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Colleen Roy

Professor Baumeister

SPL 210 Introduction to Ethics

30 April 2019

Moral Quandaries Paper

School shootings have been a worldwide problem for centuries, but “the earliest known

United States shooting to happen on school property was the Pontiac’s Rebellion school

massacre on July 26, 1764” (Glavin, Chris). This shooting in the 1700’s was only the beginning

of a horrific trend of school shootings that has been established in the United States. In fact,

since 2000 “there have been more than 130 shootings at elementary, middle and high schools,

and 58 others at colleges and universities” (Bump, Philip.). If thought about as a whole, this

would equivalent to having about six school shooting each year, since it is now 2019 and there

have been 130 shootings in the past 19 years. In a broad sense it may seem as though school

shootings are not a moral quandary at all due to the overwhelming majority supporting that they

are morally wrong, but there is another angle. School shootings are a moral quandary due to the

different factors that tie into the problem such as laws in relation to gun control and school safety

procedure. A moral quandary is a “difficulty or controversy that society at large seems to be

involved in” (Class notes, 4/11), and school shootings are definitely controversial difficulties

when it comes to how the second amendment applies while also ensuring that safety is kept as a

top priority.

After a recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, many students and parents began

advocating for a shift in the attention towards gun control in relation to school safety. This

advocacy led to the signing of tighter gun legislation that included “raising the minimum age to
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purchase a firearm to 21 from 18” (Hampson, Rick). Although there are steps being taken

towards stricter gun regulation in the instance of the Parkland shooting, most school shootings do

not result in change drastic enough to eliminate school shootings in general. According to the

Washington Post, “since 2000 there have been school shootings in 43 of the 50 states” (Bump,

Philip), meaning that little to no change has been made regardless of the state to help decrease

school shootings. With many highly controversial topics, there can also be a tendency to shy

away from the reality in hopes that the issue will resolve itself. The problem with doing this is

that ignorance can become just as dangerous as the issue itself. The equivalent to ignoring school

shootings would be how Beauvoir views ignoring ambiguity. She says that instead of fearing or

running from this ambiguity of life, “let us try to assume our fundamental ambiguity. It is in the

knowledge of the genuine conditions of our life that we must draw our strength to live and our

reason for acting” (Beauvoir, Simone de., 8).

A reasoned response to this moral quandary would be to put into place stricter gun laws

and to ensure that there are mandated and maintained school safety procedures. There is no way

to truly prevent school shootings as there is no determined cause of them. There can be

preventions put in place based on supposed underlying commonalities like gun control, mental

illness, and safety precautions. Immanuel Kant says that “moderation in emotions and passions,

self-control, and calm deliberation are not only good in many respects but even seem to

constitute part of the intrinsic worth of a person” (Kant, Immanuel., 7). In saying this I believe he

means that anything in moderation is okay, but when it comes to school shootings, nothing is in

moderation. Emotions like anger, revenge, and hatred are high, and there little to no self-control

in most cases due to this. Kant’s theory and ideas are centered around the concept of moral laws

and how everything is meant to be practical and achievable. I think a way to relate this to the
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response needed for school shootings is in the idea that guns should be used in moderation,

meaning that they should not be handed out to just anyone without specific guidelines that relate

to mental health and other physiological tests. Kant believes that the only good thing in the world

is good will, and there is not an ounce of good will present in school shootings. In fact, it is quite

the opposite of good will that is the foundation of school shootings. When a gun is brought into a

location that is portrayed as being safe, there is nothing but hatred or resentment of some issue

that follows it. Kant would not support the reckless laws surrounding gun control or the lack of

maxims that shooters follow. In regard to the shooting and killing of students or people in

general, Kant says that no one “can dispose of a man in [his] own person by mutilating,

damaging, or killing him” (Kant, Immanuel., 36). Kant does not support the intentional killing of

other people especially as a means to their own life, saying that no human should ever be treated

as a means.

In conclusion, school shootings are very complex as they have no direct reason for

happening and have many moving parts attached. Schools in society today are relatively safe, but

there are adjustments that could be made to ensure even more safety, like special doors that lock

from the inside or bullet proof doors and windows. The issue is not a matter of wanting to or not

wanting to provide schools with safe features, but a lack of funding. Although Kant says that

things like wealth and happiness and pride are not enough, they are needed in society as a means

of obtaining needs like water, shelter, and food, as well as things like safety and security.

Children go to school to learn and to grow into whoever they desire to be, and both Kant and I

are in agreement that no human has the right to take that away from them.
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Works Cited:

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Ethics of Ambiguity. Open Road Integrated Media Inc., 2018.

Bump, Philip. “Eighteen Years of Gun Violence in U.S. Schools, Mapped.” The Washington

Post, WP Company, 14 Feb. 2018,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/14/eighteen-years-of-gun-violence-

in-u-s-schools-mapped/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c19c18dc39b1.

Glavin, Chris. “History of School Shootings in the United States.” History of School Shootings

in the United States | K12 Academics, 26 July 2018, www.k12academics.com/school-

shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states.

Hampson, Rick. “After Parkland Shooting: A Day-by-Day Fight over Guns in America.” USA

Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Dec. 2018,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/26/parkland-school-shooting-10-months-gun-

control-united-states/2310683002/.

Kant, Immanuel. Ethical Philosophy: Second Edition. Hackett Publishing Company. 1994.
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