School Shootings: What's The Motive?

Sandy Hook Elementary School children, who were instructed to keep their eyes closed,
are shown being led out of the building shortly after the shooting.

As the one year anniversary approaches of the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, myself, along with the rest of the world are dumfounded as to why someone would commit such a horrific crime.

Lets look at Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, and you can see a clear example of someone who was mentally ill and could not (or would not) accept help to become mentally stable. He was diagnosed with "Asperger's syndrome, [but] he declined to take any medications or participate in behavioral therapy" (Official Sandy Hook Report). The first response as to 'why' Lanza committed the mass murder was from, "Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Frank Wolf, [who tried] to tie mass shootings to violent video games" (Ferguson). But, the report states that his preferred video games were Super Mario Bros. and Dance Dance Revolution, which are youth friendly. In a study done by Childstats.gov, the youth violence rate has decreased by nearly 90% since 1980. Therefore, it would be incorrect to directly blame violent video games for the reason as to Lanza's mass murder. So, if it wasn't violent video games that stimulated Lanza, then what was it?


In the report, it clearly states "all of the firearms were legally purchased by the shooter’s mother. Additionally, ammunition of the types [guns] found had been purchased by the mother in the past, and there is no evidence that the ammunition was purchased by anyone else, including the shooter" (Official Sandy Hook Report). Okay, so Mrs. Lanza decided it was a good idea to purchase and therefore educate her mentally unstable son on guns. That is fine, because according to the second amendment she has the right to do so. However, I must disagree with her logic in thinking this would be a good idea. I'm aware that there is no direct link to mental illness and violence, but the connection is prevalent in most mass shootings. Therefore, why take the risk of your son/daughter using the gun as a weapon, rather than a tool? Either way, since the black market is so available, Lanza would have been able to carry out his crime with or without using his mothers guns and ammunition. However, it would have been much more difficult if he did not already have all of the weapons and ammunition.

So, if parents are entrusting mentally unstable young adults with deadly weapons, how can we be sure we are safe? Not even the fact that he was mentally unstable is what worries me, what worries me is the fact that these guns are so easily accessible to people who wish to do harm. Therefore, we need to have armed security personal on school premises at all times. The local police can only do so much from outside of an infiltrated building, even though they have been trained to enter and clear out shooters as apart of their training since the horrific Columbine shooting. If we had one, maybe two armed retired police officers or veterans stationed at the schools main entrance, the threat could be eliminated from within the building in a matter of minutes. This would reduce the amount of time the shooter would have to cause harm, and ultimately stop future possible school shooters.

Sorry for this long post, but school shootings are no easy topic's to discuss in a short manner.
Please leave your constructive thoughts and comments down below.