I Didn't Understand Mass Shootings Until Sandy Hook
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Politics and Activism

I Didn't Understand Mass Shootings Until Sandy Hook

In honor of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

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I Didn't Understand Mass Shootings Until Sandy Hook

When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took to the halls of Columbine High School in 1999, I was 8 years old.

When Seung-Hui Cho killed 27 students and 5 professors at Virginia Polytechnic and State University in 2007, I was 16 years old.

It wasn't until 2012, when I was 21 and when Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and took the lives of 20 children and 6 adult staff members, did I finally comprehend what a mass shooting was.

Growing up, I had learned about the Columbine shooting during tired assemblies on school safety and crises management. Teachers and school psychologists talked about what a tragedy the lives of the assailants had been, how much of what had happened could have been avoided had the boys had someone to listen to them.

The Columbine shootings ushered in an era of school safety that much of my generation has simply come to be familiar with; metal detectors at front doors, security officers posted up at all entrances to campus, and lock-down drills were developed as a necessity in preventing another kind of attack.

But, for many young people - recent college graduates and those between the ages of 20-26 - much of the impact of the Columbine shootings was simply a ripple effect. While most of us can remember the events of April 20th, 1999, most of us did not really understand how we were supposed to feel at the time. As children, we could understand the concept of death and people being killed and someone doing the killing; but, the idea that anyone could desire to walk into a school and lay waste in the name of revenge was beyond comprehension.

Fast forward 13 years to December 14th, 2012.

A few short days after the stress of finals and slowly creeping into winter break, news casts were flooded with images of a quiet community on the East Coast and the ticker at the bottom of the screen seemingly screaming the words, "SHOOTING IN NEWTON, CONNECTICUT."

Much of the details from those 5 minutes have been rehashed in news and media outlets and on hour-long cable specials; "What would drive someone to open fire on children?" "The shooter was in possession of a Bushmaster XM15-E2S and a Glock 20SF!" "Investigations are being done into the state of mental health of Lanza, some investigators believing he was suffering from severe mental illness at the time of the shooting..."

Newtown, Connecticut - a wealthy and quiet hamlet before unheard of - would become the cornerstone of gun control laws and gun violence in the aftermath of the massacre. Before the Sandy Hook shooting, America and the rest of the world was consumed in fighting a war against terrorists over-seas; but, since Adam Lanza fired that last echoing shot through the halls of the elementary school, the fight soon shifted to our own shores, and whether we really do have the right to bear arms.

For me, and for many young people at time, the reaction toward Sandy Hook was not one of anger, but rather, confusion. While sad, and ultimately wrong, many of us could understand why a jilted high school student would feel the need and want to take revenge on fellow high school students; many of us could understand why a mentally ill college-age individual would act out against fellow college students.

What most of us could not, and still do not, understand, is why a grown person, male or female, could take out all of their hatred and anger and repression and frustration on the most innocent and pure-hearted collection of humans.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting may come to define my generation like Columbine did for the one prior. While not the first or the last school shooting in recent American history, it sparked a conversation about gun violence and mental health that had been relatively quiet up until then. In the years following, debates about gun control and gun violence have become the heavy weight champions of domestic policy platforms and laws prompting reform and regulation have gone through both houses of Congress numerously.

The solution, however, does not necessarily lie in restricting the use of guns or the ownership of guns. Most gun owners are responsible gun owners and respect its usage as both a weapon and a tool.

Yes, perhaps some aspects of gun ownership and acquisition policies could be changed or updated; perhaps reaction to and treatment of mental health should be different than it has been in the past. But, for many young people, the bigger issue lies in sensationalizing the perpetrators of such heinous acts.

In recent months, since the shootings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR and the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, CA., the conversation has shifted not toward gun control, but rather, focusing on the victims of the violence rather than the instigators.

We, as humans, seek answers in times of desperation and pain. It's no surprise that when Adam Lanza opened fire on students at an elementary school in a quiet, up-scale, white suburb of Hartford, we wanted to know why. We always want to know why, and the answer is always the same.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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