Our Children Should Not Be Targets
Further examining the problem of school shootings in America
Last week’s deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas – and the thoroughly predictable scapegoating of the shooter’s mental health by pro-gun politicians – prompted me to pen a piece for Slate to dispel a few myths regarding the conflation of gun violence and mental illness. As shocking and heartbreaking as news of that shooting was, it was not altogether surprising.
Many of us are likely old enough to recall coverage of the shootings at Columbine High School, and how that was, at the time, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Now, over two decades on, Columbine barely makes the top five worst school shootings. In fact, the K-12 School Shooting Database shows that there has been a school shooting every year for almost the past forty years. And guns are now responsible for more deaths among children, teens, and young adults than car crashes.
It would seem that this kind of established, worsening public health threat – especially one that poses such a clear and present danger to our kids – would be deserving of years-long study and analysis in order to isolate the causes and find a remedy, no? Well, not only is gun violence not studied like the plague that it is, but in fact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is prohibited from studying it via a provision in its annual federal funding legislation known as the Dickey Amendment. Technically, the amendment prohibits federal funding to be used to “advocate or promote gun control,” but it has had a chilling effect on the agency’s ability to research firearm injuries and deaths every year since its introduction in 1996. It’s a fascinating and troubling history that shows again how politics has influenced our ability to research such a significant public health issue like gun violence.
The lack of hard, federally researched data is part of what allows gun manufacturers – and their allies in Congress – to continue to deflect blame for these awful acts of violence.
The reality, of course, is that the results of any serious research into the causes and effects of gun violence in our schools would likely be so catastrophic for the firearms industry and its proponents that they could not reasonably be ignored. Several articles on the Dickey Amendment point to the 1993 study that showed an increased risk of homicide if there was the presence of a firearm in the home. This study, and others, led organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) to claim that the CDC was biased against guns. This led to continued political debates, and the rest is history.
But in a world where rhetoric and one word sound bites often win, we need data that can cut through these paper-thin arguments.
Legislators and pundits are attempting once again to wait out the news cycle pointing the finger squarely at mental health (along with video games, rap music, and basically anything other than the fact that there are now more guns in this country than people). While their arguments about mental health conditions as harbingers of violence are erroneous, they are correct in that we do have a rising mental health crisis in this country, and it’s disproportionately affecting our youth, with half of all lifetime cases of mental illness developing by age 14.
Our schools have been overwhelmed in recent years with rising rates of anxiety and depression among children and adolescents. Students need better funding to help them learn healthy emotional regulation starting at a younger age, as well as increased access to school counselors for those students dealing with more serious mental illnesses.
As usual, adequately addressing this crisis requires the proper funding, which requires legislation, which requires Congress to work together. And prompt legislation on seemingly any issue, but especially ones as polarizing as gun control and mental health, is an increasingly tall order these days. So, as we wait in vain for our elected leaders to take any kind of action, here’s what we can, and should do, to start to come to terms with traumas like this in our own communities:
We need to have honest conversations with our children about the state of the nation. Our kids were born into a world where instantaneous access to all manner of information is at their fingertips. It would be naïve to think that they won’t see, hear, or read about tragedies that grab national attention, so they may as well hear it from us in a way that’s controlled and reassuring.
We need to solicit feedback from our kids about their emotional state if and when they hear about these incidents of violence. Are they scared? Do they want to stay home from school? Asking questions that allow them to explain how they’re feeling will allow you to gauge their stress levels and help them process their emotions in a healthy manner.
We have to be honest with ourselves and our own emotional responses to these horrific events. We can’t hope to provide our children with the guidance they need if we refuse to deal with our own fears and concerns about gun violence.
If we are serious about taking action on these huge cultural issues our nation is facing, we have to begin with the acknowledgment that pointing the finger at the wrong issue is not going to solve our problems. Let’s see what’s happening in front of us for what it really is – a tragedy that’s of our own making. We must do something about gun violence and we must do something about mental health. While we work toward solutions to both of these issues, let’s not forget to take care of each other and pay special attention to our kids who are likely the ones who need the most love and support right now.
I'm exhausted by all of this. Nothing seems to penetrate the wall of opposition from the cowards in the US Senate that seem determined to stick with the whole thoughts and prayers and "horrified and heartbroken" talking points the gun lobby seems able to trot out within minutes of yet another school shooting.
What on earth will shift that thinking?
I got nothing.
One would think that the number of dead children, shredded by bullets, would be enough to drive change.
But one would be wrong.