Every time another school shooting happens, the pattern is the same. The headlines flood in, the debates over gun control dominate, and then the story fades. But one thing almost never gets mentioned: mental health.
That silence is what pushed me to write this. My kids’ school recently sent an email after a shooting. It talked about safety. It talked about awareness. But it did not say a single word about mental health.
Maybe it hits harder for me now because the victims in recent shootings are close in age to my own kids and family members. I cannot shake the feeling that we are missing the most important part of the conversation.
The Crisis We Ignore
The truth is that mental illness in young people is at crisis levels. In 2023, nearly 40% of U.S. high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, while 20% seriously considered suicide and 9% attempted it (CDC).
From 2016 to 2022, hospitalizations for youth mental health issues rose 124%, yet only about half of young people with a mental health condition receive treatment (Compass Health).
Meanwhile, students who attend schools that experience shootings face long-term fallout. In just two years, over 100,000 kids were in schools where shootings happened, and many ended up on antidepressants while also seeing their academic performance drop (Stanford SIEPR).
The Role of Social Media
When I look around, it feels like society itself is fueling this crisis. Kids have access to violent content at the click of a button. Social media has become a machine that drives comparison and anger.
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 95% of teens aged 13 to 17 use social media, and over a third say they are on it almost constantly (HHS).
The more time kids spend, the worse it gets. Teens who use social media more than three hours a day have double the risk of depression and anxiety (HHS). Another study found that as kids’ daily social media use rose from 7 minutes to 73 minutes, reports of depressive symptoms jumped 35% (UCSF).
Among teens already receiving treatment for depression or suicidal thoughts, 40% said they had problematic social media use—meaning they felt distress when they could not get online (UT Southwestern).
Social media alone doesn’t explain school shootings, but it shows the environment kids are growing up in: one that normalizes anger, comparison, isolation, and despair.
We Need More Than Gun Control
Gun control is part of the conversation and always will be. But focusing only on access to weapons misses the bigger picture. Angry and depressed people are killing. Until we start addressing why so many people are angry and depressed, we are only treating the symptoms, not the disease.
Most school shooters have a history of trauma. Research shows 72% experienced at least one traumatic event in childhood, from abuse to family loss (Wikipedia). Trauma mixed with untreated mental illness and access to violent content is a recipe for disaster.
Change Needs Leadership
What we need is someone to step up and make this a movement. Just as Tim Tebow has taken a public stance on child trafficking, we need leaders willing to take a national stance on solving mass shootings through mental health.
There are examples of what works. Programs like Hope Squad—a peer-to-peer school-based mental health initiative—have shown that student-led awareness and support can transform school culture. In schools with Hope Squad, 98% of administrators said it improved the climate, and more than 95% of referrals for help came from outside the program, proving the awareness spread beyond the core group (Wikipedia).
But these programs are scattered, not scaled. They should not be the exception. They should be the standard.
What You Can Do Locally
Big movements start with small questions. Parents, teachers, and community members can begin holding their schools accountable by asking things like:
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How does our school identify and support students struggling with depression or anxiety?
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What resources are available for mental health on campus?
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Do teachers receive training to recognize depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts?
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How are parents included in mental health awareness and support?
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What programs are in place to reduce stigma around asking for help?
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If a student asks for help, what is the process and who responds?
These questions matter because they shine a light on whether a school is prepared or not. They send a message that mental health is not optional. It has to be a priority.
You do not need to launch a national program tomorrow. Change can start with a single conversation at your local school board meeting. It can start with one parent emailing a principal. It can start with you.
Where We Go From Here
I do not have all the answers. But I know this: if we keep ignoring mental health while only debating guns, the cycle will never end.
We are raising kids in a world that pushes them toward depression and anger. We cannot keep treating those realities as background noise. Mental health must become central to how we talk about, prepare for, and prevent school shootings.
The change we need is both national and local. It starts with leaders willing to push a movement forward, and it starts with us asking the hard questions at our own schools.
Because until mental health is treated as seriously as safety drills, this will not stop.
