The Culture of Violence in America

The recent spate of school shootings across America has spawned a revisited argument about how to solve the problems of school violence once and for all. As you may remember from the Columbine shootings in 1999, discussions were held between school administrators, politicians, and parents about the best way to remedy criminal activities taking place in their own back yard. As a high school senior, I remember my school taking the precaution of having people check in and out at the front door regardless of whether school personnel knew them or not. Other schools added metal detectors and upped security in their halls in order to prevent unconscionable actions like those in that Littleton, Colorado high school.

However, school violence has reared its ugly head once again. It never really left America but the media chose to focus on issues of bullying in school, which certainly contribute to the atmosphere of hostility in today's schools. The events in Green Bay, Cazenovia, Bailey, and Georgetown have brought to light how little has been accomplished since Columbine. In my home state of Wisconsin, where violence almost erupted in Green Bay and was tragically carried out in Cazenovia, there is an increased push for concealed carry laws and weapons training for teachers. There has also been a push for increased mental health services and increased intervention when peers and teachers witness aberrant behavior that may turn to violence. While these solutions may work in certain cases, we need to look at a larger scale solution.

If the American government and communities around the country are going to look at laws that would prevent violence in schools, we should certainly look at the arcane language of the Second Amendment. Certainly, no one could argue that disturbed individuals couldn't have harmed individuals with home made bombs, knives, or other weapons. However, if we are going to change the culture of violence in schools we need to create a culture of peace throughout American society. If we amend the constitution to repeal the Second Amendment, we could work toward rehabilitation and other nonviolent solutions to school violence. Until that day comes, we will be inundated with discussions about putting more weapons into our school so that teachers and administrators can theoretically stop student violence.