Site

The Types of Weapons Used in School Violence

The news of weapons finding their way into schools is frightening. Rather than making use of pens and other writing materials only, children use lethal weapons to assault and kill each other in school. In our day, it is important to guide children with advice and knowledge informing them of the dangers of performing violent acts in school.

 

The first thing that can help prevent violence in school is knowing the types of weapons that students use to engage in violent acts at school. The measures to prevent these incidents are easy to take once teachers and parents understand the nature of the weapons that students use in engaging in school violence, and how they access them. 

 

The types of weapons that students use commonly are handheld items. An example is knives and students from sub-urban and rural schools use them frequently. They use the knives widely in the United States to threaten, assault or even to stab their fellow students. Students do not need to be gang members to get knives for they can readily access them at home.

 

The other item that students use as weapons when engaging in violent acts at school is hockey sticks. Nowadays, children form small groups that they call gangs for various purposes in school. Their favorite handheld weapon when they need to fight with rival gangs are hockey sticks for they can use them to hit the other students. Baseball bats are the other common item that students engaging in violent acts in school use. It is easy for students to access them for they are available in playgrounds and other areas in the school compound. If the students use baseball bats wisely, they can reduce the chances of assaulting others lethally.

 

The other weapon that students use to engage in school violence is handguns. Students access firearms from two major sources. The first source is from the gang members who live or engage in gang activities close to the school. The second source of firearms is from the parents who own licensed guns but leave them carelessly in areas where their children can access them. 

 

The other type of firearm used in school violence is the machine pistol. Many people have no familiarity with this type of pistol but it is a form of micro or semi machine gun. The people who own machine pistols are those who participate in extreme forms of violence such as burglary and extortion among other crimes. This weapon’s use occurs mainly in territorial wars and an incident that occurred in 2003 in a certain Seattle high school is an illustration of crimes committed by using machine pistols. The incident was drive-by shooting. It is however not easy for students to access machine pistols because they are unlawful. They can only have access to them by the help of other people.

 

The other weapon used in violence at school is the assault rifle. Although using assault riffles in school violence is not common, knowing more about them is important. Examples of common assault riffles are the AK-47, the AK-74 and the M4 Carbine. They have the classification as mortal weapons and the army or militants are the people who mostly use them. The most dreadful incident where the use of an assault riffle took place was in 1999 at Columbine High School where a thirteen-year-old student shot his schoolmates using an AK-47 riffle.