Dissecting Obama's Speech On School Shooting And Gun Violence

More than 1,700 children and teenagers die in the U.S every year as a result of gun violence. the deaths are much higher for black children (Every Town, 2020). Many of these children die as a result of school shootings that have become more prevalent in recent years (Every Town, 2020). School shootings affect the whole society, it triggers fear among children, their parents as well as the teachers who witness these shootings. School shootings are an element of gun violence that has been a major issue in the U.S. In the aftermath of a school shooting, the president is always expected to address the tragedy and they always do this through public presidential speeches that are meant to give hope to the society. 

This paper will analyze President Obama’s speech on the 2012 Connecticut school shooting and President Trump’s speech after the 2018 Florida school shooting to help the society understand the extensiveness of the issue of gun violence in American. School shootings are not only unethical; they lead to deaths of young children with great potential.Both presidents Obama and Trump’s speeches addressed the shootings a day after they occurred through a public speech where they both offered their condolences to the victims’ families. The speeches attempted to reassure the American society specially the children of their safety, thanking the first responders including the law enforcement, teachers and the parents (Slack, 2012: Berenson, 2018). School shootings rob the community of important youths with great potential to help develop the society. Killing children is always a loss to the society because children are always regarded as tomorrow’s leaders (Every Town, 2020). This point is illustrated by the fact that the two president mention on the potential of the victims of the school shootings promising to do all that they can to help reduce cases of school shootings.

After a violent effect, the society always needs to be reassured and given hope to help them cope with the situation, with prayers being the most effective element of driving this concept home. The call for prayers was a major theme in both speeches to help encourage the American society and to avoid inciting any form of tensions. Trump’s speech focused more on prayers where he urged the Americans to pray for the affected families, so that they heal from the ordeal and also requested them to pray for the country (Berenson, 2018). Obama did the same in his speech where he urged the American people to continue being prayerful and most especially to the victim’s families that he mentioned by name (Slack, 2012). Mentioning the victims by names unlike the case for Trump helped to show Obama’s concern on the shootings, illustrating that he felt the pain that the families were going through during that difficult time.

Mental health has always been blamed for issues of gun violence, however research has shown that there is no link between the two (Swanson et al., 2015). Trump mentioned the concept of mental health blaming the shooting on mental health problems a point that made his speech ineffective. Mentioning the issue of mental health made Trump neglect the important element of school shootings, which is gun control. Trump did not at one point in his speech mention the issue of guns, which are the major problem motivating school shootings. He promised to help find solutions to the problem but did not give specifics on what solutions will be implemented (Berenson, 2018). Obama on his part did not hide his frustrations in regard to gun violence, but he did not give any solutions in regard to the issue. The reaction of the two presidents on the issue of gun violence is an illustration that the reason gun violence continues to be a problem in the society is because the leaders that are supposed to help deal with the issue do not believe that it is an issue and hence do not try to find solutions to the problem.

Addressing the issue of gun violence requires the dedication of every member of the society. Every person has to take responsibility for the role that they have contributed in motivating gun violence in the society. The society has to stand firm and speak against gun violence, while the state and the leaders need to come up with policies on gun control to help reduce cases of mass shootings that continue to increase. The two presidents confirmed the need for gun control by ending their speeches with promises of working with the relevant authorities to some up with solutions to school shootings. For Obama, he mentioned the Homeland Security, the FBI and the Pentagon and Trump on his end mentioned Florida’s governor and the attorney general as well as Broward County Sheriff all whom are relevant authority figures that can help come up with solutions to school shootings (Slack, 2012: Berenson, 2018).

Gun violence is an issue that continues to affect the American society, more children die today as a result of school shootings. The speech given by presidents Obama and Trump are a good illustration of the urgent need to deal with the issue of gun violence, the shootings addressed in the speeches happened six years apart but the major theme in both is the increasing issue of gun violence in the American society. Gun control policies need to be implemented and followed up on by leaders like presidents Obama and Trump to help reduce gun violence in the society. This article should help the society understand that gun violence is an issue that can be resolved if everyone takes on the role of being responsible and through gun control policies.