue to increase unless something different is done. In fact, at this rate the next decade 2009-2018) could well see 143 shootings- which is about the same as the preceding decades (1979-2008) combined.”