On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 25 in 2023, America experienced yet another mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. This marked that over 565 mass shootings have occurred in the United States in the year of 2023 alone. This has prompted several major discussions regarding why these mass shootings are still happening and how the U.S. should handle its alarming gun violence problem.
The shooting took place in the charming town of Lewiston, Maine. The state of Maine is known for having one of the lowest homicide rates in the country, having only 29 killings in 2022. According to the Associated Press, the shooting was one of the “worst mass killings in state history.”
According to NBC News, at approximately 6:56 p.m., the first 911 call was made to the Auburn communications center, which described a shooting at the town’s local bowling alley, Just-In-Time Recreation. Just minutes later, authorities arrived at the scene, only for the gunman to have left. At around 7:08 p.m., more calls were made reporting another shooting at Schemengees Bar and Grille. Once again, more local authorities arrived at the scene, but the armed gunman had already fled.
The armed shooter was later identified as 40-year-old Robert Card, an Army reservist since 2002. Card was a rather large man, standing at 5’11 and weighing 230 pounds. Richard Goddard, a Lewiston local who claimed to personally know the Card family, stated, “This is his stomping ground. He grew up here. He knows every ledge to hide behind, every thicket.” This could explain why Robert Card had successfully escaped for as long as he did.
The manhunt to find Card went on for the next two days following the shootings. Terrified citizens of Maine were instructed to not leave their homes, as Card was described as “armed and dangerous.” Hundreds of state and local police as well as federal agents had been involved in the manhunt. However, the reign of terror finally ended when Card was found dead in the overflow area of the recycling center that he worked at. The autopsy report stated that Card died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, confirming that his death was a suicide.
Unfortunately, the damage was already done. 18 people had been killed and 13 wounded from Robert Card’s acts of despicable violence. This shooting is yet another example of the major gun violence issue that the U.S. is currently facing. According to the Gun Violence Archive, at least 35,275 people have died from gun violence in the U.S. in the year of 2023. This averages almost 118 deaths each day.
The rise in mass shootings in the U.S. has directly affected the mental health of students. Many students feel as though they need to plan escape routes for a possible school shooting more than ever before, as an increase in anxiety, depression, and suicides have resulted from the significant weight of mass shootings happening all over. Clinical psychologist Erika Felix of University of California, Santa Barbara stated that, “These tragedies are happening far too often, and the result is that many young people are feeling this constant back-of-the-mind stress.” This heavily influences students’ abilities to perform work in school, as this heavy source of anxiety constantly stays on their mind distracting them. In addition, Johnathan Comer of Florida International University asserted, “The more catastrophic events that we’re exposed to as a nation, the more impacted we’re going to be on a psychological level.”
Researchers have found that the most common mental illnesses linked to the impact of mass shootings have been major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Poor mental health is not new to American students. In a survey conducted in 2021, 42% of students reported that they felt “persistently sad or hopeless,” and that nearly ⅓ of those same students experienced bad mental health. As modern-day schools become more demanding and rigorous on their students, the mental health of students is already declining. Therefore, the additional added stress of the lingering thought of a possible mass shooting happening in schools dramatically impacts the well-being of students.
In order to improve this growing issue of poor student mental health, schools need to actively equip themselves with more resources through their administration and policies. Adding more counselors and psychologists to their staff would be one way in which to address this problem, as more students would have the opportunity to get the professional help that they need. Additionally, by educating themselves on how to quickly identify signs of trauma and behavioral problems, schools can more easily get a read on when students are struggling with their mental health. As America continues to suffer with mass shootings, which directly correlates with poor student mental health, schools need to work towards supporting their students in every way possible to fix this problem.
