In the wake of the tragic Apalachee High School shooting, American students are at a loss to describe their grief. The Apalachee shooting was the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history and reflects the mental-health crisis running rampant in high school hallways. Four people, two students and two teachers, were brutally gunned down by 14-year-old Colt Gray, a freshman at Apalachee whose father, Colin Gray, has also been arrested in connection with the shooting, due to “knowingly allowing his son … to possess a weapon,” according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey.
As a Texas high school student living in the aftermath of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos murdered 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, I can say with utmost confidence: I’ve seen this film before.
In the 25 years since the tragic mass shooting at Columbine High School, 2,032 school shooting incidents have occurred. Of these, 1,143 had at least one victim shot, and 59 of them are considered mass shootings (four or more people shot), all per the K-12 School Shooting Database. Increasingly, Americans are desensitized to the problem of gun violence. In the current election cycle, one of the candidates promises to uphold the Second Amendment, and the other claims proud status as a gun owner. This is beyond repulsive. It is dystopian.
I’m concerned for my generation. The vast majority of us have been exposed to social media since at least our early tweens. According to the Pew Research Center, 97 percent of American teenagers use the internet every day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an article last reviewed in May, 29% of American teens self-reported poor mental health, 22% of teens experienced suicidal ideation and 10% of teens attempted suicide.
This is not a coincidence. This is an indictment of the American social safety net, from our privatized healthcare system, which denies access to therapy for low-income people who cannot afford it, to the purgatory of modern college admissions. For students, the latter is particularly exacting, demanding high SAT/ACT scores, a high GPA, a rigorous course load, usually featuring 10-plus AP classes for students aspiring to prestigious universities, a well-rounded set of extracurriculars, dozens of service hours per year and numerous leadership positions. With the immense pressure to succeed in the contemporary educational landscape, is it any wonder that teen mental health has declined exponentially?
The rise in school shootings is attributable in every conceivable way to the teen mental-health crisis, and it is the responsibility of civically minded people in our community to care for its most vulnerable members. Here at McCallum, administrators can accomplish this by facilitating familial interventions and rehabilitation rather than shipping off people to the Alternative Learning Center. As for students, ostracism and social ridicule will never replace the importance of having empathy for people who struggle with addiction and mental-health issues.
As a community, it is our prerogative to stay informed and compassionate. We live in a state where 18-year-olds are permitted to buy guns, where concealed carry is a public norm and where private sellers of firearms do not have to complete background checks or mental-health evaluations on potential buyers. In fact, the latter is true throughout the United States.
Mental health is a public health emergency. No amount of political lobbying in the halls of the Texas State Capitol or Washington, D.C. will ever change that. Per NBC News, the NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) spent over $5.4 million on federal lobbying in 2023. The NRA spent $2.31 million in lobbying efforts overall, a decrease from previous years. This year, the NRA has spent just below $1 million so far.
Regardless of your views on private gun ownership, the connection between the contemporary mental-health crisis and the 346 school shootings in the United States in 2023 alone is irrefutable. It is personal. And it is in your backyard.
