Kent State Shooting Research Paper

Major events have crafted the United States and other nations into what they are today. Going from world wars in the 1940’s, to civil rights movements in the 1960’s, to extravagant national debt today, have all played a part in shaping our nation. Being from rural Mississippi, world news being made here is uncommon. We see all of our major news from televisions or newspapers, and this “news” is all happening elsewhere, far from here. Whether it is a good thing that we do not make the big news or not, the fear of uncertain events still lingers. From shootings in schools to bombings in cities, we are fortunate for being seemingly far from these dangers. Even though no physical effects pertain to me, mental pain and fear stays and leaves doubt

The National Guard members do not seem to be taking any action with respect to the student Terrence Roberts. They are standing in front of the direction Robert is facing, implying they are blocking him. Additional guard members seem to also be blocking the crowd.

Earlier in the weekend, university officials banned all protests and assemblies on campus. Students ignored this ruling and began congregating around eleven AM for the scheduled twelve noon protest. When the protest began, a Kent State police officer patrolled the campus with several guardsmen in a jeep announcing that the protest was illegal and everyone must leave the campus immediately. In response to this dispersion call, the students became violent, throwing rocks and attacking the jeep. The general in charge of the guardsmen in Kent, General Canterbury, ordered the guardsmen to arm themselves and fire tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. As the crowd of

The Boston Massacre and the killings that took place at Kent State University occured 200 year apart from each other, but there is a striking resemblance between the two events. It is evident that history repeats itself. Both of the events were brought on by tensions between the powers that be and the people, became so violent that officials were forced to take charge, and after tragedy occurred, no one suffered any consequences.

At Kent State University in Ohio, there was several memorable events. Like the destruction of protestors launching a demonstration that included setting fire to the ROTC building causing the governor of Ohio to dispatch 900 National Guardsmen to the campus. On May 4th, 1970 was a tragic event for Kent State University. During that day an altercation occurred with twenty eight guardsmen opening fire on a crowd causing the killings of 4 students and wounding nine others. Almost 500 colleges were shut down due to this fatal shooting around the United States of America. “The Justice Department initially declined to conduct a Grand jury investigation. The actions of the guardsmen had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” A Grand jury indicted eight of the guardsmen, but the charges were dismissed due to the lack of evidence. The Kent State shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. Since the tragic event, the Kent State shootings were the subject of the 1970 song "Ohio" by the group Crosby, Stills, Nash, and young.

One of the nation’s most fatal shootings. The Columbine Massacre “ranked as one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history as well as one of the deadliest episodes of school violence (Library, par. 6).” Twelve students and one teacher were killed, and twenty-three others were incapacitated. It still remains a mystery as to why Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on a murderous rampage on that despicable day but the truth remains. The Columbine Massacre was and still is a day many will never forget.

In the late sixties and early seventies, the anti-war moment peaked during the Nixon administration. In October of 1969, the Weatherman, an ultra-left splinter group of SDS (which had become a revolutionary organization), held its infamous ‘Days of Rage" demonstrations in Chicago. Many young protesters attempted to fight police in the streets. The same month witnessed an outpouring of dissent unprecedented in U.S. history. More than two million people joined in Vietnam Moratorium activities around the country. Many were protesting against the war for the first time. For the first time, the press sympathized with the antiwar protesters. The following month more than 500,000 people demonstrated in Washington, 150,000 protested in San Francisco,

The Kent State shooting has sadly been one of the many fatal shootings throughout history in America. There are growing rates in mass shootings in America today as we know. They are becoming more common in our daily news sadly. We have many Anti-shooting, and many rallies to end war on certain topics. This just happened to be one for the Vietnam war. .

The Kent State shooting played a major role in Nixon’s resignation from presidency and the public’s opinion of the Vietnam War. The students that were protesting started when Nixon announced intervention into Cambodia. Outraged students met on campus the very next day to show that they didn’t agree with the presidents decision. During the shooting students threw containers of tear gas back at the guardsmen. Some students threw rocks as the soldiers left. Protestors would shout “Pigs Off Campus!” (Axelrod et al. 256) Many of the soldiers sent to settle the frustrated protestors were weekend warriors who chose the guard to avoid ending up in Vietnam. Mandy soldiers lacked training for combat and crowds. Most soldiers were confused by the actions of the students and weren’t sure how to react. The student protestors refused the guards orders to disperse which resulted in the guardsmen throwing tear gas toward the rioting protestors. The protestors consisted of upper class and middle class residents.

In Troutdale, Oregon June 10, 2014 a 15-year-old High School freshman brought an assault rifle to school and shot 14-year-old freshman Emilio Hoffman. Two school resource officers, Nick Thompson and Kyle Harris, were armed security guards at the high school during the shooting. The school Resource Officers were able to respond as armed security before the shooter was able to fire additional rounds into classmates. This timely response should be required for all educational establishments that are prime targets for mentally disturbed gun owners (Barkoukis, Leah). According to a survey asking 100 LBCC student if they agree with campus security to be armed, 72% responded in favor of armed staff (Survey). Only 12% of students disagreed with

One important group in the controversy over campus carry rights are gun rights activists. Because these people believe guns should be allowed on campus, they tend to say that these beliefs promote safety on campus. Furthermore, because they care about college students, the. Jason Russell graduated from the University of Rochester and is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. His point of view on this controversy is that he wants everyone to carry guns for protection on campus. He recently argued that campus carry should be universally legalized in his article, “Should Guns Be Allowed on College Campuses?”, the principal claim is, “taking away guns... won 't rid the world of criminality.” He supports this argument with one main reason: the fact that concealed carry would have helped victims in many situations. For instance, when saying that concealed carry can protect students, he writes about a victim of rape who said “all I wanted was a chance to effectively defend myself.” And when

According to The New York Times in 2005 Cho was scheduled for an appointment with campus counseling after he made suicidal statements. However, Cho never made a follow-up appointment and never was his parents informed of his mental state. If campus officials did the job they were supposed to they could have caught the problem before it occurred. Another reason to blame the university is that the university should have locked down campus after the initial incident. If the campus would have locked down after the shooting at the dorm it could have decreased the death totals. That is some things that the university was criticized for.

Situations like the Virginia Tech incident and the Colombine massacre happened because people with guns found places where they knew nobody else would be able to shoot back. Only police can respond at that point and by the time police arrive to settle the situation, many lives have already been lost. Allowing more people like students and staff access to concealed firearms on school campuses, the magnet that pulls criminals towards places like schools would be detached. Charlie Collins, a Republican state legislator who wrote the campus concealed-carry bill said, "This has been a bad year for campus killings, and it's a problem that's not going away," he said. "One thing that can help reduce it, and help save the lives of our loved ones on college campuses, is eliminating the magnets that exist for these crazy killers." (Collins and

In the year of 2015, there were approximately 23 college campus shootings (Sanburn). While walking to class, students should feel safe and secure at all times. Because of the current gun control laws, it is hard to feel that way. There have been too many college campus shootings that result in an uneasy feeling while walking through campus, and that is simply not okay. The violence that is being caused each day because of guns has become unbearable. There have been several different occurrences in the past year of mass shootings in different areas. Guns are making everywhere an unsafe and risky place to be. Gun control is an issue that needs to be addressed during this election because these weapons are adding too much violence to the world and are the reason for the end of

The Virginia Tech shooting was also one of the worst historical events in history that made me see things differently. On April 16, 2007, a shooting was occurred that not only changed the lives of the students, but also changed the way I see life. The reason was because one student had a mental problem which lead him to killing and hurting a lot of students. Mourning the losses of teachers, friends, and students, Virginia Tech is now forever changed, says one veterinary school spokesperson (Schultz, par. 2). It saddens me that a person would do this just to be famous or to cause physical and mental pain on innocent people.