Why Do School Shootings Happen?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by


Why do people commit mass shootings? We might never know for sure, but there are some psychological signs that students and faculty can pick up on.

Studies say that a lot of school shootings are motivated by either envy or revenge. This is why they are taken place at a school or a work environment, because the shooter often feels rejected.

Also, perpetrators often have a past history of anger or rage and a background of abuse to animals. They also might have a history of abusive or ineffective parenting.

The shooters might lack compassion or empathy and harbor anger or paranoid delusions.

Usually, there is an event that triggers people to snap, such as losing a girlfriend or their job, or something of that nature. They are also usually outcasts and have low self- esteem.

Studies also say that they are obsessed with violent video games or movies.

FBI agents say that there are many warning signs and that these shootings are not just random.

Agents also say that the media has a huge part in the role of these shootings. They say that a potential shooter will see a school shooting in a newspaper or on TV and might want to emulate it. This is why there have been a chain of shootings in the recent past.

Many psychologists stress the importance of preventing these massacres before they happen.

“You have to look for warning signs,” junior Mitch Kinek said.

“Anybody could snap at any time.  That’s why you have to be nice to people and make everybody feel important,” junior Joe Kinek said.

There are many things that you have to look at after a shooting. What was the perpetrator’s relationship like with his or her parents and friends?  Did the perpetrator feel like he or she was not a part of a group or bullied? Concerned parties have to look at all of these things and realize that these kids just did not just wake up one day and decide that they were going to go on a shooting rampage.

Much of the mass psychology on school shootings hearkens back to the shooting at Columbine High school. The FBI said that the kids were bullied and played a violent video game named Doom.  All of those factors led to them snapping and killing their classmates, just like at Sandy Hook, where a tragic shooting happened. Studies say the shooter had a history of odd behavior and other psychological problems.

Every shooting comes down to mental problems or violent video games.  These tragedies do not just happen, whether it is a stabbing or a shooting. We must all do our part to prevent it.

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