A new study based on a survey of more than 15,000 American high school students found that victims of bullying are nearly twice as likely to carry guns and other weapons at school. An estimated 200,000 victims of bullying bring weapons to school over the course of a month, according to the authors' analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control's 2011 Youth Risk Surveillance System Survey. That's a substantial portion of the estimated 750,000 high school students who bring weapons to school every month.
The study, presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, found that 20 percent of participating students reported being victims of bullying, and that those teens were substantially more likely to carry weapons if they had experienced one or more "risk factors." These included feeling unsafe at school, having property stolen or damaged, having been in a fight in the past year, or having been threatened or injured by a weapon. Among bullying victims experiencing all four of those factors, 72 percent had brought a weapon to school in the past month and 63 percent had carried a gun. Those victims were, according to the study's authors, nearly 50 times more likely to carry a weapon in school as students who weren't bullied.
For years, anti-bullying groups have drawn a connection between bullying and school shootings. The Department of Health and Human Services's Stopbullying.gov website reports that the perpetrators of 12 of 15 school shootings in the 1990s had a history of being bullied. Witnesses of a 2013 shooting at Sparks Middle School in Nevada recall the 12-year-old shooter telling a group of students, "You guys ruined my life, so I'm going to ruin yours."
You know it is not often that I read a statistic that stuns me into silence, but 750,000 weapons being brought to schools each month did exactly that.
And the fact that 200,000 of them are being carried by frightened or angry students who carry them in response to bullying, should make every a chill run up the spine of every parent in this country.
You know it almost makes the actual number of school shootings each year seem remarkably low considering the potential for violence that this study reveals.
Seriously, whatever happened to simply punching a bully in the nose?
But isn't this what the NRA wants? More guns in schools?
ReplyDeleteHow sad it must be live in a country where you feel you so threatened and scared in your school environment that you are compelled to bring firearms with you for protection. The gun culture is rooted so deeply in the fabric of America I fear it can only get worse.
ReplyDeleteI championed the bullied kids in school, and I fought bullies in the workplace. I called the cowards (most people) out on their cowardice. You have to lead a fairly clean life, though, since your enemies will spend a staggering amount of time sifting through everything you’ve ever done and looking for an error. It’s almost like politics. If a teacher or manager backed a bully or thought bullying was funny (a common male reaction when females are fighting), I put them in my sights and they knew it.
ReplyDeleteSixty-five years ago, my father brought a baseball bat to school and hit his bully with it.
ReplyDeleteGranted, it wasn't a gun, but bringing a weapon to school isn't a new phenomenon, bullying isn't a new phenomenon, being scared enough at school to feel the need to protect oneself isn't a new phenomenon.
It would be interesting to see some longitudinal data.
(That's certainly not saying we should do nothing about bullying. The fact that this has been a problem for so long means it's high time we finally addressed it in a meaningful way)
Seriously, whatever happened to simply punching a bully in the nose?
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The bullying going today is not the bullying we put up with in the past. Even the reasons for bullying have evolved. Split second communication with social media means that there is no "meet me behind the gym" and the best guy wins. now it's about spreading lies or secrets far and wide throughout a victims peer community. That hurts a child far worse than a punch sometimes.
Watch my song: "This Bullying."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C7lJ_qaS9g
Did you see this, Gryphen?
ReplyDeletehttp://aattp.org/assault-rifle-wielding-sovereign-citizen-murders-two-state-troopers-over-150-couch-video/
Whatever happened to just punching the bully? Well, part of it is the school's attitude that BOTH students are expelled. While that does not bother the bully in the slightest - usually - it does a lot of damage to the "good kid" being bullied. It is insane to me that self defense can get one in trouble.
ReplyDeleteAnd by self defense, I mean actually self defense, not going up to the bully and punching him/her later.
Personally, if my child were expelled for defending him/herself, I would sue - BIG TIME.
I understand that schools must have rules and controls, but to attack the victim at the same time, with the same policies, is crazy.
I once considered taking my father's 45 on the bus and shooting the foul-mouthed jerk who embarrassed me with his 4 letter vocabulary.......to this day I'm not sure why I didn't........
ReplyDeleteBecause the punishment for being an asshole isn't death?
DeleteWe need to do better at teaching kids how to cope with bullies and others who see it and know, how to effectively intervene. When we were growing up, fists were used to settle conflicts, and a few weeks later, they either were avoiding each other or acting as if they were still friends.
ReplyDeleteWe can do much better at teaching conflict resolution. Now it's "I'll teach them who's right, I'll get a gun and shoot them" Might makes death, not might makes right.
I was bullied in school and when I look back on it and fast forward it today I would be one of those 200,000 kids packing heat. That's why I speak out so much against the Palin/Heath klan. I hate bullies.
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