I was recently asked what I thought students, parents, teachers, and others should do to respond to School shootings.  So let me offer some thoughts.

First School shootings are just the symptom of a much deeper problem.  It is very important to dig deeper than just the short term immediate gut check responses, such as arming teachers or administrators.  Students need to be taught how to read critically and ask the deeper questions.  Matt Taibbi in his book “Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America”  investigates the underlying reasons for the Housing bubble and the Great Recession and even the gas price bubble from the early 2010s.  Remember when gas prices rose to over $4 a gallon? We were told it was due to overuse and lack of supply. Neither was true. What actually happened, was that there was a federal regulation change that allowed for a gas price future bubble to emerge. There was no lack of supply, there were just bankers making billions of dollars and lots of people being hurt by high gas prices.   Students should be taught to read books such as James Loewen’s “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” or any of his other books.  Teaching children to read and thinking critically is vital.  Most of us have no idea “who” is really screwing us and “who” and “what” is really causing these mass shootings.  Unless we and our children can identify the true root causes, we will just keep pulling the leaves and not the roots.

Second help students advocate for federal research on gun violence.  From a health perspective each mass shooting should be treated as an outbreak of a disease.  Once we can research why a disease has an outbreak, we can then find ways to stop it. The medical/scientific model really does work. However researchers are prohibited by Congress from studying gun related deaths. Remember more people die from gun related suicides every year than in mass shootings.  Have students work on getting this law changed.

Third have students work towards a constitutional change.  The constitution has been changed many times already, they are called amendments.   We no longer can own people!  That was allowed initially in the constitution.  I actually support a reasonable right for organized militia’s to bear arms.  However, that does not mean an individual’s right to bear arms. While guns’ are around, we can not stop death by suicides or mass shootings.  The constitution needs to change. It can be done, it has been done in the past.

Fourth get kids excited to vote.  If they turn 18 before the November election (check your local laws) they can vote.   Get kids to get their parents, older siblings, relatives, neighbors, and teachers to go and vote.  Also have them encourage these people to vote for politician’s who believe in gun control.

Fifth, teach kids about gun safety and give them the supplies to make sure any guns around them have trigger locks, and locked gun cabinets.  When I ask my patients about guns in their houses, they almost invariably know where the guns are and also where the key to the gun cabinet is, if there is one.  Not good!  However that is better than simply having guns laying around in purses or on end tables.

Sixth, teach kids and give kids the tools to effectively deal with bullying, harassment, depression, and anxiety.  Kids act out for a reason. They will have less of a need to act out if they have effective tools to deal with these kind of issues. If bullying or harassment occurs in their schools have them get and have their parents complete DASA forms. DASA forms are the tool stemming from the NY State Dignity for All Students Act that makes schools investigate and report to NY State bullying, teasing, and harassment issues.  They are often a very effective way to stop these things from occurring in schools.

Finally  in times of stress, people feel better if they can take control.  Passivity can lead to depression and a belief that there is nothing they can do.  So there is an election in November, get kids involved in the electoral process.  Simply putting pressure on politician’s who are already in Congress or State Houses probably won’t make a change.  So work on getting new people in there.  Have kids help with phone banks, have them go door to door with voter registration forms.  Have them help arrange rides for people to go to the polls.  Have them volunteer as formal or informal poll watchers.  Get them up and involved and moving!

© Dan DeMarle, Ph.D. 2018