Stem babies

Guns and School: The American Experience

On December 14, 2012, America once again experienced a shock after the shooting of students at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut (the children were only six and seven years old) and their teachers by 20-year-old Adam Peter Lanza. He attended this school as a child in the quiet town of Newtown, home to less than 28,000 residents. There has been only one murder in the last 10 years.

First, Adam shot Nancy's 52-year-old mother in bed with a Marlin 22 rifle, destroyed the hard drive on his computer, and then went to school, taking his mother's arsenal of firearms: a Bushmaster XM 15 carbine, Glock 20 and SIG Sauer pistols, a shotgun Izhmash Saiga-12. Ruthlessly killing everyone who met on his way, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Most of the dead were killed at close range to the face.

Barack Obama wiped his tears several times as he informed the nation of the tragedy. In America, a 4-day national mourning was declared.

The police and the FBI never figured out why Lanza did it. Adam was an excellent student in high school, but his mother took him out of school and, according to his aunt, he completed his studies at home. Police officials said Adam was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. And one more thing: the killer, who shot the kids in cold blood, was ... a vegetarian. He was taught to shoot by his own mother.

The Americans were horrified by the tragedy at the Sandy Hook school, but at the same time, fearing that the Bushmaster XM 15 carbine would now be banned for sale, the owners of personal firearms rushed to buy it in bulk. Sales of the Glock pistol also increased.

The Sandy Hook massacre is another link in the chain of massacres in American schools.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked classmates and teachers at Columbine School in Jefferson County, Colorado in April 1999 using firearms and homemade bombs. The result - 15 corpses (including two murderers who committed suicide). Harris complained of depression and visited a psychiatrist for about a year. The teenager was tormented by suicidal thoughts, and he was prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft, then a similar drug, Luvox. After the autopsy of the body, doctors found therapeutic doses of this drug in the body. Psychiatrist Peter Breggin felt that the use of drugs may have led to Harris's criminal actions. The doctor claimed that among the side effects of these drugs - increased aggressiveness and lack of guilt. Thanks to the diaries of the "Columbine killers" it is known about their inner world. The guys loved computer games like Doom and created their own shooting games. Favorite movie is Natural Born Killers.

While regularly faced with the massacre of civilians, America, however, does not question the right of its citizens to own firearms and use them in self-defense (second amendment to the constitution). After the murder of children in Connecticut, a government commission headed by Vice President Joe Biden was created, which developed a list of 23 recommendations to Congress. Presenting the commission's report, Obama called the relatives of those killed to the White House, including the parents of the schoolchildren shot from the Sandy Hook. The President proposed to ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons and magazines containing more than 10 rounds. The Attorney General was instructed to revise and tighten the criteria for selecting citizens who are prohibited from owning firearms. State, health and law enforcement agencies have been tasked with creating a unified federal database of buyers and owners of personal weapons.

In response, the National Association of Small Arms launched an anti-Obama video on the Internet and on cable TV channels, calling the head of state a "hypocrite": Armed agents of the secret service guard Obama's children and at school. "The president's children are more important than your children?" the gunsmiths ask. The video was a great success.

The gun lobby believes that "the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." It was proposed to enclose all schools with a security perimeter, provide them with appropriate equipment, and arm one of the employees of the educational institution.

Congress once again failed to approve a ban on semi-automatic weapons. Perhaps because less than 1% of the total number of child and teenage murders with the use of these weapons occur on the territory of American schools.