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Are America’s public mass shooters unique? A comparative analysis of offenders in the United States and other countries
Abstract
Public mass shooters are often assumed to be an exceptionally American problem, but little is known about what proportion of global offenders attack in the United States, or how America’s offenders compare to those in other countries. The present study offers the first quantitative analysis of all known offenders from 1966 to 2012 who attacked anywhere on the globe and killed a minimum of four victims. The results suggest that public mass shooters in the United States are significantly more likely to arm themselves with multiple weapons and attack at school and workplace settings, while offenders from other countries are more likely to strike at military sites. These differences may be partially attributable to America’s national gun culture and its particular set of social strains.
... occurred over the last two decades, according to a study that compared mass shootings in the US against developed and developing countries between 1998 and 2019 [5]. Other research examining global mass shootings also suggests that mass shootings are a uniquely American problem, particularly in relation to other developed countries [6,7]. ...
... The US has higher rates of gun ownership than do other countries. Previous studies comparing mass shootings in the US against other countries showed that US mass shootings were more likely to involve multiple firearms than all other countries [5,6]. This higher chance of US shooters arming themselves with more than one firearm may be partially attributable to the ease of gun accessibility in America [18]. ...
... For example, the cross-national study conducted by Lemieux found that the gun ownership variable was the best predictor for death by firearms, which in turn was found to be significantly related to mass shooting casualties [7]. Other studies have found that more firearms used in mass shootings increased the number of fatalities during an attack [6,53]. This finding also suggests that the rate of gun ownership may affect mass shooting fatalities, as higher gun ownership rates tend to increase the chance of mass shooting perpetrators using more than one firearm in an assault, leading to increased risks of fatal mass shootings. ...
Mass shootings (incidents with four or more people shot in a single event, not including the shooter) are becoming more frequent in the United States, posing a significant threat to public health and safety in the country. In the current study, we intended to analyze the impact of state-level prevalence of gun ownership on mass shootings—both the frequency and severity of these events. We applied the negative binomial generalized linear mixed model to investigate the association between gun ownership rate, as measured by a proxy (i.e., the proportion of suicides committed with firearms to total suicides), and population-adjusted rates of mass shooting incidents and fatalities at the state level from 2013 to 2022. Gun ownership was found to be significantly associated with the rate of mass shooting fatalities. Specifically, our model indicated that for every 1-SD increase—that is, for every 12.5% increase—in gun ownership, the rate of mass shooting fatalities increased by 34% ( p value < 0.001). However, no significant association was found between gun ownership and rate of mass shooting incidents. These findings suggest that restricting gun ownership (and therefore reducing availability to guns) may not decrease the number of mass shooting events, but it may save lives when these events occur.
... Studies of American mass shootings also compare completed, attempted, failed, and foiled mass shootings to determine strategies for intervention and prevention Silva, 2022c). However, large-scale global examinations often use the completed criteria to avoid missing cases, which can skew comparisons across countries (Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022b). ...
... Using the completed and public mass shooting criteria, studies consistently find that the United States has experienced a higher number of mass shootings compared to any other nation worldwide-far exceeding its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Duwe et al., 2022;Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016cLemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b;. 2 Other countries with high numbers of mass shootings are largely nondeveloped countries-including Russia, Yemen, the Philippines, and Uganda-although, these numbers still pale in comparison to the United States (Silva, 2023a). Lankford (2016a) finds that despite making up less than 5% of the global population, the United States has produced 31% of global mass shootings. ...
... Using the completed and public mass shooting criteria, studies consistently find that the United States has experienced a higher number of mass shootings compared to any other nation worldwide-far exceeding its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Duwe et al., 2022;Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016cLemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b;. 2 Other countries with high numbers of mass shootings are largely nondeveloped countries-including Russia, Yemen, the Philippines, and Uganda-although, these numbers still pale in comparison to the United States (Silva, 2023a). Lankford (2016a) finds that despite making up less than 5% of the global population, the United States has produced 31% of global mass shootings. ...
There has been extensive media coverage, public concern, and calls for action surrounding mass shootings in the United States at the turn of the 21st century. To address this concern, there is a growing body of research aimed at understanding and remedying this problem in America. However, recent attacks around the world—like the Kerch Polytechnic College shooting in Ukraine, the Christchurch Mosque shooting in New Zealand, and the Suzano School shooting in Brazil—illustrate that mass shootings are a global phenomenon. To this end, it is critical for research to shed light on this troubling and complex issue and contribute to a more informed public and scholarly discourse on mass shootings and their impact around the world. To understand the global problem, it is necessary to evaluate the prevalence of incidents across countries, mass shooter backgrounds and profiles, and common locations targeted during these attacks. To address this phenomenon, it is important to consider strategies for prevention and harm mitigation, including instituting responsible gun legislation, addressing warning signs and leakage, implementing situational crime prevention measures, and advancing law enforcement responses.
... To help understand and address this problem, studies have identified trends in attack frequency and lethality, as well as stability and change in offender profiles and incident characteristics in the United States (Capellan & Gomez, 2018;Lankford & Silver, 2020;Peterson & Densley, 2019). While recent research has examined the global mass shooting problem (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016cLemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b), these studies have still predominantly focused on what makes America unique. In other words, there is very little known about mass shootings in other countries around the world. ...
... To some extent, the extensive research focused on American mass shootings is unsurprising, given the United States has produced more mass shootings than any other country in the world (Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022b). However, scholars suggest the potential globalisation of American mass shootings (Lankford, 2016b;Larkin, 2009;Silva & Lankford, 2022), with the greatest impact likely to occur in other developed countries that are socially, politically, and culturally similar to the United States (Silva, 2022b). ...
... To address this concern, recent research has offered large-scale examinations of all mass shootings around the world (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016cLemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022bSilva, , 2023aSilva & Lankford, 2022). Studies have compared mass shootings in the United States with other countries -including all other countries (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016cSilva, 2022b;Silva & Lankford, 2022), some developed countries (Lemieux, 2014), and some European countries (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023 -to determine what makes America unique. ...
This study examines the stability and change in public mass shootings in developed countries outside of the United States (2000-2021). Public mass shootings refer to incidents involving public/populated locations, random/symbolic victims, and at least four fatalities. Results identified an increase in the frequency of attacks in developed countries, although particularly deadly incidents remained relatively consistent. Offenders were commonly and consistently male, middle-aged, single, and diagnosed with a mental illness. Incidents often involved handguns, more than one firearm, and open-area locations. Offenders were often motivated by a desire for fame; although, early fame-seekers were younger, school shooters, while recent offenders had far-right ideological beliefs. Other changes included an increase in offenders obtaining their firearms illegally, using assault rifles, diversifying their target locations, and being shot and killed. This provides the first step for understanding mass shooting trends in the often-overlooked developed countries outside of the United States.
... In the United States, mass murders constitute less than 1% of all homicides, while mass shootings that occur in public account for just 0.03% of the annual homicide rate (Duwe et al., 2021). Other nations have far fewer mass shootings (Lankford, 2016a;Lankford, 2019Lankford, , 2020. Nevertheless, mass shootings, especially those carried out in public, are newsworthy crimes (Duwe, 2000) that dominate policy discussions about the at-large gun violence problem. ...
... It has become a common, if morbid, trend for American news articles and media sites to keep a running tally of the year's mass shooting incidents thus far. Satirical newspaper, The Onion, perhaps best sums up the prevailing media sentiment on American identity and mass shootings with the same headline it prints after every mass shooting: "No Way To Prevent This," Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens' (The Onion, 2014 (Lankford, 2016a) suggested that these public and media perceptions are somewhat true: the United States does experience more mass shootings than other countries, and furthermore, mass shooters in the United States may be distinct: compared to mass shooters in other countries, they tend to attack softer targets and use more firepower. In 2017, a New York Times article suggested that the United States is an unfortunate anomaly relative to the rest of the world because of American gun culture and the historical role that guns played in the early foundations of the country (Fisher & Keller, 2017). ...
... The issue of mass shootings in America has driven a great deal of research focusing on the context and prevention of American mass shootings. Research comparing the international rates and characteristics of mass shootings across the globe have consistently indicated a higher incidence of mass shootings in the United States (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016b(Lankford, , 2019(Lankford, , 2020Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022), suggestive of uniquely American characteristics underlying this type of violence. Moreover, American mass shootings may be more lethal than mass shootings in other countries (Anisin, 2022;Lemieux et al., 2015), potentially because American mass shooters tend to arm themselves with more guns, and more fatal guns (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux et al., 2015). ...
... Large-scale examinations of public mass shootings around the world have identified distinctions in countries' incidence rates (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b), as well as the potential impact of firearm availability influencing these rates of attacks (Lankford, 2016b;Lemieux, 2014). Studies consistently find the United States has produced more public mass shootings than any other country in the world, and far more than its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016bLankford, , 2019Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b;. ...
... Large-scale examinations of public mass shootings around the world have identified distinctions in countries' incidence rates (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b), as well as the potential impact of firearm availability influencing these rates of attacks (Lankford, 2016b;Lemieux, 2014). Studies consistently find the United States has produced more public mass shootings than any other country in the world, and far more than its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016aLankford, , 2016bLankford, , 2019Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b;. Studies also indicate the higher rate of incidents in America is, at least in part, due to countries with less restrictive firearm laws and higher civilian firearm ownership having significantly more public mass shootings (Lankford, 2016b;Lemieux, 2014). ...
... Studies also provide comparative analyses to determine differences in offender and incident characteristics across countries (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022b;. When comparing the United States with all other countries around the world, studies find that American public mass shooters are more likely to target school and workplace locations, and to use multiple firearms (Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022b). ...
Previous studies of global mass murder focus on public mass shootings, but there is little known about incidents involving other weapon types. To fill this gap in research, this study examines public mass stabbings and compares them with public mass shootings around the world (1999-2022). Findings identify significant differences in the geographic locations, target locations, offenders' age and resolution, and number of victim casualties that illustrate these are unique forms of mass murder. This work provides the next step toward advancing knowledge of global mass murder and paves the way for future research aimed at understanding and addressing the phenomenon.
... While there is a growing body of research examining mass shootings in the United States (Kim et al., 2021), global mass shootings are still an understudied area of inquiry. There have been only a few attempts by scholars to measure the prevalence of mass shootings across countries, and although their study parameters and time periods vary, they have yielded clear and consistent results (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016c(Lankford, , 2019(Lankford, , 2020Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022a). 2 The evidence strongly suggests that the United States has experienced substantially more mass shootings than any other country in the world, and far more than its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016c(Lankford, , 2019(Lankford, , 2020. The difference between the frequency of mass shootings in the United States and the infrequency of incidents elsewhere is especially stark when comparisons are made with other developed countries (Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022a). ...
... While there is a growing body of research examining mass shootings in the United States (Kim et al., 2021), global mass shootings are still an understudied area of inquiry. There have been only a few attempts by scholars to measure the prevalence of mass shootings across countries, and although their study parameters and time periods vary, they have yielded clear and consistent results (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016c(Lankford, , 2019(Lankford, , 2020Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022a). 2 The evidence strongly suggests that the United States has experienced substantially more mass shootings than any other country in the world, and far more than its proportionate share based on the size of its population (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016c(Lankford, , 2019(Lankford, , 2020. The difference between the frequency of mass shootings in the United States and the infrequency of incidents elsewhere is especially stark when comparisons are made with other developed countries (Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022a). ...
... To date, the best explanation for why some countries have more mass shootings than others appears to be cross-national differences in firearms availability (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014). Quantitative analyses have shown that countries with higher civilian firearm ownership rates have significantly more public mass shooters (Lankford, 2016a), although firearm access appears more important than ownership, because easy access allows motivated offenders without firearms to quickly arm themselves (Lankford & Silva, 2021). ...
This study examined fame-seeking mass shooters worldwide who attacked from 1999 to 2022 to identify their profiles, behaviours, influences, and trends. Quantitative analyses revealed many similarities between fame-seeking shooters in the United States and in other countries: compared to other mass shooters, they were more frequently young and more likely to target schools, commit suicide, and kill and injure many victims. Fame-seeking mass shooters who attacked outside the United States appeared more likely to have been influenced by American mass shooters than by perpetrators from all other countries, combined. Findings also showed a substantial rise in the number of fame-seeking shooters over time, along with increases in the proportion of mass shooters who sought fame and the average number of victims they killed. We discuss the implications of these disturbing trends and offer an assessment for the future.
... States from 1966 to 2016. Mass shootings unnerve the general public because they violently target large numbers of seemingly random victims in public locations (Lankford, 2016a;Newman, Fox, Roth, Mehta, & Harding, 2004). This gives the perception that a mass shooting could happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. ...
... domestic violence). Most mass shooting research examines schools (Kimmel & Mahler, 2003;Leary, Kowalski, Smith, & Phillips, 2003;Muschert 2007;Newman et al., 2004;Wike & Fraser, 2009), as well as businesses, religious institutions, government buildings, and "open-spaces" including malls, restaurants, clubs, bars and events Lankford, , 2016a. A mass shooting can occur in one or more locations, as long as it is within a 24 hour period (Schildkraut & Elsass, 2016). ...
... To compile a comprehensive database of mass shootings that fit the definitional criteria, this study utilized an open-source data collection strategy similar to those used in research on mass murder, (Duwe, 2000(Duwe, , 2004(Duwe, , 2005Fox & Levin, 1994;Pete, Padgett, & York, 1997), mass shootings Capellan & Gomez, 2018;Capellan & Silva, 2018;Lankford, , 2016aLangman, 2009;Osborne & Capellan, 2017), and terrorism (Freilich, Chermak, Belli, Gruenewald, & Parkin, 2014;LaFree & Dugan, 2007). This approach was used to identify and collect information on mass shootings that occurred in the United States between 1966 and 2016. ...
This study examines the reality and news media coverage of all mass shootings in the
United States from 1966 to 2016. It employs agenda-setting and framing theoretical frameworks to determine the social construction of mass shootings via the mass media. The project uses open-source data to create a comprehensive list of mass shooting incidents. It then identifies all published New York Times articles on each incident. The study summarizes both the reality of the social problem (i.e. incidents) and the news mediated reality (i.e. New York Times). Next, this dissertation conducts a media distortion analysis to determine the perpetrator, motivation, and incident characteristics influencing media selection, prominence, and framing. The purpose is to illustrate the media’s social construction of mass shootings that in turn shapes public perceptions, political discourse, and public policies. The study concludes by highlighting the findings and implications for scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, media outlets, and the general public.
... Mass shootings are deeply engrained in American culture and psyche, and they have become as American as apple pie (Dvorak, 2015;Schildkraut & Elsass, 2016). These violent acts are disconcerting to the public because perpetrators target a large number of seemingly random victims in public locations (Lankford, 2016a;Peterson & Densley, 2019;Silva & Capellan, 2019). 1 As a result, there has been extensive political discourse (Schildkraut & Dohman, 2019), law enforcement training (Silva, 2021b), and proposed legislation (Schildkraut & Carr, 2019) directed towards preventing mass shootings in America. However, some of the deadliest mass shootings in the last decade have occurred in other countries around the world including New Zealand, Norway, and Ukraine. ...
... The few studies examining global mass shootings have generated substantial media attention and political discourse. Lankford (2016aLankford ( , 2016c published two studies that compare the US and other countries' rates, characteristics, and gun access. A major finding was the US leads the world in mass shootings, and this was highlighted in national news outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. ...
... Before 2019, only three studies provided large-scale comparative analyses of mass shootings in the US and other countries (Lankford, 2016a(Lankford, , 2016cLemieux, 2014). Lemieux (2014) examined the effects of gun culture and firearm laws on gun violence and mass shootings by providing a comparison of the US (n = 78) and 24 other developed countries (n = 41) between 1983 and 2013. ...
This study compares mass shootings in the US against developed and developing countries (1998-2019). Findings indicate US mass shootings were more likely to involve workplaces, employment/financial problems, relationship problems, and multiple firearms. Mass shootings in all developed countries (including the US) were more likely than developing countries to involve foreign-born perpetrators, ideological motives, fame-seeking motives, schools, open-spaces, and handguns. Mass shootings in the US account for 73% of all incidents and 62% of all fatalities in developed countries. Mass shootings in developing countries were more likely to involve military and police perpetrators, rifles, and military/police locations. A discussion of findings offers insight for understanding and addressing the global mass shooting problem.
... Public mass shootings, also referred to as "active shootings" or "rampage shootings," present an unusual type of homicide (Lankford, 2015). There is confusion surrounding the definition of mass shootings or mass murder (Fox & Levin, 2015). ...
... There is confusion surrounding the definition of mass shootings or mass murder (Fox & Levin, 2015). Traditionally, a four-fatality minimum has been used to determine which incidents are "mass" shootings or "mass" murder (Duwe, 2007;FBI, 2008;Fox & Levin, 1994Lankford, 2015). Public mass shooters shoot random strangers or bystanders in public places (e.g., such as schools, workplaces, theatres, or public streets), not just specific targets (Newman, Fox, Roth, Mehta, & Harding, 2004). ...
... Rather, mental health issues may exacerbate other problems that are present in the individual's life which makes it more difficult for them to deal with issues such as family problems, problems in work or school, or personal crises (e.g., Langman, 2009;Lankford & Hakim, 2011;Newman & Fox, 2009;Newman et al., 2004). As highlighted by Lankford (2015), in individuals with psychological problems (such as narcissism, depression, psychopathy, paranoia) their perceptions of the world around them can become easily distorted (Langman, 2009;Newman & Fox, 2009;Newman et al., 2004). For instance, these psychological problems can result in irrational and exaggerated perceptions of their own victimization, bullying, and persecution subsequently resulting in their targeting of individual(s) who they perceive symbolize their persecutors (Newman et al., 2004;Lankford, 2015). ...
... Nonetheless, the rate of location attacks does not necessarily align with the severity of casualties. For example, Lankford (2016a) finds American mass shooters target more civilian venues than international mass shooters, tending to attack offices, factories, and warehouses. Despite arming themselves with more weapons, these American mass shooters killed significantly fewer victims than their international counterparts (Lankford, 2016a). ...
... For example, Lankford (2016a) finds American mass shooters target more civilian venues than international mass shooters, tending to attack offices, factories, and warehouses. Despite arming themselves with more weapons, these American mass shooters killed significantly fewer victims than their international counterparts (Lankford, 2016a). While no study has specifically addressed the influence of location on victimization, Blau et al. (2016) Despite the importance of these findings, the assessments of victimization rates by Blau et al. (2016) and Yelderman et al. (2019) overlook other locations often identified in mass shooting scholarship (e.g., religious institution, government building, open-space). ...
... Exclusion of these key characteristics can contribute to omitted-variable-bias, leading to the over/underestimation of predictors that correlate with the missing covariates in assessments of the problem (Silva & Capellan, 2019b). Finally, these studies have a relatively small sample size of mass "public" shootings in comparison to other studies with similar definitions and timelines (Capellan & Gomez, 2018;Lankford, 2016a;Schildkraut, 2018;Schildkraut & Elsass, 2016;Silva & Capellan, 2019a. This may be one reason for the conflicting findings they report for similar variables. ...
This study uses the routine activities framework to identify motivation, target, and guardian characteristics influencing the severity of mass shooting fatalities and injuries. Significant findings indicate media-driven motivations, particularly fame-seeking perpetrators, produced more casualties. Open-spaces and schools provided more suitable targets, with open-spaces incurring more fatalities and schools incurring more injuries. Guardianship variables indicated perpetrators with a history of mental illness, as well as incidents involving rifles, more than one gun, and ending in the perpetrator's death, all resulted in higher rates of victimization. A discussion of findings highlights targeted policy and security strategies aimed at reducing the victim-counts attributed to mass shooting attacks.
... Although mass shootings have been a growing part of news coverage in the United States, they are much less frequent than other acts of violence such as homicide (i.e., the killing of one person by another) (Duwe, 2007;Lankford, 2016). An FBI investigation determined that a total of 86 active shooter incidents occurred in 2013; in the same year 14,196 murders were reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting database (Blair & Schweit, 2014). ...
... Specifically, empirical literature suggests mass shooters are themselves often victims of perceived rejection, abandonment, and isolation. As a result, they are aggrieved and seek revenge for such perceived transgressions (Fox & Levin, 2003;Lankford, 2016). We pursue that possibility in the present study. ...
... Demographically, the sample was overwhelmingly male (almost 98%), more than half of them falling between the ages 26-49 years old, and almost half identifying themselves as "White" or Euro-American. This is consistent with evidence from other reports on North America (Blair & Schweit, 2014;Capellan & Gomez, 2018;Duwe, 2007;Fox & Levin, 2003;Kelly, 2012;Lankford, 2016). The question remains as to why these demographic characteristics typify mass shooters in the US. ...
As mass shootings increase in frequency, they continue to baffle public officials and the media who often portray such incidents as random and senseless acts of violence. Abundant evidence points to a co-occurrence or association of violence and anger; yet, anger is inadequately examined in mass shootings.
Objective
This study was designed to determine the presence of anger in US mass shootings between 2000 and 2015, the elicitors of such anger, and aspects of the expression of such anger.
Method
The Stanford MSA database was accessed for information on these variables. A total of 132 cases were evaluated by two independent judges using a coding system for presence/absence of anger, elicitors of anger and dimensions of anger expression. Kappa coefficients were computed to establish reliability of judgments. The Chi-square tested whether a statistically significant number of mass shootings evidenced anger.
Results
Clear presence of anger was identified in 70% of cases (p < .001) the majority of whom were demographically similar in age, sex, and race. Most common elicitors were abandonment/rejection (38%) and insults/affronts (34%) whereas the least common was physical assault (5%). In most cases, the anger expression was regarded as controlled (80%), externalizing (72%) and punitive (81%). Inter-judge reliability ranged from κ = 0.80–0.97.
Conclusions
Findings indicate a high prevalence of anger in mass shootings and the predominantly psychological rather than physical provocation therein. The modal expression style does not suggest random and senseless acts but relatively controlled behavior intended to inflict serious harm. These features of anger and demographics of mass shooters warrant consideration in risk assessment and treatment of this population.
... Adult mass murder studies have also seen an evolution over the past 20 years, from relatively small sample and case studies (Hempel, Meloy, & Richards, 1999;Meloy, 1997;Mullen, 2004) to larger sample studies (Adler, 2000;Lankford, 2015;Stone, 2015;Peter & Bogerts, 2012), to studies comparing ideological and nonideological mass killers (Gill, Horgan, & Deckert, 2014;Gill, Silver, Horgan, Corner, & Bouhana, 2016;Lankford, 2013;). Some single case studies with a particular focus on threat assessment were also completed (Hoffmann & Allwinn, 2016;Meloy, Habermeyer, & Guldimann, 2015). ...
... Studies from Germany (Adler, 2015) and the U.S. (Blair & Schweit, 2014;Schweit, 2016) show that rampage killings are significantly higher in the U.S. than in Germany. The differences between the U.S. and Germany is partly due to much more restricted gun control in Germany and the wide and easy availability of firearms within the U.S. (Lankford, 2015). ...
... The studies, although limited to date, reveal interesting characteristics of the offenses and offenders. Perpetrators are almost always men and reflect the ethnic composition within society at large (Gill, Silver, Horgan, & Corner, 2017;Hempel et al., 1999;Lankford, 2015;Silver, Simons, & Craun, 2018). The average educational attainment is relatively low (Gill et al., 2017;Hempel et al., 1999). ...
The main objective of this study was to analyze mass murder cases committed by adults from a threat assessment perspective, and to identify risk factors and proximal warning behaviors. Therefore, court records of 33 German mass murderers between 2000 and 2012 were systematically evaluated. One major focus was the comparison between psychotic and nonpsychotic offenders. Significant differences were found between the 2 groups regarding their choice of weapons, planning behavior, personal crises, personality aspects, and warning behaviors. Nonpsychotic subjects were significantly more likely to evidence pathway warning behavior and directly threaten their targets before the attack when compared with the psychotic subjects. Effect sizes were medium to large. All offenders showed multiple proximal warning behaviors prior to their attacks. Findings are interpreted in light of previous studies and for the purpose of enhancing threat assessment protocols of such persons of concern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
... Los tiroteos masivos son un tipo de asesinatos en masa en el que está presente el uso de armas de fuego. Pese a su existencia mundial, las frecuencias más elevadas se registran en los Estados Unidos, por lo que dicho país se encuentra en el epicentro del debate (Lankford, 2016;Silva, 2022). Bajo el nombre de asesinatos en masa, estos crímenes se llevan produciendo en esa área geográfica desde el siglo XIX (Duwe, 2007). ...
... Prosiguiendo con la motivación por problemas laborales, la fluctuación significativa del número de eventos puede estar asociada a factores macroeconómicos, si tenemos en cuenta que a principios de la década de 1990 la economía estadounidense se sumió en una recesión; así parece reflejar nuestro estudio cuando es en este intervalo donde se concentra el mayor número de casos. Estos resultados coinciden conLankford (2016) quien sostiene que estos atentados en www.reic.criminologia.net ISSN: 1696-9219 ...
Este estudio examina la motivación de los 197 tiroteos masivos habidos en el periodo de 1966 a 2023 a partir del análisis de cuatro variables extraídas de The Violence Project: psicosis, problemas laborales, misoginia y búsqueda de fama. Los resultados mostraron que un 48,2 % de los casos se encuentran motivados por una o más de las variables seleccionadas. La psicosis fue la motivación más prevalente, aunque está presente en menos de un tercio de los casos. El segundo motivo más frecuente fueron los problemas laborales. La búsqueda de fama fue el tercer factor motivacional en cuanto a prevalencia y el único que ha experimentado un aumento significativo en la última década analizada. Ello podría estar asociado a la mayor visibilidad de estos sucesos luctuosos, debido al auge de Internet. La misoginia está presente en un 4,1 % de los casos. Por lo general se encuentran evidencias del predominio de un único motivo en los tiroteos masivos incluidos en el estudio. Sin embargo, el análisis de factores personales y ambientales, tanto del presente como de la historia de los perpetradores, sugiere la conveniencia de profundizar en estos hechos y alejarse de análisis simplistas a la hora de indagar sobre las razones que llevan a estos asesinos a cometer estas masacres.
Palabras clave: tiroteo masivo, motivación, Estados Unidos, The Violence Project.
... Moffat (2019) tallied 70 mass shooting events in the United States with 620 casualties and more than 1,000 wounded in the period beginning with the Columbine event in 1999 and concluding with the Parkland shooting in 2018. Although mass shooting events occur in various countries around the world, the United States seems to be exceptional in terms of the sheer volume of such events, positioning it well above any other country (Lankford, 2016). Lankford (2016) noted that globally the United States also had a disproportionately high number of offenders (accounting for 31% of global public mass shooters) compared with its share of the global population (5%). ...
... Although mass shooting events occur in various countries around the world, the United States seems to be exceptional in terms of the sheer volume of such events, positioning it well above any other country (Lankford, 2016). Lankford (2016) noted that globally the United States also had a disproportionately high number of offenders (accounting for 31% of global public mass shooters) compared with its share of the global population (5%). Moreover, public mass shootings have been on the rise in the United States over the last decade (Blair & Schweit, 2014;Katsiyannis, Whitford, & Ennis, 2018). ...
Research Summary
Public mass shootings tend to capture the public's attention and receive substantial coverage in both traditional media and online social networks (OSNs) and have become a salient topic in them. Motivated by this, the overarching objective of this paper is to advance our understanding of how the public responds to mass shooting events in such media outlets. Specifically, it aims to examine whether distinct information seeking patterns emerge over time and space, and whether associations between public mass shooting events emerge in online activities and discourse. Towards this objective, we study a sequence of five public mass shooting events that have occurred in the United States between October 2017 and May 2018 across three major dimensions: the public's online information seeking activities, the media coverage, and the discourse that emerges in a prominent OSN. To capture these dimensions, respectively, data was collected and analyzed from Google Trends, LexisNexis, Wikipedia Page views, and Twitter. The results of our analysis suggest that distinct temporal patterns emerge in the public's information seeking activities across different platforms, and that associations between an event and its preceding events emerge both in the media coverage and in OSNs.
Policy Implication
Studying the evolution of discourse in OSNs provides a valuable lens to observe how society's views on public mass shooting events are formed and evolved over time and space. The ability to analyze such data allows tapping into the dynamics of reshaping and reframing public mass shooting events in the public sphere and enable it to be closely studied and modeled. A deeper understanding of this process, along with the emerging associations drawn between such events, can then provide policy and decision‐makers with opportunities to better design policies and communicate the significance of their goals and objectives to the public.
... Neither a profile for mass shooting perpetrators nor a definition for mass shootings has been established, and different definitions of what constitutes a "mass shooting" lead to contradictory results between studies. For example, Adam Lankford completed a quantitative analysis of mass shootings that occurred between 1966 and 2012 and found that 31% of all mass shootings (four or more people killed) were perpetrated in the US (Lankford 2016). However, a more recent study by John Lott claimed that Lankford severely underestimated the mass shooting estimates for countries outside the US. ...
... However, a more recent study by John Lott claimed that Lankford severely underestimated the mass shooting estimates for countries outside the US. Using data from the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, Lott found the US accounted for less than 1.43% of public mass shootings, a drastic decrease from the 31% estimated by Lankford (Lankford 2016;Lott 2018). Further investigation of Lott's results by the Washington Post found that some of the discrepancies between Lankford's and Lott's findings were due to Lott's inclusion of terrorism-related cases (Kessler 2018). ...
Background:
The mass shooting phenomenon has gained much attention lately as this form of gun violence appears to increase in frequency. Although many organizations collect information on mass shootings (fatal and nonfatal injuries), no federal definition of this phrase exists. The purpose of this study was to highlight the different statistics that result among databases that define and track "mass shootings." Establishing definitive guidelines for a mass shooting definition could improve research credibility when presenting evidence to policy makers.
Methods:
We obtained data for mass shootings that occurred in 2017 from four sources: Gun Violence Archive, Mother Jones Investigation, Everytown for Gun Safety, and FBI's Supplemental Homicide Report. We also examined FBI's Active Shooter Report to compare the mass shootings datasets with active shooter situations, which have been federally defined. First, we examined the overlap among databases. Then, we applied the strictest fatal mass shooting definition to the mass shooting datasets to determine whether the differences in databases could be contributing to differences in fatalities and injuries recorded.
Results:
Gun Violence Archive recorded the most mass shooting incidents at 346 incidents in 2017, while Mother Jones only recorded 11 cases. Only 2 events were found in all four mass shooting datasets. When the strictest definition - four or more individuals fatally shot - was applied to all datasets, the number of mass shootings in 2017 ranged from 24 (Gun Violence Archive) to 5 (Mother Jones), but incidents collected still varied.
Conclusions:
There is much variety in statistics obtained from the different sources that have collected mass shooting information, with little overlap among databases. Researchers should advocate for a standard definition that considers both fatalities and nonfatalities to most appropriately convey the burden of mass shootings on gun violence.
... Second, mass shooters often direct their atrocities toward "soft targets," or unprotected public areas, causing public spaces such as schools, workplaces, religious institutions, and entertainment venues to seem vulnerable and unsafe (Lankford & Silver, 2020). Prior research suggests the U.S. has more public mass shootings than every other countryand that U.S. mass shooters were more likely to attack soft targets, including schools and workplaces, than perpetrators in any other nation (Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022). ...
... Oriundos das palavras em inglês Mass Shootings, os tiroteios em massa são homicídios coletivos derivados da classificação mais ampla dos assassinatos em massa, dessa vez com armas de fogo. Uma vez que a sua definição não é universal, apresentam-se a seguir alguns critérios para melhor os compreender, com base em investigações anteriores sobre o assunto, sobretudo realizadas nos Estados Unidos (Lankford, 2015;Schildkraut e Elsass, 2016;Peterson e Densley, 2021;Silva e Lankford, 2022;Silva, 2023). ...
O presente estudo suscita a curiosidade de saber mais sobre os tiroteios em massa (Mass Shootings) noutras áreas geográficas, em vista disso, fora dos Estados Unidos. Nesse sentido, se analisa uma amostra de 7 casos que tiveram lugar, respectivamente: na Finlândia (2), no Brasil (2), na Noruega (1), na Nova Zelândia (1) e na Alemanha (1). A metodologia adotada é a de base qualitativa através da análise de casos, cuja estrutura envolve o exame de eventos relacionados com a vida real (Martínez, 2006). Os resultados são examinados usando a abordagem teórica dos tiroteios em massa, com base em algumas categorias.
... One aspect that seems to be underemphasized in scholarship on mass shootings pertains to the fact that investigating a phenomenon in one single national context may impede our ability to generalize about it or fully understand its underlying nature. Aside from Silva's (2022) recent inquiry, two studies by Lankford (2016aLankford ( , 2016b compared the frequency of mass shootings in the US to other states. Indeed, it is not the case that researchers have only wanted to investigate the United States because of intrinsic biases, but rather most attention has been placed on the American context probably because the incident frequency of mass shootings in the US has been greater than in other countries. ...
Since transitioning out of communist socio-political orders, more than a dozen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have experienced mass shootings. To date, scholars have yet to identify a sample of cases that occurred throughout these regions of the world. This study puts forward the first collection of data on attempted and completed mass shootings through introducing 76 cases that occurred in 15 countries from 1993 to 2021. Data comprise 24 variables including offender characteristics of age, sex, motivation, life experiences, mental illness history as well as case-level characteristics including shooting type, location, fatality and injury counts, along with motivational factors including fame seeking and extremism. These data are presented for public access and are encouraged to be used for research triangulation and cross-national social inquiry on mass murder.
... In 2020, firearm-related injuries were among the top five causes of death for people between 1-44 years of age and the leading cause of death for youth 1-24 years of age; the prevalence of nonfatal firearm injuries is twice that of fatalities [1-3]. While mass shootings account for less than 1% of all U.S. firearm homicides [4], international comparisons indicate the country has the largest share of public mass shooters [5]. The number of firearms-1.2 per civilian-similarly outpaces that of any other nation by a large margin [6]. ...
Background
Firearm violence is a major public health problem in the United States, yet most states lack a mechanism to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who are at high and imminent risk of harming themselves or others and are not otherwise prohibited. Extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws are intended to close this gap. The current study examines the passage of California’s gun violence restraining order (GVRO) bill using Kingdon’s multiple streams framework.
Methods
This study was based on an analysis of interview data from six key informants involved in the passage of the GVRO legislation.
Results
Findings indicate policy entrepreneurs framed the problem and designed the policy to target individuals at behavioral risk of imminent firearm violence. Policy entrepreneurs comprised an integrated policy network that engaged in a lengthy period of collaboration and bargained with interest groups to yield a bill that satisfied diverse concerns.
Conclusions
This case study may inform efforts in other states to pass ERPO policies and other firearm safety laws.
... In the United States, mass shootings occur more frequently than in any other nation in the world. [1][2][3][4] As Smart and Schell explain, 5 however, there is a lack of a scholarly consensus surrounding how to define mass shootings, leading scholars, journalists, policy-makers, and law enforcement agencies to rely on different statistics and figures for understanding mass shootings. Regardless of how they are measured, though mass shootings account for a small fraction of gun violence in every nation, their frequency in the United States makes the nation an international outlier. ...
Background:
The United States experiences more mass shootings than any other nation in the world. Various entities have sought to collect data on this phenomenon, but there is no scholarly consensus regarding how best to define mass shootings. As a result, existing datasets include different incidents, limiting our understanding of the impact of mass gun violence in the U.S.
Methods:
We compared five datasets of mass shootings for each year included in five databases (2013-2020) and identified overlaps between each database's incidents. These overlaps and divergences between datasets persisted after applying the strictest fatality threshold (four or more) in mass shootings scholarship and policy.
Findings:
The datasets collectively include 3155 incidents, but the number of incidents included in each individual dataset varies from 57 to 2955 incidents. Only 25 incidents (0.008% of all incidents) are included in all five datasets. This finding persists even when applying the strictest criteria for mass shootings (four or more fatalities).
Interpretation:
Data discrepancies prevent us from understanding the public health impact of mass gun violence. These discrepancies result from a lack of scholarly consensus on how to define mass shootings, likely the downstream consequence of the politicization of gun violence research. We argue for a broad definition of a mass shooting and a government-supported data collection program to remedy these discrepancies. Such steps can improve the quality of research and support policy-making and journalism on the subject.
Funding:
This research was supported by the Pahl Initiative on the Study of Critical Social Issues, University of California, Santa Barbara.
... The same is likely true of some current students who plan mass shootings at their schools: It is difficult to distinguish nonthreatening behavior from target surveillance. In other cases, such as workplace shootings by insiders at military or police facilities (which have occurred in the United States but are more common in other countries; Lankford, 2016;Silva, 2022), it might be similarly difficult to recognize concerns about weapon access or weapon skill (which is also a WAVR-21 V3 risk factor), given the professional norms of carrying weapons in those contexts. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
The 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting represents an extreme but important incident in the broader context of workplace violence. It is both one of the deadliest cases of workplace violence in U.S. history and also one of the most confusing. Investigators who studied the perpetrator concluded that they “did not uncover any indications of violent tendencies” and “we may never know why he committed this heinous act.” However, by using the Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk–21, Version 3, in a retrospective study of evidence from official reports and previously unreleased documents and photographs, we hope to generate new insights. Overall, our findings suggest that at least 12 risk factors for violence were prominent or present in the Virginia Beach mass shooter’s life, and that he clearly posed a significant threat of violence before his attack. We provide the details so that practitioners and researchers can better understand this individual’s trajectory toward mass violence, which could inform and enhance their future work. We also offer several recommendations for improving behavioral threat assessment and management strategies and violence prevention in workplace settings.
... In fact, there are many studies that have identified possible contributing influencers that lead to school violence in terms of individual characteristics, factors and behaviors, family dynamics, and triggering events (Gerard, Whitfield, Porter, & Browne, 2016;Girard, 2018;Eleni, Artemis, & Giorgos, 2017;Ioannou, Hammond, & Simpson, 2015;Lenhardt, Graham, & Farrell, 2018), fameseeking (Lankford, 2018;Silva, & Greene-Colozzi, 2019;Willis, 2019), fear (Madfis, 2016), plans to improve safety with technology (Doherty, 2016;Duplechain, 2014;, studies that involve higher education violence (Schildkraut, Elsass, & Stafford, 2015), and even a studies that search for meaning of why extreme violence occurs (Madfis, 2017) or blaming it on video games when shooters are white (Markey, Ivory, Slotter, Oliver, & Maglalang, 2019). Regardless of the demographics, factors, or causal reasons, the simple fact remains that the US leads the way by far 31% with shootings worldwide (Lankford, 2016). There are many reasons why school shootings happen, so some researchers use other various studies as well as survey data to narrow the statistics in hopes of finding possible helpful patterns to better predict, and thus prevent extreme violence in rural schools. ...
... To conclude, mass shootings are a prevalent and growing social problem in the United States (Lankford, 2016(Lankford, , 2019Lankford & Silver, 2020), but are poorly understood. One clear finding from prior research is that men overwhelmingly commit most mass shootings in America. ...
Recent work by Allison and Klein examining violence and homicide introduced the concept of strained masculinity, a theoretical integration of general strain theory and hegemonic masculinity. Using qualitative data collection ( n = 63), the current study considers strained masculinity themes in the context of mass shootings and the gender gap. Findings demonstrated support for the prevalence of Allison and Klein’s themes in mass shootings. The men who committed mass shootings in our sample responded to challenges to their masculinity (62%), pursued hegemonic masculinity through “sport” (33%), and pursued hegemonic masculinity through controlling space (27%). In addition, qualitative analysis revealed overlaps in strained masculinity themes for mass shooting cases, demonstrating the complexity of this type of violence. There were six outlier cases identified that did not display strained masculinity, rather the perpetrators in these cases suffered from psychological or emotional troubles before opening fire. Overall, findings indicate that the integration of traditional criminology theories and gender theories is warranted.
... As we can see, terminology, inclusion and exclusion criteria vary across researchers, resulting in somewhat different but overlapping populations being studied (Langman, 2009). Subsequently, there are different consequences for research findings impacting our understanding of the level of firearms violence and increasing the challenges associated with conducting meta-studies (Böckler et al., 2013;Harding et al., 2002;Kelly, 2010;Lankford, 2015;Larkin, 2009;Nurmi, 2014). How mass shootings are defined can reduce or increase the number of mass shootings that are recorded (Lott and Landes, 1996), and then how they appear within data sets. ...
Mass shootings are one example of a focusing event that has particular significance for firearms legislation. Mass shootings shock, disturb and provoke enormous and controversial debate, often causing significant public and media resonance, becoming the subject of intense discussion politically. At times providing an impetus for legislative amendments, often in distinct ways that routine gun violence does not. If certain events highlight the need for reform, policy change becomes more likely. Cases with the lowest number of victims are likely to generate the least amount of attention and are most likely to be missed in data collection, rendering them the least noteworthy, least important in terms of lethality and social and political consequence. Various problems come to the attention of people in and around government, necessitating an understanding of why such problems occupy officials’ attention and appear to be more ‘deserving’ of attention.
... A common theme among "rampage" mass shooters is a sense of aggrieved entitlement, where shooters-who are most often disaffected members of a dominant group, such as Whites and/or males-feel enraged by negative outcomes in life that they feel are undeserved (James, 2003;Kalish & Kimmel, 2010;Madfis, 2014). This can happen as a result of social rejection or isolation (a common theme among school shooters) (Kimmel & Mahler, 2003), and loss or deprivation of status and social or economic benefits (a common theme among workplace shooters) (Langman, 2009;Lankford, 2016). For those who identify with the manosphere (men's rights movement) and the "involuntarily celibate" ("incels" for short), the perceived loss of masculinity and dominant gender status, and deprivation of sexual gratification by women who "reject" them, has led to the glorification of misogynistic violence (Ging, 2019;Silverman, 2020;Vito, Admire, & Hughes, 2018). ...
The rise in White nationalist ideology in America is one of the pressing issues of our times. In this article, we make the case that White nationalists both extol the talents and virtues of White Americans and idolize and romanticize a former White‐dominated America, while simultaneously condemning and demonizing the current state of America for Whites. This fundamentally ambivalent ideology contributes to dangerous downstream consequences such as fomenting violence against groups that threaten Whites’ status and resources and even calling for outright civil war. This article also examines the psychological impact of rapid demographic and cultural changes on groups in positions of power, and how these changes make some Whites, especially those who might already be suffering from instability, disenfranchisement, and loss, gravitate to groups who validate their fears and transform them into aggrieved entitlement and moral outrage. Finally, this article proposes policies that decision‐makers and other leaders can take to undo the foundational ideologies that White supremacy is built upon and to help curtail its spread.
... Turning to another aspect of domestic firearm ownership that has risen to prominence in recent years, the mass or 'rampage' shooting phenomenon is often primarily associated with the U.S. but, Europe has also had its share of such tragedies (Lankford 2015;Hurka 2017). Reflecting the enormous symbolic impact of such incidents in Europe, mass shootings have often been associated with significant 'step changes' in firearms control legislation in European societies, for example the banning of civilian ownership of handguns in England, Wales and Scotland after the school shooting at Dunblane. ...
The aim of this chapter is to discuss the security challenges associated with firearm possession (legal and illegal), weapon trafficking, and firearm misuse in Europe and then to explore how these challenges might be most effectively addressed. A concern also includes the trafficking of firearms for illegal purposes into the UK. To do this, two separate, but related, aspects of the issue will be considered. In the first place our question concerns the scale and nature of firearm ownership or possession across the range of European societies; the balance between legal and illegal (licensed or unlicensed) firearms comprising the various societies’ firearm inventories; the chief uses to which these firearms are put, and the risks and social harms to which these rates of possession routinely give rise, including background levels of homicide, suicide, and firearm-related violence. In the second place we will address a number of the more contingent, institutional features of firearm production, exchange, and distribution. This contains particular configurations of political, cultural, and geographic incidents and relationships including wars and patterns of conflict, especially crimogenic ‘gun cultures’ and structural (or institutional) features of gun control regimes, giving rise to large scale of organized criminal or terrorist opportunities.
... The U.S. has a disproportionately high number of active-shooter incidents and mass public shootings compared with other countries (Kelly, 2012;Lankford, 2016a). Studies show most active shooters only commit this offense once prior to arrest or death by suicide (Osborne and Capellan, 2017;Police Executive Research Forum, 2014). ...
Universities have given increased attention to preparation, response, and training protocols for active shooters in the university setting. The purpose of this research is to understand how architectural attributes in university classrooms can enable or hinder a Run, Hide, Fight (RHF) trained response to an active-shooter threat. Researchers conducted two focus groups to compare the perceptions of classroom occupants and a group of practitioners and first responders in terms of their priorities for active-shooter prevention and response strategies. Eight different classroom types were simulated using a 360° immersive visualization environment, followed by focus-group discussions. Participants were surveyed on their perceived levels of fear and preparedness for an active-shooter threat four times during the study. Participants also identified the physical attributes of the eight classroom spaces that they thought enabled or hindered RHF responses. These characteristics were organized into five categories, and participants identified which categories they thought were the highest priorities from classroom-occupant and policy-maker perspectives. A significant difference was found regarding categories of perceived importance between the occupant and professional groups. The results of the study improve the baseline knowledge of safe and secure design practices for architects and interior designers to consider with regard to their impact during active-shooter threats. The study also helps determine the feasibility of utilizing virtual-reality technologies in active-shooter training and preparedness measures.
... A final challenge of note for mass violence research is the inability of many typical criminological and psychological statistical techniques to handle the dynamic, complex nature of many of the variables that may be implicated in the pathway to mass violence (Fein & Vossekuil, 1998, 1999Fein, Vossekuil, & Holden, 1995). An overwhelming majority of prior research uses a qualitative case study methodology, but even attempts to quantitatively study the available data by Lankford (2013Lankford ( , 2015Lankford ( , 2016 and Agnich (2015)-who notably used an expanded sample that included attempts at mass murder and mass killingtypically use statistical techniques like chisquares and analysis of variance (ANOVA) which require that data be transformed to fit the statistical tests. For example, Agnich (2015), who deserves credit for performing one of the few quantitative analyses available, was required to construct a binary variable for bullying to carry out her ANOVAs. ...
Mass violence is empirically rare. Studying mass violence presents numerous meth-odological challenges. The complex nature of mass violence events, which may have germinated in years prior, make attempts to use conventional research methods problematic. Complexity science and the interdisciplinary field of computational social science offer new scientific paradigms and computational tools well suited to the study of complex and dynamic phenomena like mass violence. We review aspects of mass violence that can hamper research efforts, introduce complexity science, computational social science and computational modeling, and highlight three types of computational models that will likely be of particular interest and value to the threat assessment and management community. Public Significance Statement This theoretical review article discusses methodological challenges for mass violence research and proposes computational modeling and simulation as a valuable tool for use by threat assessment and management researchers and professionals. We discuss basic principles of complexity science, modeling, and simulation, and suggest three types of computational models-spatial/tactical, population, and organizational-of particular appeal for threat assessment and management. We conclude by presenting an example spatial/tactical agent-based model used to conduct computational research on the possibility of unarmed resistance in an active shooter scenario.
... While the phenomenon of mass shootings is often associated with the USA, Europe too has had its share of such tragedies [23]. In Europe, reflecting the enormous symbolic impact of such incidents, mass shootings have often been associated with 'step changes' in firearms control legislation in European societies, for example the banning of civilian ownership of handguns in England, Wales and Scotland after Dunblane. ...
Even before the handgun ban introduced in 1998 following the school shooting at Dunblane, Scotland, the UK had one of the world's stricter firearms control regimes. Partly as a consequence, rates of firearm ownership in England, Wales and Scotland were low, even by European standards. More recently, however, with increasing concerns about gang involved violence, mass shootings, organised crime and terrorism; questions of firearms control have taken on a new significance. In Europe generally, firearm ownership has been creeping upwards and, even as police and security agencies have developed new methods to disrupt firearm trafficking, criminal entrepreneurs find new ways to transport illegal firearms. The trafficking of weapons has been addressed at the European level but issues arising from distinct and separate national 'gun cultures' and legal systems, wavering political will, varying ballistic analysis capabilities and differing levels of enthusiasm for intelligence sharing have meant that firearms control across Europe resembles a patchwork with numerous loopholes. Although the introduction of NABIS (the National Ballistics Intelligence Service) in Britain represents an important step forward in ballistics analysis, weapons tracing and intelligence sharing, its ability to withstand the rising global tide of firearms remains to be seen.
... Since research emphasizes considerable cross-national differences between cases of STSV (e.g. Bondü & Scheithauer, 2014;Lankford, 2016;Madfis & Levin, 2013), we focused our analysis exclusively on German cases to avoid confounding intercultural influences. To identify relevant cases, a systematic sampling strategy of media accounts was used, as it seemed likely that most cases of severe targeted violent acts were mentioned by media coverage. ...
Most research on severe targeted school violence (STSV) - defined as planned offenses committed by former or current students intending to kill one or more persons associated with their school - is related to risk factor approaches or theoretically informed models and thus lacks an empirical explanation of underlying mechanisms and the dynamic of contextual variables that caused or accompanied perpetrators' negative development towards violence. To contribute to a comprehensive and dynamic account of the social and psychological processes leading to STSV, a multiple in-depth case study analysis was conducted. Nineteen cases of STSV (perpetrated between 1999 and 2013 in Germany) were identified in a structured media search. Using data about offenses and perpetrators from police investigation files, qualitative analysis revealed that developmental trajectories need to be understood in terms of emotions in addition to rational cognitive processes, and that one key emotion is shame. Three relevant psychological turning points (episodes that alter offenders' life courses and impact later choices, behaviors and/or values) relating to experiences of and coping with shame (namely two shame crises and one trigger event) were found in all life histories under investigation. The perpetrators' coping differed between cases, which resulted in two types of trajectories: Eight perpetrators showed internalized shame coping strategies (e.g. social withdrawal), and eleven perpetrators responded with externalized coping strategies to feelings of shame (e.g. aggressive behavior). Relevant underlying mechanisms, time-related categories, and person-environment factors that have impacts on specific coping mechanisms and the resultant developmental pathways towards STSV are discussed.
... It is important to keep in mind that public shootings that bring about mass casualties do not only arise in the United States, but are now a growing problem that can be observed on a global level. Mass shootings have been carried out by both secular and ideological shooters in a variety of different countries (Lankford, 2016). ...
A growing literature has revealed that not all mass shootings are covered equally by the media. Thus far, endogenous and contextual characteristics of mass shootings have been causally associated with heightened print and online news coverage such as offender identity, weapon usage, motivations, shooting location and fatality count. This study utilizes univariate logistic regression to investigate whether the occurrence of exogenous events can offset coverage of mass shootings as measured through article counts drawn from the New York Times counts on 68 different cases. Results reveal that the odds of a given mass shooting being newsworthy are 12 times higher in absence of an exogenous event the day prior, the day of, or day after the shooting. These findings also support previously identified statistical trends. Cases featuring Middle-Eastern offenders have 28 times greater odds of being highly newsworthy. Large fatality counts also tend to attract news attention with each additional fatality in a shooting increasing the odds of it being highly newsworthy by one.
... Unlike most violent crime, mass violence is often premeditated-planned over days, weeks, or even years-which presents the opportunity for intervention (Blair, 2014;Lankford, 2016). The approaches we have detailed range in scale and scope, from individual-level risk classification to population-level intervention, from case-by-case identification to Big Data mining. ...
Research Summary
In this article, we detail recent efforts in California to identify and target high‐risk firearm owners to help prevent firearm violence, including mass shootings. We begin by describing gun violence restraining orders, also known as extreme risk protection orders, which provide a judicial mechanism for firearm recovery and a time‐limited prohibition on firearm purchases. Next, we discuss California's Armed and Prohibited Persons (APPS) database and enforcement system. APPS is used to identify newly prohibited persons among legal firearm owners and to help law enforcement recover those firearms. Finally, we highlight early research in which machine learning for rare event detection is employed to forecast individual risk using California's decades worth of firearm transaction records and other readily available administrative data.
Policy Implications
The approaches described range in scale, scope, and strategy, but all three allow for targeted intervention at times of heightened risk. In so doing, they offer the potential to provide outsized benefits to efforts to prevent mass violence.
... Multiple data sources indicate that active and public mass shootings committed with semiautomatics rifles and assault weapons result in more victims killed, on average, than attacks with less powerful weapons (de Jager et al., 2018;Follman, Aronsen, & Pan, 2018;Klarevas, 2016). Similarly, previous research findings have revealed that active and public mass shootings committed by perpetrators with multiple firearms also result in more victims killed, on average, compared with attacks with a single firearm (Klarevas, 2016;Lankford, 2015Lankford, , 2016a. The results of our analysis of all public mass shootings (n = 165) compiled by Berkowitz et al. (2019) also revealed the same relationship between multiple firearms and higher fatality counts. ...
Research Summary
Public mass shootings in the United States have become substantially more deadly over time. We document this increase, offer a model to explain it, review supporting evidence for the model, and present new findings on offenders from 1966 to 2019. It appears that societal changes have led to more public mass shooters who are motivated to kill large numbers of victims for fame or attention, as well as to more shooters who have been directly influenced by previous attackers. They often spend extended time planning their attacks and are increasingly likely to acquire powerful weapons and develop specific strategies to enhance their lethality.
Policy Implications
New policies should be aimed at addressing the aforementioned factors. For instance, the deadliest public mass shooters’ desires for fame and attention might be countered by a change in media coverage policies. Additionally, the deadliest perpetrators’ lengthy planning periods have been associated with more warning signs being reported to police, so that type of information could justify denying many potential attackers access to firearms through extreme risk protection orders and red flag laws.
... Further, the majority of today's apparent best-selling video games are violent (National Purchase Diary Group, 2015Entertainment Software Rating Board, 2016), as is the content of many of video gaming's most influential and historically significant titles (Chaplin, 2007), suggesting that people who play video games could be exposed to violence at a greater rate than people who abstain from gameplay altogether. In America -a nation that deals with unique types of mass murderers (Lankford, 2015) and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than is someone from another developed country (Fisher, 2012) -debate amongst scholars and the public alike about the link between violent video gameplay and violent behavior has intensified over the years, coming to a head with the Brown v. EMA Supreme Court Case in 2011 (Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010;Bushman & Anderson, 2011;Ferguson, 2014;Bushman & Huesmann, 2014). ...
Active shooter events involving an armed perpetrator(s) on campus are one of the main risks facing K-12 schools. Defined as planning for and responding to emergency situations, emergency or crisis management allows for an ‘acceptable’ level of risk to be achieved. This paper will go through the four principles of emergency management, detailing what each stage involves and how it can reduce risk. The first of these is mitigation, which prevents crises occurring in the first place. Effective risk and threat assessment are pertinent to this stage. Secondly, there is preparedness, which enhances the capacity of an organization to respond to various incidents. This involves drafting emergency management plans and practicing these to ensure readiness to respond. The next principle is responding to a crisis, denoting the actions taken during and immediately after a crisis, should one transpire. The final facet of emergency management planning is recovery, referring to the short-to-long-term phase of restoring a community following an incident. This paper will share insights obtained from a recent event, The Briefings, held by the I Love U Guys foundation, one of the leading school safety organizations in the United States. Specifically, the paper will focus on a possible training approach to active shooter events and other emergencies, the organization’s emergency management framework called the ‘Standard Response Protocol’. Additionally, this paper will incorporate relevant scholarly readings in order to provide an introduction to the topic of emergency management.
Mass shootings are becoming more frequent in the United States, posing a significant threat to public health and safety in the country. In the current study, we intended to analyze the impact of state-level prevalence of gun ownership on mass shootings - both the frequency and severity of these events. We applied the negative binomial generalized linear mixed model to investigate the association between gun ownership rate, as measured by a proxy (i.e, the proportion of suicides committed with firearms to total suicides), and population-adjusted rates of mass shooting incidents and fatalities at the state level from 2013 to 2022. Gun ownership was found to be significantly associated with the rate of mass shooting fatalities. Specifically, our model indicated that for every 1-SD increase - that is, for every 12.5% increase - in gun ownership, the rate of mass shooting fatalities increased by 34% ( p -value < 0.001). However, no significant association was found between gun ownership and rate of mass shooting incidents. These findings suggest that restricting gun ownership (and therefore reducing availability to guns) may not decrease the number of mass shooting events, but it may save lives when these events occur.
Mass shootings are becoming more frequent in the United States, as we routinely learn from the media about attempts that have been prevented or tragedies that destroyed entire communities. To date, there has been limited understanding of the modus operandi of mass shooters, especially those who seek fame through their attacks. Here, we explore whether the attacks of these fame-seeking mass shooters were more surprising than those of others and clarify the link between fame and surprise in mass shootings. We assembled a dataset of 189 mass shootings from 1966 to 2021, integrating data from multiple sources. We categorized the incidents in terms of the targeted population and shooting location. We measured "surprisal" (often known as "Shannon information content") with respect to these features, and we scored fame from Wikipedia traffic data-a commonly used metric of fame. Surprisal was significantly higher for fame-seeking mass shooters than non-fame-seeking ones. We also registered a significant positive correlation between fame and surprisal controlling for the number of casualties and injured victims. Not only do we uncover a link between fame-seeking behavior and surprise in the attacks but also we demonstrate an association between the fame of a mass shooting and its surprise.
Mass public shootings have drawn considerable attention from the public, policymakers, and researchers, yet despite what is known about these events, assessments to date have failed to consider their timing as a function of the locations where they occur. Using data on 401 U.S. mass public shootings occurring between 1966 and 2020, we examine these events’ temporal patterns. The findings suggest that the occurrence of mass public shootings may not be as random as once assumed but instead mirror the routine activities of the perpetrators, their victims, and the shootings’ locations. Considerations for prevention and response policies also are offered.
This article will explore serial and mass murder. It will cover the literature which has investigated leakage and warning signs or red flags in mass shooters. The role of biological, or body-related, issues; narcissism; fame-seeking; the injustice collector concept; and the preoccupation and fascination with other mass shooters are then discussed as being potential risk factors in mass shootings. Serial homicide is then covered. For instance, the organized–disorganized dichotomy of serial homicide; sexual deviancy and fantasies in serial homicide offenders; and the role of neurochemistry and psychosocial mediators in violence. The case study of serial homicide offender, Dennis Rader, is given.
The the paper is devoted to the results of a comprehensive legal and linguistic study of the "Columbine" ("school shooting") subculture from the standpoint of criminology, criminal law, forensic science and forensic speech studies. Despite some conventionality of the well-established term "school shooting" borrowed from the English language, the author proceeds from the fact that any form of violent actions in educational institutions committed by a student (group of students) or an outsider in relation to teachers and students using weapons and improvised means should be understood as school shooting.
Empirically, the study is based on the publications of Russian and foreign scientists, the results of semi-automated monitoring of social networks for the promotion of school shooting, as well as materials of criminal cases held in the archives of the investigative departments of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Volgograd, Moscow, Saratov, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Republic of Khakassia. The author concludes that the the Columbine subculture is extremist-terrorist in its essence. The paper summarizes the most characteristic ideological attitudes of this subculture, signs of a person's involvement in the targeted community, examines the problems of the legal characterisation of school shooting acts and proposes criminalistic diagnostic complexes to examine extremist speech actions aimed at promoting Columbine. These complexes give a law enforcement officer clear criteria for recognizing information materials as extremist, as well as for holding liable or discharging an individual under Art. 205.2, 280, 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation depending on the presence or absence of mass executions propaganda aimed to intimidate the population in order to influence the authorities or other extremist motives.
This paper conceptualises one possible antidote to the conditions that produce public mass gun violence (PMGV) in the United States. I begin by illuminating how PMGV is a backlash to the nation’s ‘founding’ on the violent divisions of colonisation and coloniality. I then inquire: If PMGV is a reflection of a deep societal wound, what methodologies and educational considerations can we engage to prevent violence and promote healing? I explore an ecology of knowledges (EoK), cognitive justice, and transdisciplinarity to envisage how Other ways of knowing already figure into pedagogical practices that alleviate violence and create anti-oppressive societies. These theories unsettle Western and colonial logics that rely on contradictory thinking (e.g. good or evil). The theories also encourage us to get to know the ‘other’ in ourselves in order to get to know the ‘other’ in the disaffected, work with him, and soothe his desires for violence before they erupt.
Due to the devastating impact on victims and society, scholars have started to pay more attention to the phenomenon of mass shootings (MS) in the United States. While the extant literature has given us important insights, disparities in conceptualizations, operationalizations, and methods of identifying and collecting data on these incidents have made it difficult for researchers and audiences to come to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of offenders, causes and consequences. Using a mixed-method systematic review, this study seeks to assess the state of scholarly research in journal articles regarding MS in the United States. Using SCOPUS as the search database, a total of 73 peer-reviewed journal articles on MS within the United States published between 1999 and 2018 were included in this study. This study finds the number of articles published on MS has increased dramatically between 1999 and 2018. Also, most of the MS studies tend to rely heavily on open-source data using the different definitions of MS. We further examined and discussed theoretical frameworks, methodology, and policy suggestions used in each study. Based on the findings of this study, we suggested implications for future research.
Mass shootings have a strong impact on public discourse and perception, affecting more than their direct victims. We use data on charitable contributions and criminal activity in the U.S. over the last decade to identify and quantify the effect of mass shootings on prosocial and antisocial behavior. We find that the effect of mass shootings on prosocial behavior, measured primarily by monetary contributions, is positive and statistically significant. However, the directly affected localities react to mass shootings differently than their neighboring communities, decreasing their charitable contributions. Additionally, we are unable to find a statistically significant effect of mass shootings on antisocial behavior, as measured by various crime rates. Furthermore, we show that mass shootings are different than any other type of criminal behavior, including all other violent offenses, in terms of its effect on prosocial behavior.
This paper positions public mass gun violence (PMGV) as an intergenerational consequence of the violence of colonization, coloniality, and slavery in the United States. I map how the shooter’s white privilege, alongside his white/male fragility, combined with a national consciousness built on an ethos of colonization and coloniality, leads him to believe he has unearned “rights” to the social riches of the center.
I proffer that most of us who benefit from capitalist, neo-liberal, patriarchal state and social institutions are complicit in co-creating the conditions that produce PMGV’s gunboys and gunmen because in order to benefit from these institutions, we perpetuate a system of insiders and outsiders. As illustrated, some possibilities for allaying violence are grounded in practicing critical self-reflection and capacities for discomfort.
Between 2016 and 2017, Americans suffered 3 of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history by a lone gunman: the Orlando nightclub shooting, the Las Vegas strip shooting, and the Texas church shooting. We studied American gun owners in the wakes of these tragedies, theorizing that a byproduct of the salience of mass shootings is to increase the salience of guns as means of individual empowerment and significance. We hypothesized that this increase in salience would be especially relevant in the context of thwarted goals, because such individuals may be seeking a compensatory means to interact more effectively with their environment. In 4 studies of U.S. gun owners (N = 2,442), we tested whether mass shooting salience interacted with thwarted goals to predict justification to shoot suspected criminals, as well as ideas about armed vigilantism and perceptions that guns are means of empowerment. The thwarting of goals was either experimentally induced via failure on an achievement task (Study 1), or measured via perceptions of disempowerment in society (Studies 2–4). Mass shooting salience was measured via perceptions of mass shooting threat, as well as temporal proximity and social proximity to specific mass shooting events. Across studies, results indicated an interaction between thwarted goals and mass shooting salience; temporal proximity yielded mixed results. Altogether, thwarted goals motivate people to seek effectiveness and mattering, and guns are more likely to be perceived as means to such ends when mass shootings loom large in the mind.
Research on the role of firearms in violence and fatal events has focused heavily on American data and research. This implies certain limitations, since the United States is one of the Western countries with exceptionally high homicide and gun ownership rates. Thus, the American context offers only limited variance in the most prominent independent as well as dependent variables. International comparisons offer challenging new perspectives. This research is based on data on gun availability in private households, collected through the international victimization surveys of 1989, 1992, and 1996, and World Health Organization data on homicide and suicide from 21 countries. It updates and extends former research conducted on this issue, based on the surveys of 1989 and 1992. In addition, data from the International Crime Victimization Surveys were used on total and gun-related robbery and assault (including threats).
The purpose of this article is to explore how the Columbine shootings on April 20, 1999, influenced subsequent school rampage shootings. First, school rampage shootings are defined to distinguish them from other forms of school violence. Second, post-Columbine shootings and thwarted shootings are examined to determine how they were influenced by Columbine. Unlike prior rampage shooters, Harris and Klebold committed their rampage shooting as an overtly political act in the name of oppressed students victimized by their peers. Numerous post-Columbine rampage shooters referred directly to Columbine as their inspiration; others attempted to supersede the Columbine shootings in body count. In the wake of Columbine, conspiracies to blow up schools and kill their inhabitants by outcast students were uncovered by authorities. School rampage shootings, most of which referred back to Columbine as their inspiration, expanded beyond North America to Europe, Australia, and Argentina; they increased on college campuses and spread to nonschool venues. The Columbine shootings redefined such acts not merely as revenge but as a means of protest of bullying, intimidation, social isolation, and public rituals of humiliation.
To explain the genesis of mass murder committed by students at their schools, the authors propose a five-stage sequential model in which several criminological theories (strain theory, control theory, and routine activities theory) are brought to bear collectively to demonstrate their cumulative effect. These stages are as follows: chronic strain, uncontrolled strain, acute strain, the planning stage, and the massacre. Long-term frustrations (chronic strains) experienced early in life or in adolescence lead to social isolation, and the resultant lack of prosocial support systems (uncontrolled strain) in turn allows a short-term negative event (acute strain), be it real or imagined, to be particularly devastating. As such, the acute strain initiates a planning stage, wherein a mass killing is fantasized about as a masculine solution to regain lost feelings of control, and actions are taken to ensure the fantasy can become reality. The planning process concludes in a massacre facilitated by weapons that enable mass destruction in schoolrooms and campuses, where students are closely packed together. Based on this analysis, prevention strategies are suggested.
A number of researchers have sought to identify the features that school shooters have in common in terms of family life, personalities, histories, and behaviors. This article examines the cases of 10 rampage school-shooters in an effort to find out not only how they are alike, but also how they differ. Based on available information, these youths are categorized into three types: traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic. Out of the 10 shooters discussed, three were traumatized, five were psychotic, and two were psychopathic. The three traumatized shooters all came from broken homes with parental substance abuse and parental criminal behavior. They all were physically abused and two were sexually abused outside of the home. The five psychotic shooters had schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, including schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder. They all came from intact families with no history of abuse. The two psychopathic shooters were neither abused nor psychotic. They demonstrated narcissism, a lack of empathy, a lack of conscience, and sadistic behavior. Most people who are traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic do not commit murder. Beyond identifying the three types of rampage shooters, additional factors are explored that may have contributed to the attacks. These include family structure, role models, and peer influence.
To examine international correlations between reported rates of household gun ownership and rates of homicide and suicide with a gun.
Survey.
People who responded to a telephone survey conducted by the 1989 International Crime Survey in 11 European countries, Australia, Canada and the United States.
Positive correlations were obtained between the rates of household gun ownership and the national rates of homicide and suicide as well as the proportions of homicides and suicides committed with a gun. There was no negative correlation between the rates of ownership and the rates of homicide and suicide committed by other means; this indicated that the other means were not used to "compensate" for the absence of guns in countries with a lower rate of gun ownership.
Larger studies are needed to examine more closely possible confounding factors such as the national tendency toward violent solutions, and more information on the type and availability of guns will be helpful in future studies. Nevertheless, the correlations detected in this study suggest that the presence of a gun in the home increases the likelihood of homicide or suicide.
Recent research has demonstrated that aspiring to the American Dream of financial success has negative consequences for various aspects of psychological well-being. The present longitudinal study examining the relation between the goal for financial success, attainment of that goal, and satisfaction with various life domains found that the negative impact of the goal for financial success on overall life satisfaction diminished as household income increased. The negative consequences of the goal for financial success seemed to be limited to those specific life domains that either concerned relationships with other people or involved income-producing activities, such as one's job; satisfactions with two of those life domains, however, were among the strongest predictors of overall life satisfaction in this sample of well-educated respondents in their late 30s. The negative consequences were particularly severe for the domain of family life; the stronger the goal for financial success, the lower the satisfaction with family life, regardless of household income.
School shootings scare everyone, even those not immediately affected. They make national and international news. They make parents afraid to send their children off to school. But they also lead to generalizations about those who perpetrate them. Most assumptions about the perpetrators are wrong and many of the warning signs are missed until it’s too late. Here, Peter Langman takes a look at 48 national and international cases of school shootings in order to dispel the myths, explore the motives, and expose the realities of preventing school shootings from happening in the future, including identifying at risk individuals and helping them to seek help before it’s too late.
Celebrity Culture and the American Dream, Second Edition considers how major economic and historical factors shaped the nature of celebrity culture as we know it today, retaining the first edition's examples from the first celebrity fan magazines of 1911 to the present and expanding to include updated examples and additional discussion on the role of the internet and social media in today's celebrity culture. Equally important, the book explains how and why the story of Hollywood celebrities matters, sociologically speaking, to an understanding of American society, to the changing nature of the American Dream, and to the relation between class and culture. This book is an ideal addition to courses on inequalities, celebrity culture, media, and cultural studies.
Objective: many mass murderers appear to care more about harming others than they do about protecting themselves, and they often commit suicide or refuse to surrender and are killed by police. The present study offers the first in-depth investigation of differences between mass murderers who live and die as a direct result of their offenses. Method: data on 308 offenders in the United States from January 2006 to May 2014 are subjected to quantitative analysis, including logistic regression. Results: findings suggest that those who die are older, less likely to have co-offenders, and more likely to commit public mass killings or family killings, which corresponds with Durkheim’s theories of suicide in numerous ways. Conclusion: ultimately, several specific improvements in suicide prevention strategies could potentially help to reduce the prevalence of these high-fatality crimes.
Previous research suggests that there are fundamental psychological and behavioral differences between offenders who commit murder and offenders who commit murder-suicide. Whether a similar distinction exists for rampage, workplace, and school shooters remains unknown. Using data from the 2010 NYPD report, this study presents results from the first regression analysis of all qualifying mass shooters who struck in the USA between 1966 and 2010 (N = 185). Findings suggest that there are fundamental differences between mass shooters who die as a result of their attacks and mass shooters who live. Patterns among offenders, the weapons they use, the victims they kill, and the locations they attack may have significant implications for scholars and security officials alike.
For years, scholars have claimed that suicide terrorists are not suicidal, but rather psychologically normal individuals inspired to sacrifice their lives for an ideological cause, due to a range of social and situational factors. I agree that suicide terrorists are shaped by their contexts, as we all are. However, I argue that these scholars went too far. In The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers, I take the opposing view, based on my in-depth analyses of suicide attackers from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America; attackers who were male, female, young, old, Islamic, and Christian; attackers who carried out the most deadly and the least deadly strikes. I present evidence that in terms of their behavior and psychology, suicide terrorists are much like others who commit conventional suicides, murder-suicides, or unconventional suicides where mental health problems, personal crises, coercion, fear of an approaching enemy, or hidden self-destructive urges play a major role. I also identify critical differences between suicide terrorists and those who have genuinely sacrificed their lives for a greater good. By better understanding suicide terrorists, experts in the brain and behavioral sciences may be able to pioneer exciting new breakthroughs in security countermeasures and suicide prevention. And even more ambitiously, by examining these profound extremes of the human condition, perhaps we can more accurately grasp the power of the human survival instinct among those who are actually psychologically healthy.
Objectives:
We examined the relationship between levels of household firearm ownership, as measured directly and by a proxy-the percentage of suicides committed with a firearm-and age-adjusted firearm homicide rates at the state level.
Methods:
We conducted a negative binomial regression analysis of panel data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting Systems database on gun ownership and firearm homicide rates across all 50 states during 1981 to 2010. We determined fixed effects for year, accounted for clustering within states with generalized estimating equations, and controlled for potential state-level confounders.
Results:
Gun ownership was a significant predictor of firearm homicide rates (incidence rate ratio = 1.009; 95% confidence interval = 1.004, 1.014). This model indicated that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9%.
Conclusions:
We observed a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates. Although we could not determine causation, we found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.
The authors examine rampage shootings in American high schools after 2002 and consider whether factors identified in their prior research on rampages from 1974 to 2002 account for the more recent cases. The authors find that the five factors—social marginality, individual predisposing factors, cultural scripts, failure of the surveillance system, and availability of guns—remain important features. The authors then contrast these high school shootings with the recent spate of college rampage shootings that resemble the high school cases in some ways but differ in others. College shooters are older and therefore typically further along in the development of serious mental illness.
Empirical research and organismic theories suggest that lower well-being is associated with having extrinsic goals focused on rewards or praise relatively central to one's personality in comparison to intrinsic goals congruent with inherent growth tendencies. In a sample of adult subjects (Study 1), the relative importance and efficacy of extrinsic aspirations for financial success, an appealing appearance, and social recognition were associated with lower vitality and self-actualization and more physical symptoms. Conversely, the relative importance and efficacy of intrinsic aspirations for self-acceptance, affiliation, community feeling, and physical health were associated with higher well-being and less distress. Study 2 replicated these findings in a college sample and extended them to measures of narcissism and daily affect. Three reasons are discussed as to why extrinsic aspirations relate negatively to well-being, and future research directions are suggested.
Homicides committed against supervisors and coworkers by disgruntled employees have grown at a disturbing rate in the American workplace. Increasingly, embittered employees and ex-employees are seeking revenge through violence and murder for alleged mistreatment on the job. This article examines patterns and trends in available data and presents a theoretical profile of those who kill at the work site. It suggests that the typical homicide of employers and coworkers is committed by a disgruntled, white, middle-aged male who faces termination or who has recently been fired. Recommendations are advanced for how employers might better respond to problem employees and to homicidal threats at the workplace. These include prevention strategies, such as giving higher priority to the role of human resources, affording employees due process protection against unfair terminations, and changing the importance attached to the meaning of work in people's lives.
Previous research comparing rampage shooters in the U.S. and volunteer suicide bombers in the Middle East appears to be virtually non-existent. When these two types of suicidal killers have been mentioned in the same context, it has primarily been to dismiss any possible connections. Rampage shooters are generally assumed to be mentally unbalanced, while suicide bombers are seen as extreme, but rational, political actors. However, this review explores the possibility that the primary differences between the two types of killers are cultural, not individual, and that in terms of their underlying psychology and motivation, they are actually quite similar. In both cases, substantial evidence indicates that these perpetrators of murder–suicide share many of the following characteristics: (1) they had troubled childhoods, (2) they lived in oppressive social environments, (3) they suffered from low self-esteem, (4) they were triggered by a personal crisis, (5) they were seeking revenge, and (6) they were seeking fame and glory.
This article is an introduction to the special issue of Homicide Studies on missing data. The first section is an overview of the status of missing data approaches in homicide research. It begins by describing the importance of missing data estimation in homicide. This is followed by a discussion of missing data mechanisms, complete case analysis, imputation and weighting, and model-based procedures. The second section is a brief description of each of the articles in this issue. The conclusion describes the myth associated with imputing missing data, the use of missing data approaches in public records, the Supreme Court case that found hot-deck imputation acceptable for the census, and guidelines for handling missing data published by the American Psychological Association. This section concludes by describing the kinds of research that need to be done.
Social support, institutional anomie, and macrolevel general strain perspectives have emerged as potentially important explanations of aggregate levels of crime. Drawing on insights from each of these perspectives in a cross-national context, the analyses show that 1) our measure of social support is inversely related to homicide rates, 2) economic inequality also maintains a direct relationship with homicide rates, and 3) social support significantly interacts with economic inequality to influence homicide rates. The implications of the analysis for ongoing discourse concerning the integration of these criminological theories and the implications for the development of effective crime control policies are discussed.
To investigate the associations among handgun regulations, assault and other crimes, and homicide, we studied robberies, burglaries, assaults, and homicides in Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, from 1980 through 1986. Although similar to Seattle in many ways, Vancouver has adopted a more restrictive approach to the regulation of handguns. During the study period, both cities had similar rates of burglary and robbery. In Seattle, the annual rate of assault was modestly higher than that in Vancouver (simple assault: relative risk, 1.18; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.20; aggravated assault: relative risk, 1.16; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.12 to 1.19). However, the rate of assaults involving firearms was seven times higher in Seattle than in Vancouver. Despite similar overall rates of criminal activity and assault, the relative risk of death from homicide, adjusted for age and sex, was significantly higher in Seattle than in Vancouver (relative risk, 1.63; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.28 to 2.08). Virtually all of this excess risk was explained by a 4.8-fold higher risk of being murdered with a handgun in Seattle as compared with Vancouver. Rates of homicide by means other than guns were not substantially different in the two study communities. We conclude that restricting access to handguns may reduce the rate of homicide in a community.
Aspiring for financial success is an important aspect of capitalist cultures. Three studies examine the hypothesis that values and expectancies for wealth and money are negatively associated with adjustment and well-being when they are more central to an individual than other self-relevant values and expectancies. Studies 1 and 2 use 2 methods to show that the relative centrality of money-related values and expectancies is negatively related to college students' well-being and mental health. Study 3, using a heterogeneous noncollege sample, extends these findings by showing that a high centrality of aspirations for financial success is associated with interview ratings of lower global adjustment and social productivity and more behavioral disorders. Discussion is focused on the deleterious consequences of materialistic world views and the need to examine differential effects of content regarding goals and values.
Among developed nations, the United States has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership, and the highest homicide rate. We examine whether the United States is merely an exception, or if a relationship between gun availability and homicide exists across all developed nations.
Homicide rates for the early 1990s come from 26 of 27 of the highly industrialized or high-income countries with greater than 1 million population as classified by the World Bank. Two common proxies for gun availability are used, the percentage of suicides with a firearm, and the"Cook index," the average of the percentage of suicides with a firearm and the percentage of homicides with a firearm.
In simple regressions (no control variables) across 26 high-income nations, there is a strong and statistically significant association between gun availability and homicide rates.
Across developed countries, where guns are more available, there are more homicides.
Mass killings can be of a variety of types including family slayings, cult killings, and the by-product of other criminal activities. This article focuses on massacres where the perpetrators indiscriminately kill people in pursuit of a highly personal agenda arising from their own specific social situation and psychopathology. Five cases are presented of this type of autogenic (self-generated) massacre, all of whom survived and were assessed by the author. Not only do these massacres follow an almost stereotypical course, but the perpetrators tend to share common social and psychological disabilities. They are isolates, often bullied in childhood, who have rarely established themselves in effective work roles as adults. They have personalities marked by suspiciousness, obsessional traits, and grandiosity. They often harbour persecutory beliefs, which may occasionally verge on the delusional. The autogenic massacre is essentially murder suicide, in which the perpetrators intend first to kill as many people as they can and then kill themselves. The script for this particular form of suicide has established itself in western society and is continuing to spread, and to diversify.
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Rampage: The social roots of school shootings
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The Charleston murders: Facing America's great evils
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Generation me -revised and updated: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled -and more miserable than ever before
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The Sandy Hook shootings and America’s culture of death
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Teenagers want successful careers and global travel, expect to delay marriage & parenting
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