Ritalin, Video Games, Abortions, Guns: Which Factors Contribute to School Shootings?

Three days after a fatal school shooting claimed 10 lives in Santa Fe, Texas, voices from across the political spectrum took to the airwaves Sunday to point to possible factors:

Ritalin

• Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North, the new president of the National Rifle Association, told Fox News Sunday that school shooters "have been drugged in many cases" and "many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they were in kindergarten."

Violent video games, TV, and movies

• North also blamed a "culture where violence is commonplace," pointing to TV and movies.
• Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick shares North’s view. Speaking on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday, Patrick said:

"The video games issue, we have got to address in this country. Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitized to violence, may have lost empathy for their victims by watching hours and hours of video violent games.”

Abortions and “broken” families

• “We have devalued life, whether it’s through abortion, whether it’s the breakup of families,” Patrick said.
• The Lt. Gov. explained:

"We have 50 million abortions. We have families that are broken apart, no fathers at home."

Too many school entrances

• Patrick has repeatedly called for eliminating extraneous school entrances:

“We need to get down to one or two entrances into our schools," he told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. “You have the necessary exits for fire, of course, but we have to funnel our students into our schools so we can put eyes on them."

Unarmed teachers

• “We have to arm our teachers,” Patrick said.  “If another person has a gun, the best way to stop that person is with another person with a gun. But an even better way is four people with a gun to stop that person."

Guns

• While Patrick has said “This is not about guns,” others disagree. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told CBS News' Face the Nation that politicians aren’t respecting the will of the voters when it comes to gun regulations and reforms:
• "Let me tell you, people at the state level and the federal level in too many places in our country are not doing anything other than offering prayers," Acevedo said.

"We need to start using the ballot box and ballot initiatives to take the matters out of the hands of people that are doing nothing that are elected into the hands of the people to see that the will of the people in this country is actually carried out."

• The police chief posted on Facebook that he had "hit rock bottom" and "shed tears of sadness, pain and anger" over the Texas killings. The post went viral.
• "I think that the American people, gun owners—the vast majority of which are pragmatic and actually support gun sense and gun reform in terms of keeping guns in the right hands," Acevedo said on Sunday.

What do you think?

Which factors, if any, do you think contribute to school shootings? Should Congress do more to regulate video games, or prescription drugs for teens, or school blueprints, or guns? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

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(Photo Credit: fstop123 / iStock)