American Schools and Shooting Incidents: The Massacre of The Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012

After the massacre of the Sandy Hook Elementary school, in 2012, a great deal of security measures were taken in American schools and shooting incidents became a disturbing idea for students.
Shooting incidents registered in January 2014 reached 11 in the American schools, while classrooms and campuses lockdowns occur more frequently. It became a daily habit that alerts occur in the different educational institutions.
Mayors Agains Illegal Guns, an organization concerned with gun control advocacy, indicates that shooting incidents registered in 2013 reached 28 in American schools and collages (TheGuardian, 2014).
Since January 20th of this year, a shooting incident or a lockdown has occured on a daily basis in American schools. The killing of 12 students in a 1999 shooting in the Columbine High School is included. Two occasions were people died are on January 25, a shooting incident in a shopping mall near Washington resulted in the killing of two people and the suicide of the 19 year old shooter, and on January 26, a police man at Pennsylvania State Police was shot by a 16 year old carjacker while the former was checking on the vehicle of the later (TheGuardian, 2014).
School Shootings

As media conducts 24/7 coverage of the crimes focusing on the criminals' backgrounds, the possibility of tragedies in future increases; unstable people may be attracted to this kind of incidents (Muschert & Sumiala, 2012).

This issue is addressed by school principals, superintendents, board members and other school administrators. Emergency plans and procedures were put for staff and students in order to be ready in times of crisis (Muschert & Sumiala, 2012). Such procedures will definitely save lives when an emergency come up and they are ...

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...tion of sanctity of human life and easy access to guns in families depicted in many shooter video games and American movies are named among the major reasons for armed violence in United States by foreign and domestic experts alike (Langman, 2009). But progun advocates points out that shooters choose gun free zones often such as colleges and schools, because they can do untrammeled damage so as to escape easily.
Mental health disorders are pervasive in the student population. It is essential for school districts to have appropriate procedures and guidelines that identify both what they should be doing, as well as clarifying services that need to be provided by other systems. With effective procedures and guidelines in place, schools can get a handle on this complex topic, and be a successful collaborative partner in the provision of services to vulnerable students.