School shootings & deaths in American history

[jimnyc]

So this obviously is the subject of the day, week, month or a never ending story of freedoms and the constitution versus... This is a very touchy subject. It always will be when discussing subjects that involved the deaths of Americans.

Embedded in our constitution is the right to bear arms.

In American history there has been an Extremely Minimal amount of mental people or psychos that have decided to show up at school and start shooting people. One of the "totals" on Wiki shows that 'only' 274 in total have been killed? I should have prefaced this entire thing that EVERY death matters and EVERY death is beyond sad and also has a family and then some behind them. They all have a story, and then they are gone.

School shootings. Appears the very first shooting was in 1764. Greencastle, Pennsylvania - 11 killed and 1 injured. This was referred to as the "Enoch Brown school massacre".

This is the Wiki page that I got my initial numbers and first shooting from - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States_by_d eath_toll

That page shows a number of "only" 274 killed over time and to include the Uvalde shooting.

I don't know how perfectly accurate this page may be. Many many other sites show off much higher numbers and all highlighting injuries as well. And I fully understand that a child living with what they just witnessed must be incredibly difficult. But these pages never talk about deaths at all, just run with exaggerated injuries and other numbers and avoiding the gun subject. I honestly did look for better total numbers including fatalities, but appears this Wiki was the best I could find.

I wouldn't be happy in the slightest bit to find other places with proven higher numbers of fatalities - but I will admit 100% right now that it could be a strong possibility.

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Anyway, while these deaths are horrible and nobody wants to see them, let's just still keep them in perspective. Whether 274 total deaths or double that at 548...

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In just 2020 alone - their were 602,350 deaths from Cancer

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Another horrid one, heart disease. My Mom suffered from both of these. Anyway, heart disease in 2020 took out a total of 690,882 people.

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And as many have mentioned over time, we truly need to ban those road warriors known as vehicles. There were 38,680 people killed due to car accidents.

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Take away guns and many will find a small weapon instinctively when push comes to shove. Like grabbing a rock or a tree branch or whatever in the midst of a fight. Or as many would define, they will look for a "blunt object" and use it. "Clubs, Hammers..."

And in total there were 438 deaths in 2015, 466 in 2016, 474 in 2017, 455 in 2018 & 391 in 2019.

And then even worse with just hands & feet & fists!

Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) 651 in 2015, 668 in 2016, 715 in 2017, 712 in 2018, 600 in 2019.

[fj1200]

The below is only to say that the media and parents look at one scary trend but completely ignore another scary trend. I couldn't really find exact numbers but I would not be surprised if more kids commit suicide than the number of kids killed in a school shooting. But yet we all give our kids smart phones at earlier and earlier ages. It's destructive IMO and I'm just as guilty as anyone else.


A new study found that teenagers are increasingly depressed, feel hopeless and are more likely to consider suicide. Researchers found a sudden increase in teens' symptoms of depression, suicide risk factors and suicide rates in 2012 — around the time when smartphones became popular, says Jean Twenge, one of the authors of the study.Twenge's research found that teens who spend five or more hours per day on their devices are 71 percent more likely to have one risk factor for suicide. And that's regardless of the content consumed. Whether teens are watching cat videos or looking at something more serious, the amount of screen time — not the specific content — goes hand in hand with the higher instances of depression.
"It's an excessive amount of time spent on the device. So half an hour, an hour a day, that seemed to be the sweet spot for teen mental health in terms of electronic devices," Twenge says. "At two hours a day there was only a slightly elevated risk. And then three hours a day and beyond is where you saw the more pronounced increase in those who had at least one suicide risk factor."
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/17/571443683/the-call-in-teens-and-depression


Newswise — As teens' use of social media has grown over the past decade, so too has the suicide rate among younger people, with suicide now being the second leading cause of death among those ages 10 to 34. Many have suggested that social media is driving the increased suicide risk, but because social media is still relatively new, it's been difficult to determine its long-term effects on mental health.In the longest study to date on social media use and suicidality, BYU research recently published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence now offers some answers.Through annual surveys from 2009 to 2019, researchers tracked the media use patterns and mental health of 500 teens as part of the Flourishing Families Project. They found that while social media use had little effect on boys' suicidality risk, for girls there was a tipping point. Girls who used social media for at least two to three hours per day at the beginning of the study--when they were about 13 years old--and then greatly increased their use over time were at a higher clinical risk for suicide as emerging adults.
https://www.newswise.com/articles/10-year-study-shows-elevated-suicide-risk-from-excess-social-media-time-for-teen-girls