Gun Violence from within America

Imagine yourself or a loved one waking up for school to learn and hanging out with friends, not knowing it is going to be your last day alive; this is what students have experienced since the Columbine shooting. In the United States, “More than 292,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine shooting” (Cox et al 1). No human being in the United States (U.S) should be thinking or being concerned about being shot at school or anywhere else. Another source of gun violence in America is the death of suicide by firearms. According to Gramlich from Pew research center says, “In 2020, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (24,292)” (Gramlich 1). We need to create new laws and policies to help the people in the U.S to feel safe and protected. Even though we haven’t come up with good permanent solutions, lets dive in and explore different ways to resolve suicide in gun violence and in schools that the U.S has.

The amount of gun violence in the United States has gone up significantly. According to Everytown research, “Since 2013 there were at least 862 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 281 deaths and 583 injuries nationally” (“The Long, Shameful List of Gunfire on School Grounds in America” 1). The American Psychological Association states, “The National Center for PTSD estimates that 28 percent of people who have witnessed a mass shooting develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (Novotney 1). There are too many students experiencing these horrific events in the United States (U.S) and suffering post trauma. One solution that can be established is installing metal detectors in major points of entry. Assign police officers or security on other entries and direct people to enter through the major points of entry. Using this procedure would help lower the risk of students, or people, entering the building with a firearm. This will make student feel secure in school and make the parents have a sense of ease with leaving their children in school; even though they should already have.

Most of the school shooters are students who easily obtain the firearms from a somewhere close to them. An article in “Morning in America” states that “According to the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC), 76% of the time, firearms used in mass shootings are obtained from the student’s home, a relative or a friend’s home.”(Smith 1). The NTAC found that the gun use in the shooting was not properly secured by the owner in about half of school shootings (1). The firearms were stored in wooden or glass cabinets and hidden in closets where they are easily attainable (1). American gun owners need to be aware where they leave their guns, so they can prevent horrifying accidents. Gun owners need to place their guns in gun safe to prevents their family members to obtain them without effort. Having gun owners do this will prevent a student from hurting or even killing others from happening.

If a shooter intrudes a school and opens fire in the building, their mechanisms that can help protect the students and faculty. One device that can lower the risk of casualties is by having door jammers. The DoorJammer corporation says, “A door jammer is a device that prevents intruders from breaking into rooms” (DoorJammer 1). This device can be set up fast and easy, just by placing under the door and twisting the screw into the floor (1). By making each classroom have a door jammer will help reduce the number of injuries or even deaths. This small but effective device will make such a big difference in protecting the lives of students and faculty.

Mental illness is playing a massive factor in the gun violence epidemic in the United States. According to the Christine Vestal, “A panel of mental health and law enforcement experts has estimated that roughly one-third of acts of mass violence — defined as crimes in which four or more people were killed — since the 1990s were committed by people with a serious mental illness.” (Vestal 1). This concludes that the United States are not putting much attention into who purchases the firearms. One solution is that we need people to show their mental health record prior to buying a firearm and determine if the person is able to purchase the firearm. If they have a mental illness they should go to therapy and then in a few months decide again if they are capable to own a gun. Running a quick check on the mental health record of firearm customer could help save the lives of many American citizens.

Christine Vestal states that, “In a given year, 1 in 5 U.S. residents will experience a mental illness. And 1 in 25 live with a serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression…” (Vestal 1). It is about 65.9 American residents will develop health mental problems, so it is important for them to get checked on. (1) Most of mental issues go unnoticed and unchecked; in which it could eventually develop into serious mental issues (Jaffe 1). Then we need to provide resources and help to people who want to own a firearm. The government should at least provide a free yearly mental health check to American citizens who wish to purchase a firearm. Conducting this mental health checkups will help make sure that firearms fall into a person who is capable of owning one.

Another major source of gun violence in the United States is suicide. In an article in The New York Times says, “According to national health statistics, 24,432 Americans used guns to kill themselves in 2018, up from 19,392 in 2010.” (Rabin 1). A solution that can help put a stop to suicide is by putting trigger locks on guns. By using trigger locks can put a thought in the person who is trying to commit suicide. That thought can be to decide about if it is really worth it and think about how the people that love them will feel if they commit suicide. If the locks work is can substantially decrease the number of suicide deaths in America.

Gun violence in America will never seize to be. Implementing new rules and regulations or providing things to schools will help reduce the gun violence in the Unites States. These effective solutions will help us stop this epidemic from growing. We all need to work together to implement new rules and mechanism to reduce this horrible epidemic the United States has.

Samuel Beckett was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. Beckett often wrote about the worst side of human existence and writing that humans bring their own downfall. In a play he wrote called Waiting for Gadot, he wrote about how humans are insane, one quote from the play is, “We are all born mad. Some remain so” (“Waiting for Godot Quotes.”). The previous quote conveys the idea that Beckett thinks all people are insane from birth, while some change, but some will also stay insane. Samuel Beckett will agree that gun violence in America is a social epidemic because he believes humans are naturally awful.

Samuel Beckett would believe that gun violence is a social epidemic because he lived through gun violence during World War II (Esslin 1). People now in days, always have a thought in mind that they could be shot at any moment because it’s a reality we live in. In 1942, members of an underground resistance he joined were arrested by the Gestapo (1). Back then Beckett also had in mind because he didn’t know when the Germans were going to murder him. After he was told what happened, he when into hiding for some time, which he eventually moved to another neutral zone in France (1). Beckett had through live through fear not knowing when the Germans were going to kill him, such like a people who are hiding from an active shooter. Being in a state of constant fear can cause trauma to a human being . He knows how they trauma of having to live through such a traumatic event will affect a person. Beckett suffers from depression in his life, which is an effect of the gun violence trauma he experienced. Beckett would believe that gun violence is an epidemic because he lived through the trauma of war.

Samuel Beckett would think gun violence is a social epidemic because humans act on emotion when doing a wrong. In his play Waiting for Gadot, he writes, “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order” (McNally 1). Becketts thoughts are similar to gun violence because the rage of the active shooter makes them “dance first” or act on emotion to commit these horrible acts of violence. These acts are made on the pure emotion and not much thought, shooters “think later” and put people’s life be in danger because they don’t think on how they will affect the people around them. Knowing that humans are commit wrong by acting on emotion, Beckett will believe that gun violence is a social epidemic because shooters don’t think of the consequences which causes a negative effect to society.

Additionally, Samuel Beckett can see gun violence as social epidemic because evil and destruction is the nature of humans and earth. Rules and restrictions is what holds people back from committing acts of bad nature. But some people do dreadful deeds towards their own and there is no putting a stop to that. In a piece of Becketts absurd fiction work, he shows this similar ideology. For instance, in his play, Endgame, he says “You're on Earth, there's no cure for that!” (Mulraney 1 ). This can be interpreted as that there is no way to cure the hideous acts that people do to each other on this earth because that is how earth just is. In comparing this quote with gun violence, it makes sense because a majority of shooters do their crimes just to commit destruction with no reason at all and in. There is no way to put an end to the destruction of people acts and all we can do is minimize the damage it will have on our society.

Furthermore, Samuel can also believe that gun violence is a social epidemic because people already know their fate when committing a shooting, but they still do it to create chaos. People who create gun violence know what they are in before they start or when they start. Beckett shows in his absurd fiction play called Endgame, shows this idea of the end in the beginning. In his play of Endgame there is a quote that says, "The end is in the beginning and yet you go on “(Mulraney 1). This quote can be interpreted as that people often think about on how the result of their actions when they begin to take action at the beginning. This relates that to gun violence because active shooters know how they will end up and know how it will impact society from the beginning. It will impact society by causing stress, depression, and anxiety to the victims.

In the end, Samuel Beckett would believe that gun violence is social epidemic that heavily affects the modern society of America. In all his work of absurd fiction in his plays, Beckett showed the idea of human nature that makes him believe that gun violence is a social epidemic. Becketts says humans act on their emotion rather than by logic and reasoning. Taking in account of Becketts beliefs, and also his experiences during World War II, humans by nature are evil and destructive, which causes them to create violence that then creates horrible social epidemics, for example gun violence, that cause death, trauma, and sorrow.

Works Cited

S Cox, John Woodrow, et al. “More than 292,000 Students Have Experienced Gun Violence at School since Columbine.” Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/.Accessed 21 Feb. 2022.

T “DoorJammer .” DoorJammer, https://door-jammer.com/doorjammer-portable/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2022.

S Esslin, Martin J. Samuel Beckett | Irish Author | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Beckett. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.

T Gramlich, John. “What the Data Says about Gun Deaths in the U.S.” Pew Research Center, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

S Jaffe, D. J. “50% of Mentally Ill Untreated.” Mental Illness Policy Org, mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/percentage-mentally-ill-untreated.html. Accessed 5 Mar. 2022.

S McNally, Frank. “Dancing for Godot.” The Irish Times, https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dancing-for-godot-1.1366032. Accessed 17 Apr. 2022.fff

S Mulraney, Frances. “This Month in History: Samuel Beckett Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.” IrishCentral.Com, 23 Oct. 2020, http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/The-10-best-quotes-by-Irish-writer-Samuel-Beckett-dead-26-years-today.html.

P Novotney, Amy. “What Happens to the Survivors?” Https://Www.Apa.Org, www.apa.org/monitor/2018/09/survivors. Accessed 5 Mar. 2022.

S Rabin, Roni Caryn. “‘How Did We Not Know?’ Gun Owners Confront a Suicide Epidemic.” The New York Times, 17 Nov. 2020. NYTimes.com, www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/health/suicide-guns-prevention.html.

S Smith, Nick, and Taylor Delandro. “Secret Service: 76% of School Shooters Get Guns from Home or Relative.” News Nation, 2 Dec. 2021, www.newsnationnow.com/morninginamerica/u-s-secret-service-76-of-school-shooters-get-guns-from-home-or-relative/.

S “The Long, Shameful List of Gunfire on School Grounds in America.” Everytown Research & Policy, everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.

T Vestal, Christine. “One-Third of Mass Shootings Committed by People With Mental Illness, Study Says”. pew.org/2YJlCHt. Accessed 5 Mar. 2022.

T “Waiting for Godot Quotes.” Course Hero, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Waiting-for-Godot/. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.