Potential Sources Pt. 2

Hello and welcome to another blog post regarding potential sources for an analysis paper I shall write on the blogging experience.  As far as potential sources go, there were some that were easy to find while others were not.  Some of the blogs I have found are very well done.  Unfortunately, practically all blogs relating to the issue with school shooters are written with bias towards the Republican Party and/or the NRA.  These are the potential sources I have found so far.

A blog post written by Alan Seidel brings up an interesting point on having armed security at schools for protection.  His concern is something everyone can understand and/or relate to.  What I don’t believe he realizes is that these guards have to be paid, and with the current economic situation as it is, some schools can not afford that with budget cuts the administration personnel are making.  He still can, however, provide an excellent example of blogs with bias.

The gun rights blog is a source that can show the positives of owning weapons.  It gives real life examples of how our right to bear arms has also saved lives.  Providing these examples can have a profound effect on deciding what to do regarding school shooters.  It will have people thinking twice about what they decide should be done regarding the gun issue.  Just like the previously mentioned possible source, however, there is still bias in these blog postings, which can be frustrating when trying to find blogs with authors that are neutral on the issue.

As odd as the title of the blog called “Snowflakes in Hell” is, Sebastian does discuss a wide range of topics from informing the reader about what politicians plan on doing to how this nation's citizens are reacting to the wave of gun violence.  His use of statistics can be very helpful when I will present and analyze the data he provides in my analysis paper.

There is a blog from wordpress.com that contains blog posts from several authors similar to “Snowflakes in Hell”.  It is similar in the way that these blog posts have statistics related to school shootings and gun control.  Despite that, many of the statistics are more in favor of right-wing ideas and goals.  Finding blogs, which mostly have bias in them, can be very annoying, especially when these blogs tend to lean towards one end on the bias spectrum.  However, a blog from the Sunlight foundation has blogs on gun control that contain some sub-topics that are neutral in the debate, so these blogs are invaluable.

Some potential sources I plan to use come from Gale Virtual reference.  These database articles can provide information that many of the bloggers I use as examples did not present.  The article “School Violence,School Shootings” by Claire M. Renzetti and Jeffrey L. Edleson, presents a wide range of useful data ranging from school violence in the early 19^th century to general reasons why students commit these acts and finally to some methods on how to thwart these kinds of actions.  Another database I plan to use is an article entitled, “Juvenile Criminals and Victims”, is one that presents data on why students are willing to engage in school shootings and other violent activities and what can be done to get them on the right track.

Hopefully these sources will help me in my analysis paper.  Stay safe fellow readers!

Concerns of the "Opposing Side"

Greetings everyone!  Today, I have decided to address the concerns of those who are on the "opposing side" of the issue of school shootings.  Hopefully I will address all of them but if I have missed one, I would appreciate it.

One concern I can think of would be, “where would we receive all the money to fund a database to keep track of those who are likely to commit school shootings or a health care system that can help those who are mentally unstable?”  Well, it is true that in this rough economy, we are saving as much money as we can when we should be helping those who have been affected by it.  The cost of health care is difficult enough for so many people as well.  So naturally, the cheapest way would seem to be imposing stricter gun control laws to curb this school violence.  However, as stated in previous blog posts, this is not the most effective method. 

Another concern would be “we should ban the sale of assault rifles so that shooters will not have access to weapons.”  I will admit that a ban would have a drastic downfall on school shootings.  A course of action like that might even have parents and/or children feel save as well as give some closure to those close to victims of shootings in the past.  This ban will not, however, eliminate school shootings entirely.  Banning assault rifles sounds almost redundant from this perspective.

One last concern I can imagine would be “surely there would be an invasion of privacy if we were to have a nation-wide criminal database to determine who is mentally unstable or not.”  I understand that having a database this large would conflict with the doctor-patient confidentiality clause.  I understand that the government should respect some aspects of people’s privacy, but where should the line be drawn between someone’s privacy and the safety of many people? When someone is registered as mentally unstable, however, that person can cause severe damage to the place they work or those who are near them. 

Hopefully, these are some of the major concerns from the “opposing side”.  Again, if there are any I have missed, please let me know in the comments below.

Why They Did It

Hello everyone!  A while back, I mentioned that I would use 3 examples of school shootings for future blogs, which were the Columbine shooting, the NVCC Woodbridge attempted shooting, and the Sandy Hook Shooting.  Well, today I will discuss the reasons why these shooters committed horrible acts upon innocent people. 

Before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed many of their high-school peers and teachers, numerous people automatically assumed the reason why they did this was a simple one.  Maybe it was because they wanted to get even with those who ignored them in school and wanted a chance to feel more powerful than them?  After all these years, that is actually not the main reason.  It has been revealed that Harris and Klebold wanted to do something far grander than what Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had done by placing bombs in the school, open fire on those who were not within the blast radius, and detonate bombs that were hidden in their cars when people would arrive to survey the damage (Cullen). 

Dylan Klebold was a depressed person while at the same time being volatile…the kind of person willing to act on impulse.  Eric Harris was the one that was much more complex, almost fitting the description of a psychopath.  Dave Cullen states that a definition of a psychopath is that they “are rational and aware of what they are doing and why. Their behavior is the result of choice, freely exercised” (“The Depressive and the Psychopath…”).  Many of Harris’ rantings in his journals were about how he despised an aspect of life people liked that he did not or a fault in other people’s lives.  Some of these factors Harris disliked included country music, people who believed wrestling was one hundred percent authentic, or those who were obsessed with the Star Wars franchise (Cullen).  With an intense hatred for something that Harris had no control over, attacking a mass crowd of people along with Dylan Klebold would seem like a reasonable solution to him.

Michael Hamilton, the attempted shooter of the Woodbridge campus of Northern Virginia Community College, had a simpler reason than Klebold and Harris.  Hamilton had failed many of his classes at the college.  When he received bad grades from his teacher, Tatyana Kravchuck, he could not handle it anymore.   Michael Hamilton believed that killing Professor Kravchuck would be a way of releasing “pent up anger” (Stewart).  Fortunately, Hamilton’s rifle would jam before a bullet could strike Professor Kravchuck (Stewart).

Adam Lanza had an illness that would create an uncomfortable feeling around bright lights, loud sounds and certain textures.  This would eventually lead him to have a difficult time connecting to others including his family (Lysiak).  When alone, Lanza would develop a fascination with mass murders, which affected his mindset on life.  There was this constant belief that “society was trying to manipulate him into following an immoral value system that led millions to both mental and physical sickness” (Lysiak).  These delusions had Lanza become a member of a website dedicated to mass-shooters called “Shocked Beyond Belief” and express his hatred for many aspects of life.  Lanza decided that “children were indoctrinated from a very young age to become part of a sick-machine that was self-perpetuating” and were “manipulated to live unhealthy lives” (Lysiak).  Lanza believed that killing students at Sandy Hook Elementary would be a favor (Lysiak).

Cullen, Dave.  “The Depressive and the Psychopath: At last we know why the Columbine killers did it.”  Slate.  The Slate Group, 20 Apr. 2004.  Web.  4 Mar. 2014.

Lysiak, Matthew.  “Why Adam Lanza Did It.”  Newsweek.  IBT MEDIA INC, 17 Jan. 2014.  Web.  4 Mar. 2014.

Stewart, Amanda.  “Detective: NVCC shooter had 'pent-up anger'.”  Stafford County Sun.  N.p., 21 Dec. 2012.  Web.  4 Mar. 2014.