How Do We End All This?
This is long, and for some of you, it may be boring but one simple fact remains; the reasons are incredible with the examples I cite, and the numbers are staggering. And the facts cannot be disputed.
Gun violence is on an all-time high, especially with the recent events that happened in Buffalo, New York, and even more recent, the nineteen children who lost their lives at Robb Elementary school in Texas.
So, I wish to bring you a timeline of events I have researched. You can Google any of the following if you care to, to get any additional information if you so choose.
Thus, let us begin.
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July 26, 1764 – first known mass killing at a school. Four Lenape Native Americans entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown, and killed ten children. Only two children survived.
November 2, 1853 – In Louisville, Kentucky, a student, Matthew Ward, bought a self-cocking pistol in the morning, went to school, and killed Schoolmaster Mr. Butler for excessively punishing his brother the day before.
April 30, 1866– An editorial in the New York Times argued against students carrying pistols, citing "...pistols being dropped on the floor at balls or being exploded in very inconvenient ways. A boy of twelve has his pantaloons made with a pistol pocket; and this at a boarding-school filled with boys, who, we suppose, do, or wish to do the same thing. We would advise parents to look into it and learn whether shooting is to be a part of the scholastic course which may be practiced on their boys; or else we advise them to see that their own boys are properly armed with the most approved and deadly-pistol, and that there may be an equal chance at least of their shooting as of being shot." (You can consider this the first argument against kids carrying weapons to school. It is important to note it was a newspaper that stepped up, and not the government, nor local political figureheads.)
June 8, 1867 - New York City at Public School No. 18, a 13-year-old boy brought a pistol loaded and capped, without the knowledge of his parents or schoolteachers and shot and injured a fellow classmate.
April 12, 1887 – In Watertown, New York Edwin Bush, a student, at the Potsdam Normal School committed suicide by shooting himself in the head while in class.
June 12, 1887 – In Cleveland, Tennessee Will Guess went to the school and fatally shot Miss Irene Fann, his little sister's teacher, for whipping her the day before.
February 26, 1902 – In Camargo, Illinois teacher Fletcher R. Barnett shot and killed another teacher, Eva C. Wiseman, in front of her class at a school near Camargo, Illinois. After shooting at a pupil who came to help Miss Wiseman and wounding himself in a failed suicide attempt, he waited in the classroom until a group of farmers came to lynch him. He then ran out of the school building, grabbed a shotgun from one of the farmers and shot himself, before running away and leaping into a well where he finally drowned.
February 24, 1903 – In Inman, South Carolina Edward Foster, a 17-year-old student at Inman High school, was shot and fatally wounded by his teacher Reuben Pitts after he had jerked a rod from Pitts' hands to resist punishment. According to the teacher, Foster struck the pistol Pitts had drawn to defend himself, thus causing its discharge. Pitts was later acquitted of murder.
March 23, 1907 - In Carmi, Illinois George Nicholson shot and killed John Kurd at a schoolhouse outside of Carmi, Illinois during a school rehearsal. The motive for the shooting was Kurd making a disparaging remark about Nicholson's daughter during her recital.
February 12, 1909 - In San Francisco, California 10-year-old Dorothy Malakoff, was shot and killed by 49-year-old Demetri Tereshchenko as she arrived at her school in San Francisco. Tereshchenko then shot himself in a failed suicide attempt. Tereshchenko was reportedly upset that Malakoff refused to elope with him.
May 18, 1927 - In Bath, Michigan, School treasurer Andrew Kehoe, after killing his wife and destroying his house and farm, blew up the Bath Consolidated School by detonating dynamite in the basement of the school, killing 38 people, mostly children. He then pulled up to the school in his Ford car, then blew the car up, killing himself and four others. Only one shot was fired in order to detonate dynamite in the car. This was deadliest act of mass murder at a school in the United States up to that time.
February 15, 1933 – In Downey, California Dr. Vernon Blythe shot and killed his wife Eleanor, as well as his 8-year-old son Robert at Gallatin grammar school and committed suicide after firing three more shots at his other son Vernon. His wife, who had been a teacher at the school, had filed for divorce the week before.
May 6, 1940 – In South Pasadena, California. After being removed as principal of South Pasadena Junior High School, Verlin Spencer shot six school officials, killing five, before attempting to commit suicide by shooting himself in the stomach.
October 2, 1942 - In New York City, New York "Erwin Goodman, 36-year-old mathematics teacher of William J. Gaynor Junior High School, was shot and killed in the school corridor by a youth.
February 23, 1943 - In Port Chester, NY Harry Wyman, 13-year-old, shot himself dead at the Harvey School, a boys' preparatory school.
November 13, 1949 – In Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State University freshman James Heer, grabbed a .45 caliber handgun from the room of a Delta Tau Delta fraternity brother and shot and killed his fraternity brother Jack McKeown, 21, an Ohio State senior.
April 9, 1952 – In New York City, New York A 15-year-old boarding-school student shot a dean rather than relinquish pin-up pictures of girls in bathing suits.
October 2, 1953 – In Chicago, Illinois 14-year-old Patrick Coletta was shot to death by 14-year-old Bernice Turner in a classroom of Kelly High School in Chicago. It was reported that after Turner refused to date Coletta, he handed her the gun and dared her to pull the trigger, telling her that the gun was "only a toy."
April 17, 1956 - In New York City, New York 18-year-old Henry Smith, a student at a Bronx vocational high school, is stabbed to death by 16-year-old Randolph Lawrence, a fellow student. The stabbing was sparked over a dispute about a basketball game.
May 1, 1958 - In Massapequa, New York A 15-year-old high school freshman was shot and killed by a classmate in a washroom of the Massapequa High School.
September 24, 1959: New York City, New York Twenty-seven men and boys and an arsenal were seized in the Bronx as the police headed off a gang war resulting from the fatal shooting of a teenager Monday at Morris High School. (Luckily, this prevented what would have been a disaster in the making.)
April 20, 1961 - In Chicago, Illinois Teacher Josephine Keane, 45, is sexually assaulted and stabbed to death inside a storeroom at Lewis-Champlin elementary school in Chicago. Lee Arthur Hester, a 14-year-old student, was later convicted of the murder and sentenced to 55 years in prison.
October 17, 1961 - In Denver, Colorado Tennyson Beard, 14, got into an argument with William Hachmeister, 15, at Morey Junior High School. During the argument Beard pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and shot at Hachmeister, wounding him. A stray bullet also struck Deborah Faith Humphrey, 14, who died from her gunshot wound.
August 1, 1966 - The University of Texas Massacre Charles Whitman, climbs atop the observation deck at the University of Texas-Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31 during a 96-minute shooting rampage.
November 12, 1966 - In Mesa, Arizona Bob Smith, 18, took seven people hostage at Rose-Mar College of Beauty, a school for training beauticians. Smith ordered the hostages to lie down on the floor in a circle. He then proceeded to shoot them in the head with a 22-caliber pistol. Four women and a three-year-old girl died, one woman and a baby were injured but survived. Police arrested Smith after the massacre. Smith had reportedly admired Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.
November 19, 1969 - In Tomah, Wisconsin Principal Martin Morgenstern is shot to death in his office by a 14-year-old boy armed with a 20-gauge shotgun. (One seriously must question how this boy got past everyone with a 20-gauge shotgun once he stepped inside the school.)
The two most notable U.S. school shootings in the early 1970’s were the Jackson State killings in May 1970, where police opened fire on the campus of Jackson State University and the Kent State shootings also in May 1970 where the National Guard opened fire on the campus of Kent State University. (Take note here: It was this shooting that really opened the eyes of the people to become more aware of shooting deaths.)
The mid to late 1970s is considered the second most violent period in U.S. school history with a series of school shootings.
December 30, 1974 – In Olean, New York, Anthony Barbaro, a 17-year-old Regents scholar armed with a rifle and shotgun, kills three adults and wounds 11 others at his high school, which was closed for the Christmas holiday. Barbaro was reportedly a loner who kept a diary describing several "battle plans" for his attack on the school.
June 12, 1976 – At California State University, Fullerton massacre, where the school's custodian opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in the library on the California State University, Fullerton campus killing seven, and wounding two others.
February 22, 1978 – In Lansing, Michigan, after being taunted for his beliefs, a 15-year-old self-proclaimed Nazi, kills one student and wounds a second with a Luger pistol.
January 29, 1979 – At Grover Cleveland Elementary School Shootings, California, where a 16yr old girl opened fire with the rifle, a gift from her father, killing two and wounding nine.
The early 1980’s saw only a few multi-victim school shootings including;
January 20, 1983 - In St. Louis County, Missouri the Parkway South Middle School, an eighth grader brought a blue duffel bag containing two pistols, and a murder/suicide note that outlined his intention to kill the next person heard speaking ill of his older brother Ken. He entered a study hall classroom and opened fire, hitting two fellow students. The first victim was fatally shot in the stomach, and the second victim received a non-fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen. Then he said, "No one will ever call my brother a pussy again" then committed suicide.
According to the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, in the United States, from September 1986 to September 1990 (four-year period):
At least 71 people (65 students and six school employees) had been killed with guns at school.
201 were severely wounded by gun fire.
242 individuals were held hostage at gunpoint.
According to a 1987 survey conducted by the American School Health Association," 3% of the boys reported having carried a handgun to school at least once during the school year; 1% reported carrying a handgun on a daily basis."
The late 1980’s began to see a major increase in school shootings.
September 4, 1985 – In Richmond, Virginia, at the end of the second day of school at East End Middle School a 12yr old boy shot a girl with his mother's gun.
October 18, 1985 - In Detroit, Michigan during halftime of the homecoming football game between Northwestern High School and Murray-Wright High School. A boy who was in a fight earlier that day pulled out a shotgun and opened fire, injuring six students.
November 26, 1985 – In Spanaway, Washington A 14yr old girl shot two boys dead then kills herself with a .22-caliber rifle at the Spanaway Junior High School.
December 10, 1985 - In Portland, Connecticut at the Portland Junior High School, the Principal was having a heated discussion with a 13-year-old male eighth grader when he locked the boy inside an office. The student then pulled out a 9mm assault rifle and opened fire. The bullet shattered the glass door and struck the left forearm of the secretary, and the glass injured the principal. The boy fled for the second floor, where he encountered the janitor, and he shot him in the head. The boy then took a seventh-grader hostage. The boy's father and another family member came to the school and talked to him over the intercom system. After 45 minutes, he tossed the gun out a school window and was taken into custody.
May 16, 1986 - The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis, in a ransom scheme; David and Doris Young, both in their forties, took 150 students and teachers' hostage. Their demand for $300 million dollars came to an abrupt end when Doris accidentally set off a bomb, killing herself and injuring 78 students and teachers. David wounded John Miller, a teacher who was trying to flee, then killed himself.
May 20, 1988 – In Winnetka, Illinois, 30yr old Laurie Dann shot and killed one boy, and wounded five other kids, in an elementary school, then took a family hostage and shot a man before killing herself.
September 26, 1988 - In Greenwood, South Carolina in the cafeteria of the Oakland Elementary School, 19-year-old James William Wilson Jr., shot and killed Shequilla Bradley, 8, and wounded eight other children with a 9-round .22 caliber pistol. He went into the girl's restroom to reload where he was attacked by Kat Finkbeiner, a Physical Education teacher. James shot her in the hand and mouth. He then entered the 3rd grade classroom and wounded six more students. Wilson had been known for severe manic- depressive states. As of now, he still sits on death row, compounded by a 175-year life sentence.
December 16, 1988 - In Virginia Beach, Virginia Nicholas Elliott, 15, opened fire with a SWD Cobra M-11 semiautomatic pistol on his teachers at the Atlantic Shores Christian School. His first shots struck teacher Karen Farley in the arm; when she went down, he killed her at point-blank range. Nicholas then injured Sam Marino. He turned the Cobra toward his classmates, but the gun jammed, and he was quickly subdued by M. Hutchinson Matteson, a teacher, before he could fire another round.
January 17, 1989 - The Cleveland School massacre of Stockton, California where five school children were killed and 29 wounded by a lone gunman firing over a hundred rounds into a schoolyard from an AK-47.
From the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s the United States saw a sharp increase in gun violence in the schools. According to a survey conducted by The Harvard School of Public Health: "15% said that they had carried a handgun on their person in the past 30 days, and 4% said that they had taken a handgun to school in the past year." This was a sharp increase from just five years earlier. By 1993, the United States saw some of the most violent time is school shooting incidences.
May 1, 1992 - In Olive Hurst, California, Eric Houston, 20, killed four people and wounded ten in an armed siege at his former high school. Prosecutors said the attack was in retribution for a failing grade.
According to the National School Safety Center, since the 1992-1993 U.S. school year there has been a significant decline in school-associated violent deaths (deaths on private or public-school property for kindergarten through grade 12 and resulting from school's functions or activities):
1992-1993 (44 Homicides and 55 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1993-1994 (42 Homicides and 51 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1994-1995 (17 Homicides and 20 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1995-1996 (29 Homicides and 35 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1996-1997 (23 Homicides and 25 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1997-1998 (35 Homicides and 40 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
1998-1999 (25 Homicides from school shootings in the U.S.)
1999-2000 (25 Homicides from school shootings in the U.S.)
According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the 1998-1999 School Year, 3,523 Students (57% High School, 33% Junior High, 10% Elementary) were expelled for bringing a firearm to school. (Seeing the word elementary, has me begging the question, "Were first graders carrying guns?")
The late 1990’s started to see a major reduction in gun related school violence, but was still plagued with multiple victim shootings including;
October 12, 1995 - In Blackville, South Carolina A suspended student shot two math teachers with a .32 caliber revolver.
February 2, 1996 - In Moses Lake, Washington, two students and one teacher were killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Laukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.
February 19, 1997 – A Bethel, Alaska Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.
October 1, 1997 - In Pearl, Mississippi, two students were killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodhams, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
March 24, 1998 -In Jonesboro, Arkansas, four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
May 21, 1998 - Springfield, Oregon, two students were killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
April 20, 1999 - Littleton, Colorado, 14 students (including shooters) and one teacher killed, 27 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 people and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.
(This was the catalyst that enraged a country, demanding something to be done to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again … but, as we know, the idea of prevention, the finding a solution, is easier said than done.)
2000 – 2010 – By the numbers only:
2000-2001 (19 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2001-2002 (4 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2002-2003 (14 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2003-2004 (29 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2004-2005 (20 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2005-2006 (5 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2006-2007 (38 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2007-2008 (3 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2008-2009 (10 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
2009-2010 (5 Deaths resulting from school shootings in the U.S.)
The numbers are staggering. The deaths needless. Over three-fourths of the reasons, senseless, or idiotic.
Congress passes tougher gun laws, tighter restrictions for registering a weapon, while on the other side of the coin, American’s scream out their right to own and bear weapons. Between the two, it hasn’t stopped the continued onslaught of our nation’s schools. I will never argue the right to be able to defend oneself, but if a person needs an assault weapon to do so, then there is something terribly wrong in the mindset of these gun owners.
Since the Columbine massacre, there have been over 600 fatal school shootings and we will still continue counting.
Since Columbine, there have been 231 school shootings.
Over 600 have died as the result of school shootings, which includes perpetrators.
Along with fatalities, an additional 485 people have been injured from on-campus shootings since Columbine.
In 2018 alone, there were 35 mass school shootings.
The following are considered to be the worst school shootings ever:
Columbine
Virginia Tech massacre
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: This shooting affected 20 young children.
Parkland, Florida shooting: Parkland resulted in a ton of youth advocacy for better gun control legislation.
Red Lake shooting
Santa Fe High School shooting
Umpqua Community College shooting
About 10 years ago, the Virginia Tech shooting became one of the deadliest mass shooting in America of any kind. That title has since been dwarfed by the Las Vegas shooting and the Orlando nightclub shooting, both of which happened outside of schools. These attacks are unnerving since they are so recent and so bloody, showing the potential for damage unthinkable in a school setting. But these events have watered down our reactions to school shootings; while Columbine led to a shocking 15 deaths, Las Vegas led to an unimaginable 59 deaths.
If you have gotten this far, ask yourself what you can do to either curb or put to an end the senseless waste of life of people that were already cut down before they had a chance to make a difference in the world. In part, those who were killed during church services, or those who were slaughtered out of racial indifference.
The excuse of “What can I do, I’m just one person” just doesn’t cut it any longer.
If you are a parent with children in school, or a student, you can make a difference. You can be the difference.
And this is where I ask you a question. Since the government, or Congress (take your pick), can’t seem to find a solution to all this … what would you think, or believe, would be the best course of action to stop the violence in schools, on the streets, or perhaps ... in your own neighborhood?