'Please help me': Kids with guns fueled a record number of school shootings in 2021

[Celerity]

Bennie Hargrove was 13 when he was shot on the third day of 8th grade. His alleged killer was 13, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/31/2021-school-shootings-record/



The day before he died, Bennie Hargrove told his grandmother he needed advice. It was Aug. 12, the second day of eighth grade, and Bennie confided that he had stopped a classmate and some other teens from beating up a younger boy at their Albuquerque middle school earlier that day. The 13-year-old’s disclosure made Vanessa Sawyer nervous. Sometimes, she said she told her grandson, it’s better to mind your own business. “That’s just not in me,” she recalled Bennie saying.

The next afternoon, Bennie confronted the bully, Juan Saucedo Jr., near the school track, another child would later tell police. Bennie asked Juan, also 13, to quit picking on his friends, insisting that if he wanted to fight someone, he should fight Bennie. “I’m done with this b----,” the child heard Juan say in Spanish just before he pulled a black handgun out of his backpack and, according to police, fired six rounds into Bennie’s body.



The shooting at Washington Middle School was one of at least 42 acts of gun violence committed on K-12 campuses during regular hours in 2021, the most during any year since at least 1999, according to a Washington Post database. The nation smashed the previous record of 30, despite most schools remaining closed to in-person classes for the first two months of the year.

In total, about 34,000 students were exposed to gun violence in 2021, bringing the tally since the Columbine High massacre to more than 285,000. It’s impossible to know with certainty what’s driven the surge in incidents, though researchers have speculated that a spike in gun sales, soaring rates of overall violence, the pandemic and the chaos of the past year all played some role.



snip

[ornotna]

1. Unfortunately it's not going to end anytime soon

Too many guns readily available to all.

[SoCalDavidS]

3. I'm 55, There's ZERO Chance It Even Lessens During My Life

I’m 100% onboard with those who said years ago, that if Sandy Hook changed nothing, it’s a lost cause.

I’m sad to say that the ever growing # of parents organizing for change, are wasting their time. Nobody of importance cares, and most Americans couldn’t care less.

[The Magistrate]

2. I Get Awful Old Testament About Shit Like This, Ma'am

Some people are best sent back to the starting line soon as possible, before they make it even worse for themselves and all around them.

In Mr. Hargrove we lost a damned good man.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[Aussie105]

5. If you are an angry kid . .

and have access to a gun, the 'solution' to our anger is quite clear.

Now, you can't stop kids from being angry. Or confused. Or just wanting to lash out. Goes with being a kid.

So it's the 'access to guns' that needs addressing.

Good idea, politicians? Get on it please! Other countries have.

Waiting for a response. I have been waiting now for a long time.

#Crickets chirping far away#

"The United States averaged just over 87 school shootings each year from 2013 to 2021, resulting in an annual average of 28.4 dead and 59.6 wounded."

UK: last school shooting was in 1996. None since hand guns were banned.
Australia: last one in 2012, no deaths.
New Zealand: one in 1923.

More country by country info here:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

[moondust]

7. Meanwhile in London...

London has recorded its highest ever level of teenage homicides in a single year after two boys were killed on Thursday.
~
Most of those who died were victims of knife crime and many were killed by other teenagers or by those in their early 20s.
~
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/31/knife-rises-in-london-with-30-teen-homicides-in-2021

Kids with guns or kids with knives, one common denominator is probably social media. Is the violence a product of the hate and conflict described by Frances Haugen of Facebook?

I'd bet there are many in London and elsewhere around the world who are thankful they never allowed guns to proliferate.

[AndyS]

8. I have been told right here on DU that access to guns has

nothing to do with gun violence. Quite emphatically. Nothing.

How will anything change as long as these people aren't treated like the pariahs they are and deserve to be?