School shootings and other mass shootings

Introduction

A mass shooting refers to an incident involving multiple deaths caused by firearms. Usually, the perpetrator kills people in a public place indiscriminately. A particular type of mass shooting in the US is school shooting. A school shooting refers to multiple people being killed in a school area, usually by someone connected with that school.

Reactions to mass shootings vary. Usually, the media covers the sensational aspects of the incidents. The families of the victims generally protest and often demand stricter gun control, alongside other gun control activists. Politicians can use the events to advocate for the same thing or to argue in favor of gun rights, depending on which side they stand on.

In the following, we will take a look at some of the most recent and important mass shootings that have taken place in the United States.

The 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

The shooting was committed in 2012 by a 20-year-old man who shot 20 children aged 6 and 7 at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Before the school shooting, he also killed his mother. The man killed himself immediately after he shot the children. Police investigation revealed that the shooter had planned the attack and that he was suffering from a series of mental conditions including depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The incident was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history and led to a debate over gun control and proposals for increased background checks before allowing individuals to buy firearms.

There were immediate political reactions to the shootings. These included a televised speech by the US President Barack Obama who advocated for taking action to prevent such events in the future.

NGOs started petitioning for tighter background checks, but all legislative i...