A year ago I was asked to do some research and write an article about the answer to ending school shootings. With kids returning to school next month I thought this would be a good time to revisit my findings....
With the increasing school shootings coupled
with fatalities, there has been increasing talk of the need for gun control. At
the time of this article, the United States has reached a count of 23 reported
school shootings for 2018 with the last one reported for May 25, 2018 in
Noblesville, Indiana at Noblesville West Middle School. As our society searches
for an answer to ending these tragedies (and whether gun control is the
answer), it’s important to look at when these occurrences began.
The
infamous Columbine shootings of 1999 have been credited with influencing subsequent
school shootings. However, the massacre that inspired the making of movies as
well as songs about one of the victims, Cassie Bernall, was not the first
school shooting or school massacre.
The New York Times probably reported the first campus
massacre that took place on August 1, 1966 in Austin, Texas. A 25-year-old
engineering student, Charles Whitman, carried an arsenal of weapons
to the top of the 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus and shot 12
people to death and wounded approximately 33 others before the police killed
him. He was stated to be an ex-Marine. It might be of some significance to know
that he left notes after he murdered his mother and wife (one with each of
their bodies). These murders preceded his massacre on the college campus. These
notes indicated he had questions about his mental state. A quote of interest
from those letters is, “I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my
loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job...If my life insurance
policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a
mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this
type...” He requested that an autopsy be performed on his body after his death
for any abnormalities.
Findings also show that there was a report of a
massacre that took place in 1976. The California State University, Fullerton
massacre resulted in seven deaths and two injuries.
Most people may not realize that the United States
has a long history of reported school shootings dating back to the 1800s and
the occurrences weren’t so infrequent as some might think. Some incidents
resulted in deaths, while some only resulted in injuries. In other cases, there
were no tragedies. It’s interesting to note that with recent discussions
regarding arming teachers or other school officials, some of the murders in
early history were committed by school personnel. One such example took place
on February 6, 1864. The Ashland Times reported that George W. Longfelt, the
school teacher of the Pyfer's School House, near Ashland County in Ohio, shot
and killed a student, Alfred Desem, at the school house and escaped. At the
time of the report there was no information given for the cause of the murder.
There have been reported cases of self-defense claims
by school officials. The Los Angeles Herald reported an account that took place
on September 11, 1909 in Gravette, Arkansas, at the edge of McDonald County,
Missouri. A. T. Kelly reportedly killed his student, John Bufram, at Bear
Hollow School. Claims were made that Butram announced that school would not be
in session that day to other students, but Kelly insisted that school would
continue as usual. During the discussion Butram pulled a knife and reportedly
injured two teachers; Kelly shot him. Kelly surrendered to authorities. Another
self-defense incident took place in 1918 at a dormitory in Jefferson City, MO.
However, this tragedy took place between two school officials who were arguing
over which dishes to use for a social (see The Kansas City Sun, Volume 10,
Number 32).
Some children have always managed to have access to a
gun. There are repeated cases in early history where students were playing with
a gun and it accidently fired or another student purposely brought a gun to
school and murdered another because they were arguing over a girl. Bullying has
also been the cause for school shootings. The Richmond, Virginia Daily Dispatch
reported that on January 21, 1860, a son of Colonel Elijah Sebree, of Todd
County, Kentucky, was killed by another student at a school house in Trenton,
TN. Some boys made another student believe that son Sebree was threatening him
and intended to kill him; it was a joke. However, the other student didn’t know
it was a joke. This day the assumed victimized student took possession of a
gun, walked up to Sebree in the schoolhouse and shot him.
It’s been
stated that the Columbine shootings redefined the actions that took place April
20, 1999 as more than a statement of revenge. It was stated to be a means of
protest for bullying, intimidation, social isolation, and public rituals of
humiliation. Perhaps perpetrators in subsequent school shootings romanticized
the 1999 mission. Findings show that the school shootings that occur today due
to tempers, accidents, mental illness, revenge, and other reasons known and
unknown, are a repeat of what has occurred for centuries. Perhaps Columbine has
just brought all 21st century school shootings to the forefront regardless of
the weight of their tragedies because of our increase in knowledge—more media,
internet, and smart phones. With all this knowledge we are still divided on the
answer to ending the school tragedies.
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