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Public Mass Shooters and Firearms: A Cross-National Study of 171 Countries

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Abstract

Objective: Model the global distribution of public mass shooters around the world. Method: Negative binomial regression is used to test the effects of homicide rates, suicide rates, firearm ownership rates, and several control variables on public mass shooters per country from 1966 to 2012. Results: The global distribution of public mass shooters appears partially attributable to cross-national differences in firearms availability but not associated with cross-national homicide or suicide rates. Conclusion: The United States and other nations with high firearm ownership rates may be particularly susceptible to future public mass shootings, even if they are relatively peaceful or mentally healthy according to other national indicators.

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... показал, что в среднем на страну приходилось 1,7 публичных МУ. 31% было совершено в США, а 69% -в других странах. После США двузначные цифры МУ наблюдались на Филиппинах (18), в России (15), Йемене (11) и Франции (10) [22]. ...
... Влияние психических расстройств на совершение массовых расстрелов является неоднозначным и спорным [10]. В литературе встречаются диаметрально противоположные точки зрения: МУ (массовые расстрелы) связаны с психическими расстройствами [22], тяжёлая (психотическая) психическая патология у преступников, использующих огнестрельное оружие, отсутствует [5,21]. Между тем высокий уровень самоубийств у массовых убийц может достигать 45,6% [5]. ...
... Отрицательная биномиальная регрессия использовалась для проверки влияния уровня убийств, уровня самоубийств, уровня владения огнестрельным оружием и нескольких контрольных переменных на публичные массовые расстрелы в каждой из 71 страны мира с 1966 по 2012 гг. [22]. Глобальное распределение МУ (массовых расстрелов) в обще-Analysis of 171 MMs in 71 countries from 1966 to 2012 showed that on average there were 1.7 public MMs per country. ...
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In the last 30 years, there has been increased interest in mass murders (MM; with three or more victims) among a wide range of specialists in many countries of the world. The aim is to study MM with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation and compare various types of MM, including MM weapons with each other. Materials and methods. We analyzed 129 crimes (142 men, 1 women) committed with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation in 1991-2022. The age of the killers ranged from 16 to 70 (mean age is 34.3±15.1). Most of the cases of “mass shooting” were taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_ in_Russia, as well as from electronic media of 59 regions of the Russian Federation. The comparison groups included 288 cases of MM, 177 cases committed with piercing objects (PO), 36 cases of arson, and 75 other instruments, including a combination of these. The latter group also included 11 cases of the use of firearms in combination with PO (6), blunt weapons (2) and arson (3). Mathematical and statistical processing was carried out using descriptive statistics and χ2 distribution. Results. Over the time period studied, electronic media began to cover incidents with multiple victims significantly more frequently. Approximately every fourth (24.8%) case out of 129 incidents occurred in security forces (armed forces, law enforcement agencies, penitentiary services) using a Kalashnikov assault rifle while on combat duty or guard duty. In most cases, murders were committed with civilian firearms (most often hunting rifles), in isolated cases – with unregistered civilian firearms, service firearms, and military handguns; seven cases occurred in groups of 2–4 people. There were 593 victims (on average 4.59±3.6 victims), the majority of cases had three deaths (53.2%). In our proposed working typology of MM, we distinguish: corporate MM (in law enforcement agencies; in educational institutions; in other organizations), non-corporate MM (acquaintances, friends, neighbors, etc.; strangers; acquaintances and strangers), family MM (relatives and friends (family members), blood and non-blood relatives) and mixed MM (victims from two or three of the above groups). Corporate MM is distinguished by the use of firearms, most often committed in law enforcement agencies and educational institutions. The largest number of victims (6.0±3.7) occurred in corporate MM, especially those that occurred in the academic environment 13.3±5.9 victims). Non-corporate MM was more often committed by PO and other instruments. Among aggressors who used firearms, there were more people aged 19 and younger (20.3% vs 5.9% in the comparison group), they were less likely to drink alcohol (22.0% vs 56.3%) but more likely to commit suicides after MM (31.4% vs 7.3%). Conclusion. Cases of MM with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation were more often observed in security (paramilitary) and training (educational) corporations with the largest number of victims (from 3 to 18, on average – 6). They were less likely than other aggressors to be intoxicated, but more often committed suicide after MM. Media coverage increased significantly from 1991 to 2022 cover incidents with multiple victims, which may indicate an increase in the number of MM in Russia.
... 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 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. ...
... 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. These studies have identified distinctions in the number of incidents and fatalities (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014;Silva, 2022b), firearm availability (Lankford, 2016c;Lemieux, 2014), and offender and incident characteristics (Anisin, 2022(Anisin, , 2023Lankford, 2016a;Silva, 2022b). ...
Article
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.
... 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 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). ...
Article
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.
... The licensing system is designed to reduce the risk of lawfully possessed firearms being misused criminally, not to eliminate it (HASC, 2010), and it is argued that shootings of this nature are very rare in the United Kingdom (Patel, 2021). Indeed, most scholarly and expert sources agree that mass shootings are rare violent crimes (Bjelopera et al., 2013;Blackman and Baird, 2014;Bowers et al., 2010;Doran, 2014;Duwe, 2004;Lankford, 2016;Schultz et al., 2014). However, they are the most visible form of firearms violence (Studdert et al., 2017). ...
... To delineate an understanding of mass shootings, the researcher reviewed both publicly available or open-source data and existing literature, various government and non-government reports, and academic journal articles and materials. Within these sources, a variety of terms were discussed: spree killing (HMIC, 1987), multiple victim public shootings (Lott and Landes, 1996), mass murder, mass shooting (Duquet, 2016;Webster and Vernick, 2013), rampage shooting (Newman et al., 2004), mass shooting episode (Schultz et al., 2014: 4), amok killings (Kellner, 2013;Kelly, 2012;Levin and Madfis, 2009), massacres, autogenic massacres (Bowers et al., 2010;Mullen, 2004: 60), mass public shootings, public mass shootings (Lankford, 2016), active shooter incidents (Blair and Schweit, 2014), pseudo commando mass murder (Dietz, 1986) and mission-oriented maximum violence (O'Toole, 2014). Schultz et al. (2014: 2) define mass shootings as 'intentional, planned, perpetrated shooting events involving the use of firearms to kill or injure multiple victims, typically carried out in a school, worksite or other public venue', although more recently this has included churches and religious buildings. ...
... Much of what has been written about mass shootings focuses on the United States, in particular, school shootings, which are often constructed as moral panics by the news media (Burns and Crawford, 1999), intensifying the debate surrounding firearms legislation (Schildkraut et al., 2015). In the United States where the preponderance of research has been conducted (Chappell, 2014;Nurmi, 2014), mass shootings are frequently referred to as active shootings or rampage shootings (Lankford, 2016). However, they are quantified by many according to the number of fatalities. ...
Article
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.
... 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. ...
... 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. President Obama used Lankford's (2016c) research, stating, "I say this every time we've got one of these mass shootings: This just doesn't happen in other countries" (Lott & Moody, 2019). However, Lott and Moody (2019) suggest the US does not lead the world in mass shootings. ...
... 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. ...
Article
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.
... Indeed, the United Kingdom and Japan are often referenced as support for this premise as they both maintain strict gun control and have lower homicide rates than those observed in the U.S.-a country that allows the ownership of a broad range of firearms (Miron 2001;Rosenbaum 2012). This argument is certainly not novel; variation in gun policy has long been propped up as the "silver bullet" that explains differences in rates of violence between countries (Ajdacic- Gross et al. 2006;Ajdacic-Gross et al. 2010;Grabherr et al. 2010;Hurka and Knill 2020;Lankford 2016;Miron 2001). Yet other work has contended that countries maintaining less restrictive gun control laws, particularly Israel, Switzerland, and New Zealand, have exhibited low homicide rates (Kleck 1997;Miron 2001) or that violent events, mass-casualty or otherwise, are mitigated and deterred through permissive gun laws and widespread firearm availability (Kates 1989;Kates 1997;Kleck 1997;Lott 2003;Poe 2001;Tennenbaum 1992). ...
... This approach is problematic for several reasons, including the inability to gather information from transient populations, along with biased responses from participants who may be reluctant to report firearm possession. The existence of black markets is common, which often negates strict gun control in one nation if neighboring and proximal countries maintain relatively weaker gun laws (Gorea 2006;Grillot 2011;Grip 2015;Killias 1993b;Lankford 2016). As a consequence of these issues, scholars have asserted that the percent of suicides committed by firearm represents a much more valid measure of gun availability in comparison to gun policy (Grillot 2011;Kleck 2001;Kleck 2004;Kleck 2021;Miron 2001). ...
... Another related issue that appears to be exacerbated in the comparative scholarship is sensitivity to outliers, often through the inclusion of the U.S. in study samples. Even among countries with comparatively higher rates of private gun ownership, the U.S. is a statistical anomaly in terms of gun availability (Lankford 2016;Rosenbaum 2012;Stamatel et al. 2020). As noted by Khalil (2017), U.S. citizens possess more than 300 million firearms, amounting to roughly 1 per capita-a number that nearly doubles that of Switzerland, the country with the second highest rate of firearms per capita in the developed world. ...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: This study examines the association between a country’s gun availability and firearm-related terrorism. Methods: Employing data from 140 countries, we assess the possible relationship between a country’s rate of suicide by firearm and their count of terrorist attacks involving a firearm through a series of structural equation models. Results: Collectively, we find that there is a positive relationship between gun availability and firearm-related terrorism in 2016 and 2017. However, this result fails our robustness check and is sensitive to the inclusion of the U.S. Conclusion: With important caveats, we believe the U.S. to be unique in terms of both gun availability and terrorism.
... In public mass shootings, most victims are typically shot at random or for their symbolic value (Schildkraut et al., 2018;Silva & Greene-Colozzi, 2019). While there is some debate over defining the 'mass' element of these crimes, the most common threshold used in prior research is four or more victims killed (Krouse & Richardson, 2015;Lankford, 2016b;Peterson & Densley, 2019). However, definitions vary across studies, and there is a strong rationale for including perpetrators who killed fewer victims if their intent to kill many victims seemed similar (Capellan & Gomez, 2018;Greene-Colozzi & Silva, 2020;Schildkraut et al., 2018;Silva & Capellan, 2019). ...
... On the one hand, mass shootings cannot occur without firearms, and on a societal level, increased access to firearms is associated with higher frequency of attacks. Public mass shooters are significantly more common in countries with high firearm ownership rates, such as the United States (Lankford, 2016b;Lemieux, 2014), and U.S. states with more permissive gun laws appear to have higher rates of mass shootings (Reeping et al., 2019). On the other hand, it is unlikely that simply owning a firearm would make an individual want to commit mass murder. ...
... It seems like the public mass shooting problem is not exacerbated by firearm ownership per se, but rather firearm access. This is consistent with research showing that countries and U.S. states where it is easier to acquire firearms have more perpetrators and more attacks (Lankford, 2016b;Lemieux, 2014;Reeping et al., 2019). Owning a firearm does not appear to cause the desire to commit mass murder, but in the United States, almost anyone who wants to commit mass murder can easily obtain a firearm, even after exhibiting multiple warning signs. ...
Article
Although it is important to know what public mass shooters have in common, it is also helpful to understand when different variables were present on their pathways to violence. This study explored the timing of key life events for the deadliest public mass shooters in the United States since Columbine (N = 14). Using data from official reports and supplementary sources, we found perpetrators’ mental health contacts often began more than a decade before their mass shootings, and often ended more than a year before their attacks. Mental illness was typically a constant in their lives, not something that automatically caused them to attack. While treatment may help prevent some mass shootings, mental health professionals have limited influence over patients they have not recently seen. In turn, perpetrators’ work and school problems also typically began long before their mass shootings, but these issues continued closer to their attacks. Employers and educators may therefore have an opportunity to intervene later in the process. Firearms acquisition often occurred in the final stages, after perpetrators were already interested in mass murder. Red flag laws and ERPOs which prohibit sales to explicitly dangerous individuals may therefore help reduce the prevalence of these attacks.
... 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. ...
... Studies find that countries with less restrictive firearm laws and higher civilian firearm ownership have significantly more mass shootings (Lankford, 2016c;Lemieux, 2014). In other words, more firearms inherently mean there will be more firearms-related deaths. ...
Chapter
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.
... Critics (Lott, 2018;Lott & Moody, 2019) allege that comparative research has inflated the number of American mass shooting cases, but subsequent scholarship has consistently reported critical differences in trends, prevalence, and characteristics between mass shootings in the U.S. and other countries (Lankford, 2019(Lankford, , 2020Silva, 2022). The United States is home to less than five percent of the global population, but it experienced 30.8% of the public mass shootings that occurred worldwide between 1966 and 2012 (Lankford, 2016b). ...
... 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). ...
... 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). ...
Article
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.
... Some scholarship has established that these attackers are overrepresented in certain locations. For example, public mass shooters are significantly more common in countries with high firearm ownership rates, such as the United States (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014). Similarly, U.S. states with more permissive gun laws appear to have more mass shootings (Reeping et al., 2019). ...
... Although law enforcement officers typically check criminal records after learning of a potential threat , they should not assume that someone is low risk due to the lack of a felony conviction. Furthermore, although countries with higher firearm ownership rates experience significantly more attacks (Lankford, 2016a;Lemieux, 2014), ownership itself may not increase the likelihood that someone will want to kill. Once the attack motive exists, however, preventing access to firearms is extremely important. ...
Article
This study compared public mass shooters (n = 171) and active shooters (n = 63) in the United States to the general population, homicide offenders, and people who die by suicide. Comparisons with the general population are the foundation of epidemiological research, and comparisons with homicide offenders and people who die by suicide are helpful because public mass shooters and active shooters always intend to kill and often take their own lives. Findings indicate that public mass shooters were more often male, unmarried, and unemployed than the average American. Active shooters were not significantly different from the general population based on prior felony convictions or preexisting firearm ownership. Public mass shooters and active shooters appeared more like people who die by suicide than homicide offenders, given their high frequency of premeditation, acting alone, suicidal ideation, and unnatural death. Overall, this suggests that felony histories and firearm ownership may have limited utility for threat assessment, but several suicide prevention strategies might help reduce the prevalence of these attacks.
... The United States has substantially more firearms than any other country with proportionately elevated risks for firearm suicides and homicides, including mass shootings [9][10][11]. Highly publicized incidents of firearm violence are often followed by periods of increased firearm sales, increased concealed carry permit applications, increased stock prices for firearm manufacturers, and decreased firearm regulation [12][13][14]. ...
... It should be noted that most firearm violence is personal (an altercation between a small number of people, usually two), whereas mass shootings, though devastating and frequently publicized, are actually quite rare in the United States (accounting for significantly less than 1% of firearm homicide incidents) and are even more rare in other developed nations [9,28]. ...
Chapter
Having the “Gun Talk” with a patient is similar to having the “sex talk” with an adolescent - it is a bit awkward and controversial to some, but can be extremely important and done in a manner that is both evidence-based and clinically effective. With suicide and violence risk assessments being routine steps in the evaluation of behavioral emergencies, effective inquiry and appropriate engagement surrounding a patient’s access to firearms can be useful skills for emergency clinicians. However, cultural, social, political, and legal considerations can make this more challenging, especially if the clinician fails to explore the patient’s perspective and solely focuses on firearm removal. Furthermore, absolute safe storage may be a false concept, and promoting safer storage and preserving therapeutic alliance may be more realistic goals of intervention. Synthesizing these concepts, in this chapter we briefly summarize the scope and impact of firearm access in the United States, and discuss approaches to engage and counsel patients about firearm access, storage practices, and security, with particular attention given to suicide and violence risk.
... В США массовые убийства с применением огнестрельного оружия происходят примерно каждые две недели, а школьные в среднем -ежемесячно [27]. Кросс-национальное исследование в 171 стране мира показало, что «массовые убийства = расстрелы» следует с большой вероятностью ожидать в США и других странах с высоким уровнем владения населением огнестрельным оружием, даже, если граждане являются «относительно мирными» и «психически здоровыми» [28]. Число погибших всегда больше, если массовый убийца «запланировал» (совершил) самоубийство, особенно, когда деликт произошёл в Европе [29]. ...
... In the United States, firearms killings occur approximately every two weeks, and school killings, on average, every month [27]. A cross-national study in 171 countries around the world showed that "mass killings = executions" should be most likely to be expected in the United States and other countries with a high level of possession of firearms, even if citizens are "relatively peaceful" and "mentally healthy" [ 28]. The death toll is always greater if the mass killer "planned" (committed) suicide, especially when the criminal act occurred in Europe [29]. ...
... Homicide is the leading cause of death for Americans younger than 45 years of age [2]. Although homicides are the leading cause of death, mass shootings represented less than 0.1% of all homicides in the United States during the years 2000 to 2016 [3], America continues to have the highest incidence of mass shootings in the world, accounting for 31% of global mass shooting events [4]. The exponential increase in the number of mass shootings has paradoxically occurred in the setting of an overall decrease in violent crime. ...
Article
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Mass shootings are firearm incidents involving four or more victims at one or more locations close to one another. Although some American College of Surgeons designated trauma centers have the experience and resources to adequately treat mass shooting victims who arrive simultaneously or in close proximity to each other, many others do not. Therefore, the objective of this retrospective case series was to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment of five consecutive gunshot wound victims who presented to a Level II trauma center within 36 minutes of each other. Lessons learned from that experience were used to identify the most effective pre-hospital and hospital management interventions. Opportunities for performance improvement were analyzed with respect to the current literature and the American College of Surgeons 2022 consensus recommendations for mass shootings.
... From January 2023 to September 2023 in the USA, the total number of deaths due to gun violence was 31,394-1273 were children between the ages of 0 and 17 and the total number of injuries was 27,408 [1]. It is estimated that 31% of public mass shootings occur in the USA, although the USA accounts for only 5% of the world's population [2]. One way to reduce the loss from gun violence is to detect the incident early and notify the police as soon as possible. ...
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Gun violence and mass shootings kill and injure people, create psychological trauma, damage properties, and cause economic loss. The loss from gun violence can be reduced if we can detect the gunshot early and notify the police as soon as possible. In this project, a novel gunshot detector device is developed that automatically detects indoor gunshot sound and sends the gunshot location to the nearby police station in real time using the Internet. The users of the device and the emergency responders also receive smartphone notifications whenever the shooting happens. This will help the emergency responders to quickly arrive at the crime scene, thus the shooter can be caught, injured people can be taken to the hospital quickly, and lives can be saved. The gunshot detector is an electronic device that can be placed in schools, shopping malls, offices, etc. The device also records the gunshot sounds for post-crime scene analysis. A deep learning model, based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), is trained to classify the gunshot sound from other sounds with 98% accuracy. A prototype of the gunshot detector device, the central server for the emergency responder’s station, and smartphone apps have been developed and tested successfully.
... Prior scholarship has focused on a wide range of factors that may predict mass violence. This includes the effect of online interactions (Schuchard, Crooks, Stefanidis, & Croitoru, 2019), media attention (Barbieri & Connell, 2015), violent media exposure (Huesmann, Rowell, & Taylor, 2006), the role of firearms (Lankford 2016), and mental illness (Rosenburg, 2014 This study seeks to expand and build upon these theoretical approaches. ...
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Student research project on spending trends on outdoor recreation in the state of Virginia.
... 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. ...
Article
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.
... These include mass shootings such as those carried out in Orlando, Parkland, Las Vegas, and El Paso-premeditated, high-profile attacks that target seemingly random or innocent victims in places like nightclubs, schools, concerts, and stores (Duwe et al., 2021;Lankford, 2016). ...
... One of the many fiscal opportunities afforded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was an allocation of $750 million for states to develop and enact extreme risk protection order legislation (Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, 2022). Likewise, we can conduct cross-national studies of public mass shooters to identify and learn from policies and practices that keep other countries safe (Lankford, 2016). ...
Article
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Public mass shootings are relatively rare occurrences in the United States. As such, focusing on individual-level factors to develop a prevention framework is ill-advised. However, starting with veterans, as an overrepresented group of offenders, may be an important step to determining and developing policies that work to prevent mass shootings. The Veteran’s Administration (VA) is the largest employer of social workers in the United States and employs more than 15,000 master’s level social work professionals. Policy and training changes made to the VA system have the potential to begin reducing incidents of public mass shootings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether veteran-status or the phenomenon of leakage influences the number of casualties in public mass shootings. Further, a renewed call-to-action is issued for social workers engaged with veterans, military personnel, and their families. A negative binomial regression analysis was utilized to examine 168 public mass shootings events in the United States from 1966 until 2019. While veteran status was not associated with increased casualty this does not underscore the importance of policy changes that limit access to firearms for high-risk people. Further, because leakage was statistically significant in explaining casualty rates in mass shootings additional training related to duty to warn may be necessary for social workers engaged in therapeutic relationships with veterans, military personnel, and their families. The results of the negative binomial regression offer insights into what effective policy interventions may look like to reduce mass shootings.
... cita a Ozanne-Smith et al. (2004) para enfatizar que la regulación de la tenencia de armas de fuego fue una de las circunstancias más relevantes y remediables que rodearon al crimen. Por su parte, el trabajo deLankford (2016) no evidenció una relación entre los tiroteos masivos y las tasas de suicidio u homicidio en distintos países, sugiriendo que la distribución global de este tipo de asesinato en masa podría ser parcialmente atribuida a las diferencias en la disponibilidad de armas entre países. ...
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Introduction. The bidirectional relationships between culture and medicine are essential in psychiatry due to the nature of its endeavour. Thus, the relevance of the analysis of popular culture lies in understanding popular ideas about mental disorders and psychiatric praxis (the focus of this thesis) and identifying the social impact of the circulation of such ideas (an open field of research). Objective. To describe the representations of psychiatric practice and mental disorders in Spanish punk songs (1981-2010). Specifically, the aim is to identify the uses, meanings, viewpoints, value judgements and emerging themes. Material and method. A systematic review was conducted to assess the extent of the available literature and the methodologies employed in the field. It guided the selection of the most appropriate strategies for a systematic approach to the subject matter, which led to the qualitative analysis of the lyrics of Spanish punk songs (1981-2010) through an inductive process. First, the general notion of ‘madness’ was addressed, followed by psychotic disorders and psychiatry. Finally, the contents related to criminality and violence were explored, along with their links to mental disorders from a punk perspective. The methodological strategy included content analysis as an initial approach, providing information on the type and extent of the allusions; while, in a second stage, the thematic analysis deepened into the uses, meanings, viewpoints, value judgements and emerging themes. Results and conclusions. The songs under study reflected general observations, clinical, therapeutic and social aspects, references to other cultural representations, new meanings for the psychiatric language, and a seemingly elusive use of it (musically driven), thereby confirming the interdiscursive, polyphonic and polysemic character of Spanish punk songs. The depictions of psychiatry were critical, characterised by their specificity and immutability (the stereotype of social control). The restricted format of the songs, intertextual influences and, perhaps more importantly, the connections with the allegorical function of the psychiatrist in the lyrical discourses of Spanish punk may explain these findings. Psychopathological terms related to psychotic disorders did not allude to positive meanings, showing a pejorative use in almost one-third of the cases. On the other hand, although most descriptions of psychotic symptoms or disorders were neutral, negative views reached almost 40%. The study of madness as a broader concept also showed a preponderance of negative depictions. Thus, most of the analysed songs reproduced the stereotypes prevailing in the general population, with an overestimation of the links between violence, criminality and mental disorders. The negative appraisals of madness and the madman can be explained mainly by the attributions of dangerousness attached to them. Associations with crime and violence also appeared in songs depicting psychotic disorders or symptoms. Additionally, the study of songs alluding to crime within mental disorders confirmed an almost absolute representation of offenders as ‘mentally disturbed.’ The cultural construction of mental illness retains a stigmatised dimension, which would be determined, at least partly, by intertextual factors. Apart from intertextuality, identity factors were relevant in the songs under study. Thus, the identity affirmation of the punk subculture can be expressed through the figure of the madman, encompassing provocative dimensions that challenge social patterns by exalting madness. The finding of a higher proportion than might be expected regarding the positive appraisal of the apparently negative attributes of madness was consistent with one of the hypotheses of this work; since it was expected to find either the same stigmatising views that are present in the general population but containing differentiated appraisal undertones or an idealisation of madness. Both cases were found in the songs examined, confirming the heterogeneity of the discoursive landscape.
... 10. Given the disparity in the number of legal firearms that are owned by U.S. citizens when compared to members of other countries (see Lankford, 2016;Masters, 2017), we might expect vastly different perceptions of danger were this a sample of international police officers. For example, in a country where private gun ownership is low, police are probably less likely to encounter citizens who have a firearm. ...
Article
Despite danger being an integral part of officer decision-making during potentially lethal encounters (see Graham v. Connor), the study of officers’ perceptions of danger is scarce. Using a survey of over 800 police officers located in a large metropolitan police department, this study assesses officers’ perceptions of danger in different types of armed citizen situations involving various levels of citizen resistance. It also identifies various contextual factors and officer characteristics in relation to danger. The findings are used to inform future research, departmental policy, officer training, and the “objective reasonableness” standard put in place by the Supreme Court.
... Gun-related mortality in the United States (US) far exceeds rates in comparable countries (Grinshteyn and Hemenway, 2016). Mass public shootings represent only a small fraction of overall gun violence in the US; but for a country not at war, their frequency and number of victims have been without parallel for decades (Lankford, 2016). While guns have long been a part of US culture (Yamane, 2017), mass public shootings have dramatically increased in the past decades (Smart and Schell, 2021). ...
Article
White individuals in the United States (US) have historically had disproportionate access to firearms. The real-life availability of firearms, including those most lethal, may still be greater among White populations, manifesting in the number of victims in shootings. We compared the severity of US mass public shootings since Columbine by race and/or ethnicity of the perpetrator using The Violence Project Database of Mass Shooters, assessing fatalities (minimum four), total victims, type, and legal status of guns used. We used data visualization and Quasi-Poisson regression of victims minus four – accounting for truncation at 4 fatalities – to assess fatality and total victim rates comparing Non-Hispanic (NH) White with NH Black shooters, using winsorization to account for outlier bias from the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. In 104 total mass public shootings until summer 2021, NH White shooters had higher median fatalities (6 [IQR 5–9] versus 5 [IQR 4–6]) and total victims (9 [IQR 6–19] versus 7 [IQR 5–12]) per incident. Confidence intervals of NH Black versus NH White fatalities rate ratios (RR) ranged from 0.17–1.15, and of total victim RRs from 0.15–1.04. White shooters were overrepresented in mass public shootings with the most victims, typically involving legally owned assault rifles. To better understand the consequences when firearms are readily available, including assault rifles, we need a database of all US gun violence. Our assessment of total victims beyond fatalities emphasizes the large number of US gun violence survivors and the need to understand their experiences to capture the full impact of gun violence.
... The goods or services of alcohol, gambling, military and nuclear weaponries, firearms and tobacco businesses, if used in excess or in irresponsible manner, have negative effects on the consumers, or can unjustly adversely affect the non-consumers through contacts and associations (Leigh, 1987;Sommers, 1988;Anderson and Mitchell, 1992;Ashe, Kline and Galaz, 2003;Grønbaek, 2009;Arnson, Shoenfeld and Amital, 2010;Holdsworth, Nuske, Tiyce and Hing, 2013;Steinhauser, Brandl and Johnson, 2014;Lankford, 2016). As a consequence, alcohol, gambling, military and nuclear weaponries, firearms and tobacco business activities are not permitted under the understanding of Shariah principles. ...
Article
In this article, we examine whether firms’ involvement in socially provocative business activities that are inconsistent with Shariah principles affect auditor’s perceived risk associated with the financial reporting information. Our study makes several key contributions: (1) this study is a pioneer in documenting the relationship between Shariah non-compliant risk criteria and auditors’ pricing in a non- Muslim majority research setting, (2) the findings suggest that on average, ethical contextualisation on perceived acceptable behaviours is relatively consistent across beliefs and the severe lack of it has implications on auditors’ business risk assessment and (3) our research helps enhance understanding on auditors’ business risk evaluation with respect to Shariah non-compliant business activities.
... Studies have also suggested that firearm ownership is associated with a higher suicide rate (Anestis et al., 2019;Siegel & Rothman, 2016). Moreover, a cross-national study investigating 171 countries from 1966 to 2012 found that countries with higher firearm ownership rates also had a higher frequency of mass shootings (Lankford, 2016). Considering these findings, it is important to be aware of when firearm ownership increases and why, particularly so during times of high uncertainty, with fear and anxiety being the primary collective emotions. ...
Article
News outlets ran stories suggesting that firearm purchases in the United States might have increased during the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. Such claims were made because gun stores were deemed essential businesses at the onset of the pandemic. However, there is no scientific evidence to validate this claim. We tested whether intentions to own a firearm actually increased at an unprecedented rate, by comparing the rate of increase in firearm checks (a conservative estimate of intentions to obtain a firearm) at the onset of the pandemic with the same time period in previous years as well as with significant events in recent American history. We defined the month of February as the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States because this was the month in which (a) the pandemic caught wider national attention, (b) the first official presidential address relevant to the Coronavirus was made, and (c) the CDC initiated its first measures to stop the spread of the virus. Understanding why (inclination toward) firearm ownership increases during times of national crises can help researchers and gun policy makers better understand the psychological needs driving firearm ownership, and potentially improve gun regulations and gun policies for the future.
... Homicide rates in the U.S. are approximately seven times higher than those of other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that are 25 times higher (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2019). Compared with other high-income countries, the US has the most public mass shootings by far, accounting for 31% globally, despite only accounting for 5% of the global population (Lankford, 2016). ...
Article
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Background Multi-victim homicides are a persistent public health problem confronting the United States. Previous research shows that homicide rates in the U.S. are approximately seven times higher than those of other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that are 25 times higher; 31% of public mass shootings in the world also occur in the U.S.. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the characteristics of mass, multiple, and single homicides to help identify prevention points that may lead to a reduction in different types of homicides. Methods We used all available years (2003–2017) and U.S. states/jurisdictions (35 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) included in CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a public health surveillance system which combines death certificate, coroner/medical examiner, and law enforcement reports into victim- and incident-level data on violent deaths. NVDRS includes up to 600 standard variables per incident; further information on types of mental illness among suspected perpetrators and incident resolution was qualitatively coded from case narratives. Data regarding number of persons nonfatally shot within incidents were cross-validated when possible with several other resources, including government reports and the Gun Violence Archive. Mass homicides (4+ victims), multiple homicides (2-3 victims) and single homicides were analyzed to assess group differences using Chi-square tests with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons. Results Mass homicides more often had female, child, and non-Hispanic white victims than other homicide types. Compared with victims of other homicide types, victims of mass homicides were more often killed by strangers or someone else they did not know well, or by family members. More than a third were related to intimate partner violence. Approximately one-third of mass homicide perpetrators had suicidal thoughts/behaviors noted in the time leading up to the incident. Multi-victim homicides were more often perpetrated with semi-automatic firearms than single homicides. When accounting for nonfatally shot victims, over 4 times as many incidents could have resulted in mass homicide. Conclusions These findings underscore the important interconnections among multiple forms of violence. Primary prevention strategies addressing shared risk and protective factors are key to reducing these incidents.
... The U.S. has more privately-owned firearms than the next thirty-nine countries combined (Karp, 2018). The abundance of firearms leads to disproportionate burdens of mass shooting casualties as well as smaller scale assaults and homicides, and suicides (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2016Lankford, 2016). However, many of the considerations for psychiatric evaluation of people suspected of planning to carry out mass shootings apply to mass attacks with other weapons such as knives, explosives or vehicles. ...
Article
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Psychiatrists may encounter patients at risk of perpetrating mass shootings or other mass violence in various settings. Most people who threaten or perpetrate mass violence are not driven by psychiatric symptoms; however, psychiatrists may be called upon to evaluate the role of mental illness plays in the risk or threat, and to treat psychiatric symptoms when present. Regardless of whether psychiatric treatment is likely to reduce symptoms or the potential for violence, the psychiatrist should collaborate closely with law enforcement, potential targets, and other agencies involved to mitigate risk. Such communications are governed by various privacy laws and duties to third parties. Additional measures, like protective orders, may be a means of restricting the subject’s access to firearms.
... In particular, various gun-related laws or policies have been suggested including an increase in age restrictions for gun purchase (Brown & Goodin, 2018), regulating access to firearms (Lemieux, Bricknell, & Prenzler, 2015;Silver et al., 2018) and reducing firearm availability (A. Lankford, 2016b). Victim advocate-related policy suggestions, such as empowering the involved bystanders or immediate responders of MS (Smith, Shapiro, & Sarani, 2018), providing interventions for individuals who are indirectly involved in MS (Littleton et al., 2011), and other suggestions were made by 20% of the study authors. ...
Article
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.
... School shootings happen more frequently in the United States than in other developed nations (Lankford, 2016), illustrated most recently by multiple-fatality shootings in schools in Florida and Texas. According to the Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database (Pane, 2019), shootings involving four or more victim fatalities have spiked since 2017, after more than a decade of relative stability (see Padilla et al., 2019). ...
Article
We summarize current data and understanding about the prevalence of gun violence at schools and risk of rampage school shootings. Following that comes a discussion of gun availability among youth and strategies and practices in the United States and abroad that have been implemented to limit access to firearms for minors. Next, we review the current evidence for arming school teachers, a strategy that could also increase the number of firearms in schools. We then focus on three specific strategies that schools have implemented to reduce school shootings and improve school safety: (a) addressing the role of mental health in school shootings and violence perpetration; (b) implementing multidisciplinary threat assessment protocols; and (c) target hardening and utilizing school resource officers. Based on available evidence, a public health approach to addressing firearm violence in schools is the most effective way to prevent school shootings, even if these effects are indirect through improvements in student social competence and positive school climate. Finally, we offer some recommendations for future practice, policy and research.IMPACT STATEMENT Based on the available evidence, singular approaches like target hardening or utilizing SROs will not reduce risk for school shootings and may lead to other deleterious effects. A public health approach that emphasizes student social–emotional learning and improved school climate may indirectly reduce firearm violence. Policies that limit youth access to firearms may also help to lower the risk of gun violence at school.
... There are more mass shootings in the United States than in any other country (Lankford, 2016). By most accounts, incidence rates of mass shootings have quadrupled over time (Capellan, 2019;Peterson & Densley, 2019). ...
Article
This study provides a quantitative examination of gender-based mass shootings in America from 1966-2018. Gender-based mass shootings refer to attacks motivated by grievances against women, divided into four categories based on a specific woman or women in general, as well as whether they directly target the source of their grievances. Findings indicate that specific woman-targeted shooters were the most common and significantly different from their counterparts in their domestic violence history, racial diversity, and engagement in spree attacks. When comparing all gender-based attacks against other mass shootings, significant differences include relationship status, children, domestic violence history, substance abuse history, and suicide. This investigation provides implications for gender and mass shooting scholars, as well as practitioners developing strategies for intervention and prevention.
Chapter
The mass shooting phenomenon, rather more than underlying levels of “ordinary” gun crime, has brought new urgency to the global gun debate, leading to renewed international efforts at gun control even as, in many societies, those who can, acquire firearms for their own personal defense, lacking confidence in the authorities' ability to protect them. Yet the global evidence is unequivocal: More guns invariably lead to more gun violence and significantly more gun suicides. While many jurisdictions have introduced new gun controls in the wake of mass shooting tragedies, the size and strength of the US gun lobby has been especially successful in preventing the adoption of significant new gun control measures, even, in many cases, liberalizing existing gun laws and securing a favorable reinterpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The commentary develops the concept of a “gun control regime” to better understand, from a social science perspective, the culture and politics, use and misuse, of firearms in any given country.
Article
These four books published recently reflect, in their different ways, how criminology is coming to grapple with questions of firearms and violence. These are timely topics; at home, in Europe and across the wider world, gun violence has seldom been out of the news. In the United Kingdom, following the recent Inquest verdict and the coroner’s report on the Plymouth mass shooting of 2021, not forgetting a series of domestic killings with lawfully held weapons (in Sussex 2020; Skye 2022; Cambridge 2023; and Epsom 2023) the licensing of firearms is under urgent review. In Hamburg, Germany, eight people died during a mass shooting in the city, the fourth such event in Germany in two decades. Concerns have arisen over allegedly lax firearm laws and the failure of police to act on information received anticipating the attack. Meanwhile, in the United States, the killing has continued unabated. As of 5 March 2023, 5,149 people had been killed by gunfire in the year so far, a rise of 75% on the same period in 2022, while the shooting at the Covenant school in Nashville marked the 131st mass shooting in the United States this year. Yet, while gun violence in the United States and the global North regularly makes the news and the United States is widely viewed as exceptional in this regard, as Wallace points out in his powerful collection, rates of gun violence are much higher in many Southern, poor, developing and highly weaponized societies. It is just that we do not hear so much about it and seldom reflect upon the colonial legacies often responsible.
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News frames play a vital role in shaping the audience's interpretation of the news, their participation in policy discussions, and their engagement in public discourse. This study uses the Analysis of Topic Model Networks (ANTMN) frame analysis grounded approach and examines the 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass shooting coverage in a house of worship by three U.S. cable television networks—CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. News reports for the first seven days following the shooting were collected from the cable networks' Twitter, YouTube, and website accounts. A total of 290 news reports were analyzed and 760 aggregate units for frames were coded. The results demonstrate that ANTMN grounded approach is an effective method for frame analysis and support research about the news media's emphasis on victims, community, and individual frames in cases of mass shootings. They identify differences in the issue-based frame of gun vs. mental health debates. Additional new frames of empathy, interventions, reactions, and security were discovered. Results also show differences in frames used and their frequency between the digital platforms of Twitter, YouTube, and websites and cable organizations. These differences show each media network's ideological perspectives or competing news narratives. The findings raise relevant questions to news coverage, policy debates about mental health and gun violence, and cultural awareness of the problem of mass shootings and public safety as the world becomes more global.
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Проблемы цифрового образования следует изучать в ракурсе его социально-психологических процессов и эффектов, влияния на становление и развитие учеников и педагогов как субъектов. Цель-анализ социально-психологических проблем развития субъектов цифрового образования. Метод исследования-теоретический анализ проблем развития цифрового образования и его субъектов на примере использования систем искусственного интеллекта (смарт-технологий) в образовании. Материалы, результаты и обсуждение. Смарт-технологии предъявляют серьезные требования к культуре, и искусственный интеллект не является субъектом воспитания: он транслирует цели, ценности и модели поведения, которые предложены ему заказчиками и разработчиками. Эти цели могут служить как развитию субъектности, так и десубъективизации участников и стейкхолдеров образования. Поэтому смарт-технологии в образовании предъявляют серьезные требования к общечеловеческой и цифровой культуре и компетенции педагогов и учеников. При отсутствии культуры использования технологии искусственного интеллекта деформируют отношения человека с собой и миром, приводя к десубъективизации. Выводы. Центральными моментами продуктивного и эффективного образования, активно использующего цифровые технологии, позволяющего развивать субъектность его участников, выступают: а) формирование и развитие цифровой культуры; б) обращенность образования к формированию и развитию человека как субъекта. Эффективное смарт-образование должно быть ориентировано на формирование и развитие субъектности, цифровой культуры разработчиков, организаторов и пользователей смарт-технологий, осмысление места смарт-технологий в образовании разных ступеней и типов, а также повышение прозрачности и иных характеристик процессов и результатов их использования. Ключевые слова: системы искусственного интеллекта; цифровое обучение; цифровые средства обучения; цифровая культура; смарт-образование; субъектность
Article
Previous studies have yielded widely divergent conclusions about the percentage of all mass public shootings globally that take place in the US, ranging from a low of 3% to a high of 36%. Because of documented underreporting of lower-severity attacks involving fewer than 10 victim fatalities in US cases in these studies, it is reasonable to assume that this underreporting issue also applies to their measurement of mass public shootings outside the US. To estimate the total number of mass public shootings worldwide, we use multiple assumptions and modeling approaches, including a hierarchical Bayesian model. Our estimates show the US accounted for anywhere between 16% and 26% of the world's mass public shootings during the 1976 to 2012 period. These estimates suggest the US share of the total is between four and six times higher than its 4% share of the world's population.
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Background: The Cumulative Strain Theory (CST) is a multi-stage explanatory model which is used to analyse students' involvement in mass shootings at schools across the world. School shootings were once considered a uniquely American phenomenon. However, over the last decade, the incidence of these violent attacks has spiked around the globe. In particular, recent reports from Russia have demonstrated a worrying increase in the number of school shootings despite efforts to implement policies to prevent them. Aim: The aims of this report are (1) to discuss the genesis of school mass murders in the context of cumulative strain theory, and (2) to analyse the scope of the problem in the US versus Russia. Methods: We used the five-stage cumulative strain theory to analyse the factors contributing to school shootings using two case studies from each country. We gathered information and evidence from a variety of sources including interview transcripts, statistical data, journal articles, reviews, and other secondary sources published in Russian and English. Results: Our analysis revealed some common features among the school shooters in Russia and the US, such as the self-perception of superiority, vindictiveness and a lack of social support, including challenging relationships with parents and peers. However, the American shooters displayed a readiness for encounters with and possible firearm use against law enforcement officers during the mass murders. We further found that auto-aggressive behaviours were prevalent in the attacks that occurred-in Russia in particular. Unlike those from the US, the reports from Russia pointed towards an association between cumulative economic hardships and various behavioural outcomes ranging from poor psychological health to severe behavioural outbursts and violent behaviours. Conclusion: We believe that the cult of weapons and militarism increase the risk of school shootings in both countries. Neither a single stage of CST nor all five stages together can predict or confirm the association with mass shootings.
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The definitions and terms used to describe single-incident mass casualty events vary widely and remain contested. To allow for the inclusion of more incidents, larger and more representative samples, and more comprehensive analyses, we argue in favor of using the broad term “rampage” and propose a new model, the Rampage Violence Status Model (RVSM), which provides additional context on completion status and can subsume previous terminology. Additionally, by expanding upon previous researchers’ distinctions and definitions of various stages and completion statuses, we suggest adopting the following terms as stages in the progression of rampage violence, per the RVSM: researched, planned, prepared, initiated, interrupted, attempted, and completed.
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Mass shootings have been of interest and concern to a variety of experts including psychologists, sociologists, criminologists, public health experts, and policy makers. Journalists have tracked mass shooting events for a long time. Recently, mass shootings in public places have dominated the national dialogue about gun violence, gun control, and Second Amendment protections due to several mass pubic shootings in recent years that resulted in double-digit victim counts. Regardless of the why, it seems clear that the ability to identify and predict this behavior as early as possible is important, for the killer as well as the community.
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Toplumlar ilerledikçe şiddet ve suç davranışlarının azalacağı önündeki görüşlerin aksine şiddet ve suç davranışları her geçen gün artmaktadır. Ancak aktörler, roller ve araçlar değişiklik göstermektedir. Özellikle son zamanlarda yaşanan şiddet olaylarında karşılaşılan araçlardan biri ateşli silahlardır. Dünyada her yıl ateşli silah şiddetinden dolayı 200.000'den fazla kişi hayatını kaybetmektedir. Bunların 150.000'i cinayet, 65.000'i intihar ve 20.000'den fazlası silah kazasıdır. Türkiye'de ise her yıl 2.000'den fazla kişi ateşli silahlardan dolayı hayatını kaybederken 3.000'in üzerinde kişi çeşitli yerlerinden yaralanmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, hem dünyada hem de Türkiye'de her geçen gün artan ateşli silah şiddetinin güncel durumunun betimlenmesi ve bireysel silahlanma sayılarının belirlenmesidir. Nitel araştırmalarda kullanılan Doküman Analizi yönteminin kullanıldığı çalışmada, bireysel silahlanma sayıları ve ateşli silahların kullanımıyla ilgili problem alanları tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak bireysel silahlanmanın yüksek olduğu bölgelerde ateşli silah şiddetinin de yüksek olduğu görülmektedir. Dünyada ateşli silah şiddetinin Brezilya, ABD ve Hindistan gibi büyük nüfus yoğunluğu olan ülkelerde yoğunlaştığı belirlenirken Türkiye'de ateşli silah şiddeti nüfus yoğunluğu fazla olan İstanbul, Samsun, Adana ve İzmir gibi şehirlere yoğunlaşmaktadır.
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The growth of shootings and rise of violence in schools have forced legislators and educators to take action. However, there has been limited change. Consequently, schools have had to resort to their own preventative measures including zero tolerance policies. Data clearly shows that zero tolerance has been the dominant way of dealing with discipline since the passage of the GFSA act of 1994. Despite the original intent of implementing zero tolerance policies in schools—that is, to ensure guns and other dangerous weapons were kept out of schools—these policies have instead grown to encompass an endless variety of seemingly minor infractions. This chapter explores the effects that zero tolerance policies, particularly, the unintended consequences that have resulted due to the increased utilization of such practices. Zero tolerance policies have implications for children and youth that are vulnerable (disabilities, immigrants, poor socio-economic status) increasing risks for repeated offenses and exposure to criminal justice.
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Importance: Civilian public mass shootings (CPMSs) in the US result in substantial injuries. However, the types and consequences of these injuries have not been systematically described. Objective: To describe the injury characteristics, outcomes, and health care burden associated with nonfatal injuries sustained during CPMSs and to better understand the consequences to patients, hospitals, and society at large. Design, setting, and participants: This retrospective case series of nonfatal injuries from 13 consecutive CPMSs (defined as ≥10 injured individuals) from 31 hospitals in the US from July 20, 2012, to August 31, 2019, used data from trauma logs and medical records to capture injuries, procedures, lengths of stay, functional impairment, disposition, and charges. A total of 403 individuals treated in hospitals within 24 hours of the CPMSs were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed from October 27 to December 5, 2021. Exposures: Nonfatal injuries sustained during CPMSs. Main outcomes and measures: Injuries and diagnoses, treating services, procedures, hospital care, and monetary charges. Results: Among the 403 individuals included in the study, the median age was 33.0 (IQR, 24.5-48.0 [range, 1 to >89]) years, and 209 (51.9%) were women. Among the 386 patients with race and ethnicity data available, 13 (3.4%) were Asian; 44 (11.4%), Black or African American; 59 (15.3), Hispanic/Latinx; and 270 (69.9%), White. Injuries included 252 gunshot wounds (62.5%) and 112 other injuries (27.8%), and 39 patients (9.7%) had no physical injuries. One hundred seventy-eight individuals (53.1%) arrived by ambulance. Of 494 body regions injured (mean [SD], 1.35 [0.68] per patient), most common included an extremity (282 [57.1%]), abdomen and/or pelvis (66 [13.4%]), head and/or neck (65 [13.2%]), and chest (50 [10.1%]). Overall, 147 individuals (36.5%) were admitted to a hospital, 95 (23.6%) underwent 1 surgical procedure, and 42 (10.4%) underwent multiple procedures (1.82 per patient). Among the 252 patients with gunshot wounds, the most common initial procedures were general and trauma surgery (41 [16.3%]) and orthopedic surgery (36 [14.3%]). In the emergency department, 148 of 364 injured individuals (40.7%) had 199 procedures (1.34 per patient). Median hospital length of stay was 4.0 (IQR, 2.0-7.5) days; for 50 patients in the intensive care unit, 3.0 (IQR, 2.0-8.0) days (13.7% of injuries and 34.0% of admissions). Among 364 injured patients, 160 (44.0%) had functional disability at discharge, with 19 (13.3%) sent to long-term care. The mean (SD) charges per patient were $64 976 ($160 083). Conclusions and relevance: Civilian public mass shootings cause substantial morbidity. For every death, 5.8 individuals are injured. These results suggest that including nonfatal injuries in the overall burden of CPMSs may help inform public policy to prevent and mitigate the harm caused by such events.
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By some estimates, it is reckoned that there are close to 1 billion firearms in existence in the world today and 85%
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Understanding why different nations have different homicide and suicide rates has been of interest to scholars, policy makers and the general public for years. Multiple theories have been offered, related to the economy, presence of guns and even exposure to violence in video games. In the current study, several factors were considered in combination across a sample of 92 countries. These included income inequality (Gini index), Human Capital Index (education and employment), per capita gun ownership and per capita expenditure on video games. Results suggest that economic factors primarily were related to homicide and suicide cross‐nationally. Video game consumption was not a major indicative factor (other than a small negative relationship with homicides). More surprisingly, per capita gun ownership was not an indicator factor cross‐nationally. The results suggest that a focus on economic factors and income inequality are most likely to bear fruit regarding reduction of violence and suicide.
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Firearm injuries are a serious public health problem for children and adolescents in the United States and even more of a problem in some low- and middle-income countries. A number of countries in Central and South America report extremely high rates of firearm death, though data in these countries are less reliable than data from high-income countries. Globally, there were more firearm homicides than firearm suicides among those 0–24 years old in 2016. Among high-income countries, the United States has the highest pediatric firearm death rates. It appears that a main reason for our relatively high firearm death rate is widespread firearm availability. Unfortunately, pediatric firearm injury prevention is still a topic about which little is known, not only for low- and middle-income countries but also for high-income nations. More research is needed on risk and protective factors specific to children and adolescents, and better data are needed especially for nonfatal gun injuries.
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The objective of this study was to examine whether the number of children presenting for emergency psychiatric evaluations for making threats of mass school violence increases in the wake of a school shooting that receives heavy media attention. The records reviewed were for all children who presented to our hospital's pediatric behavioral health emergency service in the 6 weeks before and after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, that occurred on February 14, 2018. The inclusion criterion was threat of mass casualty school violence recorded in the encounter history of present illness. The proportion of patients reporting school violence was higher after the Parkland shooting than before ( P = .0164). The mean number of admission days was longer for patients presenting after the Parkland shooting rather than before ( P = .0164), and for those with documented gun access rather than undocumented ( P = .0128). Our findings suggest that school violence threats increase in the weeks after a school shooting in which there was heavy media attention. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2021;51(2):88–94.]
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Historians have generally agreed that the United States has always been an extremely violent nation; however, since the 1950s they have been myopic in their treatment of violence in America and have not provided the American people with essential information about their society and culture. Those historians who focused on violence in America, until the 1990s, have focused on only one form of violence-collective social violence. Largely overlooked, and equally significant, are interpersonal violence (including criminal and domestic violence) and the effect of war. This deficiency helps explain why Americans seem genuinely at a loss to understand the nature, character, and frequency of violence in America's past and present, especially when a high-profile violent incident occurs. This article surveys the historiography of violence in America through the 1990s and examines the contributions of historians and legal scholars who have focused on interpersonal and criminal violence.
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Previous studies have identified but failed to explain satisfactorily the positive relationship between income inequality and homicide rates. This paper proposes an explanation based on the concept of relative deprivation, but also reviews the criminological literature in a search for other theoretically relevant variables. After assessing problems of sampling and measurement, and using a considerably larger sample than used in previous studies, multiple regression analyses reveal positive net effects of both inequality and population growth (reflecting a higher proportion of young people) on homicide rates. Further analyses show that the effects of inequality on homicide are more pronounced in more democratic nations, a finding supporting the relative deprivation explanation. Income inequality also has stronger effects in more densely populated countries, in wealthier nations, and in countries with larger internal security forces.
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The electronic version of this book has been prepared by scanning TIFF 400 dpi color and greyscale images of the pages of the text. Original source: Democracy in America / by Alexis de Tocqueville ; translated by Henry Reeve ; with an original preface and notes, by John C. Spencer.; Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859.; xvi, 455 p. ; 24 cm.; New York :; This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 2 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file.
Article
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.
Article
This article develops and tests a model that seeks to explain individual variation in the approval of suicide. The model draws on the three leading theories of crime/deviance: strain, social learning, and social control theories. It is predicted that individuals will be most approving of suicide when (1) they have had major life problems that could not be solved through conventional channels, (2) they were taught or exposed to beliefs that favored or were conducive to suicide, and (3) they are not strongly attached or committed to conventional individuals and groups. These predictions are explored with data from the 1990 and 1991 General Social Surveys, based on a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. The results provide partial support for the predictions, especially the second prediction, with the strongest correlates of suicide approval being education, political liberalism, and a set of religion variables.
Article
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.
Article
The association between adolescents' and young adults' attitudes toward suicide and their own suicidality across five racial-ethnic classifications was studied in a nationally representative sample of 3,301 youth ages 14 to 22 years from the National Annenberg Risk Survey of Youth. Results indicate that adolescents and young adults who most strongly believe that it is acceptable to end one's life are more than fourteen times more likely to make a plan to kill themselves as those who do not have such beliefs (p < .001). Future behavioral prevention and intervention research should take into consideration adolescents' and young adults' approval of suicide as a risk factor for taking their own lives.
Article
Objective. Research on the predictors of individual-level attitudes toward suicide has neglected the possible role of contextual-level predictors. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by assessing the association between suicide rates and the attitudes of individuals. Based on social learning theory, it is argued that persons socialized in nations with relatively high rates of suicide are more likely to be exposed to suicidal role models, which provide positive definitions of suicide. Methods. Data refer to 40,873 adults in 31 nations, and are taken from the World Health Organization and World Values Surveys. Given the bi-level nature of the data, hierarchical linear modeling techniques (HLM) are utilized. Additional predictor variables are incorporated from previous research and include religious participation and political orientation from social learning theory, marital status and life satisfaction from control theory, and basic demographics such as age and gender. Results. The results of the HLM indicate that controlling for individual-level predictors, as well as other Level 2 variables, persons residing in nations with relatively high suicide rates are more approving of suicide than their counterparts. The model was replicated for the prediction of support for euthanasia. A social learning perspective was further supported by results linking 1970 suicide rates with suicide acceptability among older adults in 1990. Conclusion. National suicide rates are predictive of individual-level suicide acceptability. However, the main predictors of suicide acceptability included a measure from social learning theory, religiosity, and a neglected measure of control theory, life satisfaction.
Going postal: Rage, murder, and rebellion: From Reagan’s workplaces to Clinton’s columbine and beyond
  • M Ames
Ames, M. (2005). Going postal: Rage, murder, and rebellion: From Reagan's workplaces to Clinton's columbine and beyond. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press.
The Sandy Hook shootings and America’s culture of death
  • L R Beres
Beres, L. R. (2012, December 19). The Sandy Hook shootings and America's culture of death. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/12/19/ the-sandy-hook-shootings-and-americas-culture-of-death
Death in the office: Workplace homicides
  • S Duncan
Duncan, S. (1995). Death in the office: Workplace homicides. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 64(4), 20-25.