"They wait for a problem to happen and then they pay attention." This was stated by Jennie Luitenn who was forced to witness a school shooting (Cloud 8). Being afraid you were going to be killed at school was practically unimaginable not long ago and now it has become a very clear reality in America. There have always been troubled children in this country but unfortunately it took some very violent acts to put this problem into the light. Why is it that children suddenly feel the need to take their peers lives and why has it become more and more prevalent over the years? Once the shootings became rampant around our country so did the blame. People thought it was Marilyn Manson and then video games or even society as a whole, but there is no concrete proof showing why these children decide to kill. In the past 7 years almost 30 acts of school violence either killing or seriously wounding someone with guns or knifes have taken place in this nation (Cook 45). After the most horrendous act, Columbine, people started to pretend this trend was over but only a month ago a student shot his principle and then killed himself. While these events have occurred the nation has tried to find ways to explain it but when you look at the lives lost and the demented minds of these kids we realize we need not to focus just on why but also on prevention. In this paper I will overview many of the acts of violence and the different circumstances they occurred under. I will also look into why these children killed and what is being done to prevent any more of this from happening. After reviewing all this research I will come to an informed decision on why I believe this violence has and does occur. .
On February 2nd, 1996 Barry Loukaitis, wearing a trench coat, walked into his algebra class and opened fire with a rifle (Garbarino 9). He killed two students and a teacher and seriously injured another. This being the first of many shootings it sent America into panic.