The school year had barely begun when a tragic event unfolded. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a gunman took the lives of two children, aged 8 and 10, and injured 15 others attending a Mass at a Catholic school.
Instead of reiterating the well-known reasons advocating for gun control or discussing how the Second Amendment from the Musket era doesn’t quite fit today’s world of assault weapons, it’s worth considering how other nations have dealt with school shootings.
On March 14, 1996, in Dunblane, Scotland, a 43-year-old man, armed with four handguns and a staggering 743 rounds, entered a school. He killed 16 children, ages 5 and 6, plus a teacher who tried to intervene before he tragically ended his own life.
The response from the conservative government led by John Major was immediate. By February 1997, the Firearms (Modification) Act was enacted, banning handguns over .22 caliber, tightening storage laws, banning certain types of ammunition, and strengthening licensing requirements for all firearms.
Later that same year, the Labour government tightened laws further, effectively prohibiting civilian ownership of handguns except in rare cases. The UK had already banned the private ownership of semi-automatic rifles in 1988.
Since the Dunblane tragedy, the UK hasn’t experienced a single school shooting. In contrast, during that same period, the U.S. has faced over 420 school shootings.
In the wake of this tragic incident, gun control advocates urged Congress to pass laws banning semi-automatic weapons, calling for background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases, among other reasonable restrictions. Yet, they found little success.
For instance, the 2022 Safer Communities Act, which aimed to enhance background checks for gun buyers under 21, created funding for states to develop red flag laws and offered mental health care support. However, to get this through Congress, Democrats had to scale back more stringent measures like universal background checks.
This new law did nothing to prevent the shooting in Minneapolis.
The 1994 assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and hasn’t been renewed. Additionally, Congress currently restricts the Department of Justice from maintaining a national registry for most firearms.
Unlike lawmakers in the UK, American conservatives often sidestep gun control discussions, focusing instead on school shootings themselves.
After the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, where an assailant used an AR-15 and a handgun to kill 20 children and six adults, NRA President Wayne LaPierre suggested the solution lay in armed security at schools.
Meanwhile, the police presence at schools has often failed to prevent such tragedies. In 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, an armed sheriff’s deputy struggled to confront the gunman before it was too late, leading to the loss of 17 students and staff.
Similarly, during the Uvalde, Texas shooting, heavily armed officers stood outside while a gunman inflicted chaos, killing 19 students and two teachers.
Still, some Republicans persist in arguing that the answer to a shooter with a gun is simply a good guy with a gun.
The idea of arming teachers has been floated, particularly after evaluations following the Parkland shooting. But statistics show that a significant percentage of educators—73%, in fact—do not wish to carry firearms in schools.
Experts warn that introducing more guns into schools raises the risk of accidental discharges and, potentially, students getting access to weapons, which might create rather than alleviate danger.
Another common argument from those opposing gun control is about enhancing school security. After the Uvalde tragedy, Senator Ted Cruz called for schools to strengthen their defenses, suggesting measures like bulletproof doors and single entry points.
However, it’s nearly impossible to achieve complete security in educational settings. Children must exit the building at various times throughout the day, which means limiting exits can lead to dangerous congestion.
The notion of robust mental health care also resurfaces every time a shooting occurs. Some argue that better mental health treatment would reduce the incidence of school shootings. Vice President JD Vance made this case following the Minneapolis incident, emphasizing the mental health crisis in the country.
Yet, he didn’t mention the ongoing gun violence issue that plagues the country.
He pointed out that the U.S. consumes more psychiatric medication than any other nation, prompting questions about its connection to violence. But this logic overlooks the fact that while many countries have citizens with mental illnesses, not all face the same level of school shootings as the U.S.
Research has shown that, despite similar rates of mental illness across nations like the U.S., the UK, and Australia, the U.S. has significantly higher rates of gun-related deaths—ten times that of Australia and forty times that of the UK.
While bolstering school security and addressing mental health are essential steps, they don’t necessarily prevent tragedies if people still have easy access to firearms.
