A school shooting is an armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties.[1][2] The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings,[3][4] although school shootings have taken place elsewhere in the world.
![The perpetrator of the 2022 Aracruz school shootings, who killed four people before being apprehended](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Aracruz_attack%2C_firing.jpg/220px-Aracruz_attack%2C_firing.jpg)
According to studies, factors behind school shooting include easy access to firearms, family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, and mental illness among many other psychological issues.[5] Among the topmost motives of attackers were: bullying/persecution/threatened (75%) and revenge (61%), while 54% reported having numerous reasons. The remaining motives included an attempt to solve a problem (34%), suicide or depression (27%), and seeking attention or recognition (24%).[6]
Especially in the United States, school shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies, gun rights and gun control.
Profiling
The United States Secret Service published the results from a study regarding 37 school shooting incidents, involving 41 individuals in the United States from December 1974 through May 2000.[7] In a previous report of 18 school shootings by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), they released a profile that described shooters as middle-class, lonely/alienated, awkward, Caucasian males who had access to guns.[8] The most recent report cautioned against the assumption that a perpetrator can be identified by a certain 'type' or profile. The results from the study indicated that perpetrators came from differing backgrounds, making a singular profile difficult when identifying a possible assailant.[7][9] For example, some perpetrators were children of divorce, lived in foster homes, or came from intact nuclear families. The majority of individuals had rarely or never gotten into trouble at school and had a healthy social life[citation needed]. Some, such as Alan Lipman, have warned about the lack of empirical validity of profiling methods.
Age
According to Raine (2002), immaturity is one of many identified factors increasing the likelihood of an individual committing criminal acts of violence and outbursts of aggression.[10] This fact is supported by findings on brain development occurring as individuals age from birth.
According to the Australian-based Raising children network and Centre for Adolescent Health (and other sources):[11] the main change occurring in the developing brain during adolescence is the (so-called) pruning of unused connections in thinking and processing. While this is occurring within the brain, retained connections are strengthened. Synaptic pruning occurs because the nervous system in humans develops by firstly, the over-producing of parts of the nervous system, axons, neurons, and synapses, to then later in the development of the nervous system, make the superfluous parts redundant, i.e. pruning (or apoptosis, otherwise known as cell death).[12] These changes occur in certain parts of the brain firstly; the pre-frontal cortex, the brain location where decision-making occurs, is the concluding area for development.
While the pre-frontal cortex is developing, children and teenagers might possibly rely more on the brain part known as the amygdala; involving thinking that is more emotionally active, including aggression and impulsiveness. As a consequence each individual is more likely to want to make riskier choices, and to do so more frequently.[13]
- Steinberg (2004)[14] identified the fact of adolescents taking more risks, typically, than adults;
- Deakin et al. (2004), and Overman et al. (2004) indicate a decline in risk taking from adolescence to adulthood;
- Steinberg (2005), Figner et al. (2009), and Burnett et al. (2010) identified adolescent age individuals as more likely to take risks than young children and adults.[15]
Family dynamics
One assumption into the catalytic causes of school shootings comes from the "non-traditional" household perspective, which focuses on how family structure and family stability are related to child outcomes.[16] Broadly speaking, proponents of this hypothesis claim that family structures such as single mothers,[17] same-sex parents,[18] extended family, or cohabitation[19] are more harmful to the development of a child's mental well-being, than heterosexual, married parents (often equated with the idea of a nuclear family). This perspective is found to back federal efforts such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996[20] and US federal tax incentives.[21]
However, these assumptions on the detrimental effects of "non-traditional" family structures have repeatedly been shown to be false, with the true issues lying within socio-economic realities.[22][23] Longitudinal research has shown the robust, positive effects of higher incomes and higher education levels on child well-being and emotional development, which reflects on the family stability, and not family structure.[24] Further, proponents of this hypothesis often cite family statistics for those who commit crimes, but leave out how these compare to other populations, including the general population.
For example, a 2009 survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) revealed that substance abuse amongst children raised by single mothers was higher than children raised by both of their biological parents. However, the percentage of substance abuse amongst children raised by single mothers was not only remarkably low (5.4%), but also only 1.2% higher than children raised by both their parents.[25] Those rates are revealed to be even smaller when compared to other demographics of the same time period. According to surveys commissioned by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, between 20 and 30% of teenagers used/abused illicit substances, a much higher rate than single mother households.[26]
Another example of poorly-cited statistics to further this narrative can be found in children who have lost at least one parent. In the U.S., the rate of parental death before age 16 is 8%. The rate of parental death is disproportionately high for prisoners (30–50%), however, it is also disproportionately high for high-performing scientists (26%) and US presidents (34%). Harvard's Baker Foundation Professor Emerita Dr. Teresa M. Amabile states, "Those kinds of events can crush a child, they can lead to a lot of problems; they can lead to substance abuse, they can lead to various forms of emotional illness. They can also lead to incredible resilience and almost superhuman behaviors, seemingly, if people can come through those experiences intact. I don't know if we—we being the field in general—have discovered what the keys are, what makes the difference for kids."[27]
Understanding that socio-economic factors have greater effects on child development and emotional stability have led many to argue that single-parent and other non-traditional households should be afforded equivalent incentives by the state, as are afforded married households, and that focusing on family structure rather than family stability derails efforts to understand the realities of mass-shooters.
Parental supervision
"Studies have found that within offenders' families, there is frequently a lack of supervision, low emotional closeness, and intimacy".[28] In a 2018 publication, Dr. George S. Everly Jr, of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health outlined an accumulation of seven, recurring themes that warrant consideration regarding school shooters.[29] One factor is that school shooters tended to isolate themselves, and "exhibited an obsessive quality that often led to detailed planning, but ironically they seemed to lack an understanding of the consequences of their behavior and thus may have a history of adverse encounters with law enforcement." A criticism in the media of past shooters was questioning how so much planning could commence without alerting the parents or guardians to their efforts. However, this has proven to be as difficult of a question to answer as anticipating any of the past school shootings.
Data from the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covering decades of US school shootings, reveals that 68% of shooters obtained weapons from their home or the home of a relative. Since 1999, out of 145 US school shootings committed by children/adolescents, 80% of the guns used were taken from their homes or relative's home.[30] The availability of firearms has direct effect on the probability of initiating a school shooting. This has led many to question whether parents should be held criminally negligent for their children's gun-related crimes. By 2018, a total of four parents were convicted of failing to lock up the guns that were used to shoot up US schools by their children.[30] Such incidents may also lead to nationwide discussion on gun laws.[31]
The FBI offer a guide for helping to identify potential school shooters, The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective.[32]
"Student 'Rules the Roost'" "The parents set few or no limits on the child's conduct, and regularly give in to his demands. The student insists on an inordinate degree of privacy, and parents have little information about his activities, school life, friends, or other relationships. The parents seem intimidated by their child. They may fear he will attack them physically if they confront or frustrate him, or they may be unwilling to face an emotional outburst, or they may be afraid that upsetting the child will spark an emotional crisis. Traditional family roles are reversed: for example, the child acts as if he were the authority figure, while parents act as if they were the children."
"No Limits or Monitoring of TV and Internet" "Parents do not supervise, limit or monitor the student's television watching or his use of the Internet. The student may have a TV in his own room or is otherwise free without any limits to spend as much time as he likes watching violent or otherwise inappropriate shows. The student spends a great deal of time watching television rather than in activities with family or friends. Similarly, parents do not monitor computer use or Internet access. The student may know much more about computers than the parents do, and the computer may be considered off limits to the parents while the student is secretive about his computer use, which may involve violent games or Internet research on violence, weapons, or other disturbing subjects."
This last passage includes the notion that violent video games leads to school shootings. The FBI offer three cautions with their guide, 1) No trait or characteristic should be considered in isolation or given more weight than the others, 2) One bad day may not reflect a student's real personality or usual behavior, and 3) Many of these traits and behaviors are seen in adolescents with other, non-violent, issues.
Daniel Schechter, Clinical Psychiatrist, wrote that for a baby to develop into a troubled adolescent who then turns lethally violent, a convergence of multiple interacting factors must occur, that is "every bit as complicated...as it is for a tornado to form on a beautiful spring day in Kansas".[33] Thus, reinforcing the issue that school shooters do not necessarily come from "bad" parents. No more than they could come from attentive, educated, negligent, single, married, abusive, or loving parents.
School bullying
Dorothy Espelage of the University of Florida observed that 8% of bullying victims become "angry, and aggressively so." She added, "They become very angry, they may act out aggressively online. They may not hit back, but they definitely ruminate."[34]
"Bullying is common in schools and seemed to play a role in the lives of many of the school shooters".[35] A typical bullying interaction consists of three parts, the offender/bully, a victim, and one or more bystanders. This formula of three enables the bully to easily create public humiliation for their victim. Students who are bullied tend to develop behavioral problems, depression, less self-control and poorer social skills, and to do worse in school.[36] Once humiliated, victims never want to be a victim again and try to regain their image by joining groups. Often, they are rejected by their peers and follow through by restoring justice in what they see as an unjust situation. Their plan for restoration many times results in violence as shown by the school shooters. 75% of school shooters had been bullied or left behind evidence of having been victims of bullying [citation needed]. Other academics however are critical of a bullying-school shootings connection.[37]
The Uvalde shooter who killed 21 people was frequently bullied in 4th grade at Robb Elementary school.[38][39]
Mental illness
The degree to which mental illness contributes to school shootings has been debated.
Although the vast majority of mentally ill individuals are non-violent,[40] some evidence has suggested that mental illness or mental health symptoms are nearly universal among school shooters. A 2002 report by the US Secret Service and US Department of Education found evidence that a majority of school shooters displayed evidence of mental health symptoms, often undiagnosed or untreated.[41] Criminologists Fox and DeLateur note that mental illness is only part of the issue, however, and mass shooters tend to externalize their problems, blaming others and are unlikely to seek psychiatric help, even if available.[42] According to an article written on gun violence and mental illness, the existence of violence as an outlet for the mentally ill is quite prominent in some instances (Swanson et al., 2015). The article lists from a study that 12% of people with serious mental illness had committed minor or serious violence within the last year, compared to 2% of people without illness committing those same acts.[43] Other scholars have concluded that mass murderers display a common constellation of chronic mental health symptoms, chronic anger or antisocial traits, and a tendency to blame others for problems.[44] However, they note that attempting to "profile" school shooters with such a constellation of traits will likely result in many false positives as many individuals with such a profile do not engage in violent behaviors.
McGinty and colleagues conducted a study to find out if people tended to associate the violence of school shootings with mental illness, at the expense of other factors such as the availability of high-capacity magazines.[45] Nearly 2,000 participants read a news piece on a shooting in which the shooter is diagnosed as having a mental illness and who used high capacity magazines. One group read an article that presented only the facts of the case. A different group read an article about the same shooting, but in it the author advocated for gun restrictions for people with mental illness. Another group read about the shooting in an article that suggested the proposal to ban large-capacity magazines, which acted to advocate that shootings could stem from a societal problem rather than an individual problem. The control group did not read anything. Participants were then all asked to fill in a questionnaire asking about their views on gun control and whether they thought there should be restrictions on high-capacity magazines. 71% of the control group thought that gun restrictions should be applied to people with mental illness, and nearly 80% of participants who read the articles agreed. Despite the fact that the article exposed the readers to both the mental illness of the shooter, and the fact that the shooter used high-capacity magazines, participants advocated more for gun restrictions on people with mental illness rather than bans on high-capacity magazines. This suggests that people believe mental illness is the culprit for school shootings in lieu of the accessibility of guns or other environmental factors. The authors expressed concern that proposals to target gun control laws at people with mental illness do not take into account the complex nature of the relationship between serious mental illness and violence, much of which is due to additional factors such as substance abuse. However, the link is unclear since research has shown that violence in mentally ill people occurs more in interpersonal environments.[46]
It is also mentionable that school size can play a role on the presence of shooter mental health concerns. In a presented study from researchers Baird, Roellke & Zeifman from the Social Science Journal, it is presented that school size and level of attention given to students can precede violent actions, as students who commit mass shootings in larger schools are likely to have transitioned from smaller schools. This adds important nuance to the idea that larger schools are more prone to mass violence by showing that the stress associated with losing the personal support given in a smaller community is a weight on students.[47]
A 2016 opinion piece published by U.S. News & World Report concluded that 22% of mass murders are committed by people who suffer from a serious mental illness, and 78% do not. This study also concluded that many people with mental illnesses do not engage in violence against others and that most violent behavior is due to factors other than mental illness.[48]
Injustice collectors
In a 2015 New Republic essay, Columbine author Dave Cullen describes a subset of school shooters (and other mass murderers) known as "injustice collectors", or people who "never forget, never forgive, [and] never let go" before they strike out. The essay describes and expands on the work of retired FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole, who has published a peer-reviewed journal article on the subject.[49] It also quotes Gary Noesner, who helped create and lead the FBI's hostage negotiation unit, and served as Chief Negotiator for ten years.[50]
Violent media theory
It has long been debated whether there exists a correlation between school shooting perpetrators and the type of media they consume. A popular profile for school shooters is someone who has been exposed to or enjoys playing violent video games. However, this profile is considered by many researchers to be misguided or erroneous. Ferguson (2009) has argued that a third variable of gender explains the illusory correlation between video game use and the type of people who conduct school shootings. Ferguson explains that the majority of school shooters are young males, who are considerably more aggressive than the rest of the population. A majority of gamers are also young males. Thus, it appears likely that the view that school shooters are often people who play violent video games is more simply explained by the third variable of gender. [citation needed]
The idea of profiling school shooters by the video games they play comes from the belief that playing violent video games increases a person's aggression level, which in turn, can cause people to perpetrate extreme acts of violence, such as a school shooting. There is little to no data supporting this hypothesis (Ferguson, 2009) [citation needed] but it has become a vivid profile used by the media since the Columbine Massacre in 1999.
A summation of past research on video game violence finds that video games have little to no effect on aggression. (Anderson, 2004; Ferguson, 2007 & Spencer, 2009) Again, this supports the idea that although it is a popular opinion to link school shooters to being violent video gamers; this misconception is often attributable to third variables and has not been supported by research on the connection between aggression and gaming. [citation needed]
Notoriety
Shooting massacres in English-speaking countries often occur close together in time.[51] In the summer of 1966, two major stories broke: Richard Speck murdered eight women on a single night in Chicago, and Charles Whitman shot and killed 15 people from a clock tower at the University of Texas in Austin. Neither was seeking fame, but with the new television news climate, they received it anyway.[citation needed] Seeing this, 18-year-old Robert Benjamin Smith bought a gun, and on November 12, 1966, he killed four women and a toddler inside the Rose-Mar College of Beauty in Mesa, Arizona. "I wanted to get known, just wanted to get myself a name," explained Smith. He had hoped to kill nearly ten times as many people but had arrived at the beauty college campus too early. Upon his arrest, he was without remorse, saying simply, "I wanted people to know who I was."[52] Towers, et al. (2015), found a small, but significant temporary increase in the probability of a second school shooting within 2 weeks after a known school shooting, which was only slightly smaller than the probability of repeats after mass killings involving firearms. [citation needed]
However, much more work is needed with greater scope on investigations, to understand whether this is a real phenomenon or not. Some attribute this to copycat behavior,[53][54] which can be correlated with the level of media exposure.[55][56] In these copycat shootings, oftentimes the perpetrators see a past school shooter as an idol, so they want to carry out an even more destructive, murderous shooting in hopes of gaining recognition or respect.[57] Some mass murderers study media reports of previous killers.[58]
Recent premeditative writings were presented according to court documents and showed Joshua O'Connor wrote that he wanted the "death count to be as high as possible so that the shooting would be infamous". O'Connor was arrested before he was able to carry out his plan.[59] Infamy and notoriety, "a desire to be remembered" has been reported as the leading reason for planned shootings by most perpetrators who were taken alive either pre or post shooting.[citation needed]
Taking influences from literature
One of the infamous books, the 1977 novel Rage by Stephen King (written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), was linked to five school shootings and hostage situations that took place between 1988 and 1997;[60][61][62][63] the most recent of these, the 1997 Heath High School shooting, was ultimately influential in King's decision to pull the book out of print for good.[64]
Frequency trends
School shootings are a "modern phenomenon". There were scattered instances of gunmen or bombers attacking schools in the years before the Frontier Middle School shooting in Moses Lake, Washington in 1996, "but they were lower profile", according to journalist Malcolm Gladwell in 2015.[65] In the United States specifically, the most recent trend has been downward following the spikes of the 1990s, yet at the same time they are trending towards a higher likelihood of being premeditated and executed with a strict plan in mind.[66]
A study by Northeastern University found that "four times the number of children were killed in schools in the early 1990s than today".[67]
On August 27, 2018, NPR reported that a U.S. Education Department report, released earlier in the year, for the 2015–2016 school year said "nearly 240 schools ... reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting". However, when NPR researched this 'claim', it could confirm only 11 actual incidents.[68]
By region
United States
School shootings are a "uniquely American crisis", according to The Washington Post in 2018.[69] School shootings are considered an "overwhelmingly American" phenomenon due to the availability of firearms in the United States.[65] Kids at U.S. schools have active shooter drills.[70] According to USA Today, in 2019 "about 95% of public schools now have students and teachers practice huddling in silence, hiding from an imaginary gunman."[70]
Between the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado and the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, there were 31 school shootings in the United States and 14 in the rest of the world combined.[4] Between 2000 and 2010, counting incidents from 37 countries in which someone was injured or killed on school grounds, with two or more victims, and not counting "single homicides, off-campus homicides, killings caused by government actions, militaries, terrorists or militants", the number of such incidents in the United States was one less than in the other 36 countries combined; in the vast majority of the United States incidents, perpetrators used guns.[3][71]
A U.S. Education Department report, released earlier in the year, for the 2015–2016 school year said "nearly 240 schools ... reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting". NPR independently evaluated this claim and only confirmed 11 of the 240 cited incidents.[68] Addressing school shootings in the United States was made more difficult by the passage by United States Congress of the Dickey Amendment in 1996, which mandated that no Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds "may be used to advocate or promote gun control", although this does not mean the CDC has stopped researching gun violence.[72][73][74] Instead, Congress relies on independent research done by non-partisan organizations for getting data on gun violence in the United States.
Between the Columbine massacre and the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas, shooting of some form happened at 216 schools, and at least 141 children, educators and other people were killed and another 284 were injured. 38% of the students who experienced school shootings were African American although African American students were 16.6% of the school population.[75] Schools in at least 36 states and the District of Columbia have experienced a shooting.[69]
Many school shootings in the United States result in one non-fatal injury.[76] The type of firearm most commonly used in school shootings in the United States is the handgun. Three school shootings (the Columbine massacre, the Sandy Hook massacre, and the 2018 Parkland High School shooting in Florida), accounted for 43% of the fatalities; the type of firearm used in the most lethal school shootings was the rifle.[69] High-capacity magazines, which allow the perpetrator to fire dozens of rounds without having to reload, were used in the Columbine and Sandy Hook shootings.[77]
70% of the perpetrators of school shootings were under the age of 18, with the median age of 16. More than 85% of the perpetrators of school shootings obtained their firearms from their own homes or from friends or relatives.[75] Targeted school shootings, those occurring for example in the context of a feud, were about three times as common as those that appeared indiscriminate. Most perpetrators of school shootings exhibited no signs of debilitating mental disorder, such as psychosis or schizophrenia, although most mass killers typically have or exhibit signs of depression. On the other hand, Eric Harris was almost certainly a psychopath as noted by the FBI.[69] Between the Columbine massacre and 2015, "more than 40 people" were "charged with Columbine-style plots;" almost all were white male teenagers and almost all had studied the Columbine attack or cited the Columbine perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as inspiration.[78]
At least 68 schools that experienced a school shooting employed a police officer or security guard; in all but a few, the shooting ended before any intercession. Security guards or resource officers were present during four of the five school shooting incidents with the highest number of dead or injured: Columbine, the 2001 Santana High School shooting in California, the 2018 Marshall County High School shooting in Kentucky, and Stoneman Douglas.[69][79]
There were 11 firearm-related events that occurred at a school or campus in the first 23 days of 2018.[80] As of May 2018, more people, including students and teachers, were killed in 2018 in schools in the United States than were killed in military service for the United States, including both combat and non-combat military service, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.[81][82][83] In terms of the year-to-date number of individual deadly school shootings incidents in the United States, early 2018 was much higher than 2017, with 16 in 2018 and four in 2017, through May;[82] the year-to-day through May number of incidents was the highest since 1999.[75] As of May 2018, thirteen school shootings took place on K–12 school property in 2018 that resulted in firearm-related injuries or deaths, including 32 killed and 65 injured, according to Education Week.[84][85][86] 22 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed occurred in the United States in the first 20 weeks of 2018, according to CNN.[87]
List of school shootings in the United States
As of May 22, 2023, the ten deadliest school shootings in the United States since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in which 13 were killed were the:
- 2007 Virginia Tech shooting (33 dead)
- 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut (27 dead)
- 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas (22 dead)
- 2018 Parkland high school shooting in Parkland, Florida (17 dead)
- 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas (10 dead)
- 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting near Roseburg, Oregon (10 dead)
- 2005 Red Lake shootings in Minnesota (10 dead)
- 2023 Nashville school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee (7 dead)
- 2012 Oikos University shooting in Oakland, California (7 dead)
- 2008 Northern Illinois University shooting (6 dead)
Other school shootings occurring in the United States include the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting in Austin in which 16 were killed; the 2001 Santana High School shooting in Santee, California, in which two were killed; the 2018 Marshall County High School shooting in Benton, Kentucky, in which two were killed; and the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan, in which four were killed.[76][88][89][90]
Studies of United States school shootings
During 1996, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) together with the US Department of Education and the United States Department of Justice, published a review of deaths related to schools occurring as a result of violence, including explicitly "unintentional firearm-related death", for the academic years 1992–1993 and 1993–1994.[91] A second study (Anderson; Kaufman; Simon 2001), a continuation from the 1996 study, was published December 5, and covered the period 1994–1999.[92]
A United States Secret Service study concluded that schools were placing false hope in physical security, when they should be paying more attention to the pre-attack behaviors of students. Zero-tolerance policies and metal detectors "are unlikely to be helpful," the Secret Service researchers found. The researchers focused on questions concerning the reliance on SWAT teams when most attacks are over before police arrive, profiling of students who show warning signs in the absence of a definitive profile, expulsion of students for minor infractions when expulsion is the spark that push some to return to school with a gun, buying software not based on school shooting studies to evaluate threats although killers rarely make direct threats, and reliance on metal detectors and police officers in schools when shooters often make no effort to conceal their weapons.[93]
In May 2002, the Secret Service published a report that examined 37 U.S. school shootings. They had the following findings:
- Incidents of targeted violence at school were rarely sudden, impulsive acts.
- Prior to most incidents, other people knew about the attacker's idea or plan to attack.
- Most attackers did not threaten their targets directly prior to advancing the attack.
- There is no accurate or useful profile of students who engaged in targeted school violence.
- Most attackers engaged in some behavior prior to the incident that caused others concern or indicated a need for help.
- Most attackers had difficulty coping with significant losses or personal failures. Moreover, many had considered or attempted suicide.
- Many attackers felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack.
- Most attackers had access to and had used weapons prior to the attack.
- In many cases, other students were involved in some capacity.
- Despite prompt law enforcement responses, most shooting incidents were stopped by means other than law enforcement intervention.[94]
Cultural references
Film
There have been many representations of American school shootings in films and TV shows produced by both United States and international production companies. While films Elephant, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Beautiful Boy, and Mass are solely focused on the either the act or the aftermath.[95] Many of the shows such as Criminal Minds, Degrassi: the Next Generation, Law and Order, and One Tree Hill investigate the crime for an episode or use it as a plot point for about half a season.[96]
Music
Californian punk rock group The Offspring has created two songs about school shootings in the United States. In "Come Out and Play" (1994), the focus is on clashing school gangs,[97] lamenting that "[kids] are getting weapons with the greatest of ease", "It goes down the same as a thousand before / No one's getting smarter / No one's learning the score / A never-ending spree of death and violence and hate". In the 2008 song "Hammerhead", a campus gunman thinks he is a soldier in a warzone.[97][98]
One of the more provocative songs to come out of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting was "thoughts & prayers" from alternative artist/rapper grandson (born Jordan Benjamin).[99] The song is a critique of politicians sending out their "thoughts and prayers" to the victims of the Parkland high school shooting and other mass shootings, accompanied by what he perceives as a consistent resistance to gun control laws.[99]
"I Don't Like Mondays" by Irish new wave band The Boomtown Rats was directly inspired by the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting.
Political impact
School shootings and other mass killings have had a major political impact. Governments have discussed gun-control laws, to increase time for background checks. Also, bulletproof school supplies have been created, including backpacks,[100] desks, bullet-resistant door panels,[100] and classroom whiteboards (or bulletin boards) which reinforce walls or slide across doors to deflect bullets.[101] The National Rifle Association of America has proposed allowing teachers to carry weapons on school grounds as a means of protecting themselves and others as a possible solution.[102][103] In 2018, 14 states had at least one school district in which teachers were armed, with another 16 states permitting districts to arm teachers subject to local policy.[104] Most states also require the gun carriers to receive advance permission from the districts' superintendents or trustees. "In New York State, written permission from the school is required in order to carry a firearm on school grounds."[105]
Due to the political impact, this has spurred some to press for more stringent gun control laws. In the United States, the National Rifle Association is opposed to such laws, and some groups have called for fewer gun control laws, citing cases of armed students ending shootings and halting further loss of life, and claiming that the prohibitions against carrying a gun in schools do not deter the gunmen.[106][better source needed][107] One such example is the Mercaz HaRav Massacre, where the attacker was stopped by a student, Yitzhak Dadon, who shot him with his personal firearm which he lawfully carried concealed. At a Virginia law school, there is a disputed claim that three students retrieved pistols from their cars and stopped the attacker without firing a shot.[108] Also, at a Mississippi high school, the vice principal retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and then eventually stopped the attacker as he was driving away from the school.[109] In other cases, such as shootings at Columbine and Red Lake High Schools, the presence of an armed police officer did little to nothing to prevent the killings.[79]
The Gun-Free Schools Act was passed in 1994 in response to gun related violence in schools, so many school systems started adopting the Zero-Tolerance Law. The Gun-Free Schools Act required people to be expelled from the school for a year. By 1997, the Zero-Tolerance for any type of weapon was implemented by more than 90 percent of U.S. public schools.[110]
Police response and countermeasures
Analysis of the Columbine school shooting and other incidents where first responders waited for backup has resulted in changed recommendations regarding what bystanders and first responders should do. An analysis of 84 mass shooting cases in the US from 2000 to 2010 found that the average response time by police was 3 minutes.[111] In most instances that exceeds the time the shooter is engaged in killing. While immediate action may be extremely dangerous, it may save lives which would be lost if people involved in the situation remain passive, or a police response is delayed until overwhelming force can be deployed. It is recommended by the US Department of Homeland Security that civilians involved in the incident take active steps to evacuate, hide, or counter the shooter and that individual law enforcement officers present or first arriving at the scene attempt immediately to engage the shooter. In many[quantify] instances, immediate action by civilians or law enforcement has saved lives.[111]
College and university response and countermeasures
The Massengill Report was an after-action report created in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, which brought national attention to the need for colleges and universities to take concerning behavior and threats seriously. It has led to the creation of hundreds of behavioral intervention teams which help access and co-ordinate institutional responses to behavioral concerns on college and university campuses.
School countermeasures
Armed classrooms
There has been considerable policy discussion about how to help prevent school and other types of mass shootings. One suggestion that has come up is the idea to allow firearms in the classroom. "Since the issue of arming teachers is a relatively new topic, it has received little empirical study. Therefore, most of the literature does not come from peer-reviewed sources but rather published news reports. In addition, most of these reports are not objective and clearly appear to support a specific side of the debate."[112] So far, data has been inconclusive as to whether or not arming teachers would have any sort of benefit for schools. For years, some areas in the US have allowed "armed classrooms" to deter (or truncate) future attacks by changing helpless victims into armed defenders. Advocates of arming teachers claim that it will reduce fatalities in school shootings, but many others disagree.
Many teachers have had their concerns with the idea of armed classrooms. "One teacher stated that although she is pro-gun, she does not feel as though she could maintain gun safety on school grounds (Reuters, 2012). Teachers expressed the fear that bigger students could overpower them, take the weapon, and then use it against the teacher or other students." Some members of the armed forces have also had concerns with armed classrooms. Police forces in Texas brought up the potential for teachers to leave a gun where a student could retrieve and use it. "They are further concerned that if every teacher had a gun, there would be an unnecessarily large number of guns in schools (even including elementary schools). This large number of guns could lead to accidental shootings, especially those involving younger children who do not understand what guns do."
To diminish school shootings there are many preventive measures that can be taken such as:
- Installing wireless panic alarms to alert law enforcement.
- Limiting points of entry with security guarding them.
- Strategically placing telephones for emergencies so police are always reachable at any point in the campus.[113]
- Employing school psychologists to monitor and provide mental health services for those that need help.[114]
- Coordinating a response plan between local police and schools in the event of a threat.[115]
In a 2013 research report published by the Center for Homicide Research, they find that many also reject the idea of having armed classrooms due to what is termed the "weapons effect", which is the phenomenon in which simply being in the presence of a weapon can increase feelings of aggression. "In Berkowitz & LaPage's (1967) examination of this effect, students who were in the presence of a gun reported higher levels of aggressive feelings towards other students and gave more violent evaluations of other students' performance on a simple task in the form of electric shocks. This finding points to possible negative outcomes for students exposed to guns in the classroom (Simons & Turner, 1974; Turner & Simons, 1976)."[112]
In 2008, Harrold Independent School District in Texas became the first public school district in the U.S. to allow teachers with state-issued firearm-carry permits to carry their arms in the classroom; special additional training and ricochet-resistant ammunition were required for participating teachers.[116] Students at the University of Utah have been allowed to carry concealed pistols (so long as they possess the appropriate state license) since a State Supreme Court decision in 2006.[117][118] In addition to Utah, Wisconsin and Mississippi each have legislation that allow students, faculty and employees with the proper permit, to carry concealed weapons on their public university's campuses.[119][120] Colorado and Oregon state courts have ruled in favor of Campus Carry laws by denying their universities' proposals to ban guns on campus, ruling that the UC Board of Regents and the Oregon University System did not have the authority to ban weapons on campus.[121][122] A selective ban was then re-instated, wherein Oregon state universities enacted a ban on guns in school building and sporting events or by anyone contracted with the university in question.[123] A commentary in the conservative National Review Online argues that the armed school approach for preventing school attacks, while new in the US, has been used successfully for many years in Israel and Thailand.[124] Teachers and school officials in Israel are allowed and encouraged to carry firearms if they have former military experience in the IDF, which almost all do. Statistics on what percentage of teachers are actually armed are unavailable and in Israel, for example, the intent is to counter politically motivated terrorist attacks on high value, soft targets, not personal defense against, or protection from, unbalanced individual students.
The National Rifle Association has explicitly called for placing armed guards in all American schools.[125] However, Steven Strauss, a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, offered a preliminary calculation that placing armed guards in every American school might cost as much as $15 billion/year, and perhaps only save 10 lives per year (at a cost of $1.5 billion/life saved).[126]
Preventive measures
Because of the increase in guns in the United States, many schools and local communities are taking it into their own hands by providing young students with early gun safety courses to make them aware of the dangers these objects actually are, also to prevent school shootings. According to Katherine A. Fowler, PhD, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An average 1,297 children die (two children per 100,000) and 5,790 are treated for injuries caused by guns each year, the study reported. Six percent of these deaths were accidental, 38% were suicides, 53% were homicides and the remaining 3% were from legal intervention or undetermined reasons. Guns injured children at a rate of 8 per 100,000 children, but this rate is likely considerably higher because of unreported injuries.[127]
A preventive measure proposed for stopping school shooting has been focused on securing firearms in the home. A shooting in Sparks, Nevada on October 21, 2013, left a teacher and the shooter, a twelve-year-old student, dead with two seriously injured. The handgun used in the shooting had been taken from the shooter's home. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minnesota in 2005, and Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky in 1997 also involved legal guns taken from the home.
A 2000 study of firearm storage in the United States found that "from the homes with children and firearms, 55% reported to have one or more firearms in an unlocked place". 43% reported keeping guns without a trigger lock in an unlocked place. In 2005 a study was done on adult firearm storage practices in the United States found that over 1.69 million youth under age 18 are living in homes with loaded and unlocked firearms. Also, 73% of children under age 10 living in homes with guns reported knowing the location of their parents' firearms.[128]
Most states have Child Access Prevention Laws—laws designed to prevent children from accessing firearms. Each state varies in the degree of the severity of these laws. The toughest laws enforce criminal liability when a minor achieves access to a carelessly stored firearm. The weakest forbid people from directly providing a firearm to a minor. There is also a wide range of laws that fall in between the two extremes. One example is a law that enforces criminal liability for carelessly stored firearms, but only where the minor uses the firearm and causes death or serious injury. An example of a weaker law is a law that enforces liability only in the event of reckless, knowing or deliberate behavior by the adult.[129]
In 2019, the United States Secret Service released an analysis of targeted school violence, concluding the best practice for prevention was forming a "multidisciplinary threat assessment team, in conjunction with the appropriate policies, tools, and training".[130] An earlier report published in 2018 concluded there was no single profile of a student attacker, and emphasized the importance of the threat assessment process instead. The threat assessment process described includes gathering information about student behaviors, negative or stressful events, and what resources are available for the student to overcome those challenges.[131]
Countermeasures
In 2015, Southwestern High School in Shelbyville, Indiana, was portrayed as possibly the "safest school in America". The school has been used as a "Safe School Flagship" of possible countermeasures to an active shooter.[132]
- All teachers have lanyards with a panic button that alerts police.[133]
- Classrooms have automatically locking "hardened doors", and windows have "hardened exterior glass" to deflect bullets and physical attack.[133]
- Cameras, described as "military-grade", that feed video directly to Shelby County Sheriff's Office[132] are mounted throughout the school.[133]
- Smoke canisters mounted in the roof of corridors can be remotely discharged to slow a shooter's movement.[133]
Other countermeasures include tools like doorjambs, rapidly-deployable tourniquets, and ballistic protection systems like the CoverMe-Seat.[134]
In 2019, Fruitport High School in Michigan became the first school in the U.S. to be rebuilt with concrete barriers in hallways for students to hide from bullets. The BBC also reports the "hallways are curved to prevent a shooter from having a clear line of sight during any potential attack." Classrooms have been redesigned so students can hide more easily.[135] Costing $48 million to rebuild, Bob Szymoniak, Fruitport High School's superintendent, believes these alterations will become part of the structure of all U.S. schools. "These are design elements that are naturally part of buildings going into the future."[135]
The STOP School Violence Act is pending legislation to provide funding grants to schools to be used for implementing security measures.[136][137][138]
Aftermath
After experiencing the threat of a school shooting, as well as the changes in the school via countermeasures, students continue to experience the trauma. In several peer‐reviewed articles on mental health consequences of school shootings by Lowe & Galea, it is shown that mass shootings can bring on the onset of PTSD and continued depression. In the cities that are home to these kind of events, the town can experience continued paranoia and an exaggerated sense of fear. Lowe & Galea continue to say that continued research is necessary to pinpoint the exact mental symptoms that occur in the victims of school shootings.[139]
See also
- List of school massacres by death toll
- List of school-related attacks
- List of unsuccessful attacks related to schools
- Threat assessment
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Campus carry in the United States
- Counter-terrorism
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Gun culture
- Gun politics in the United States
- Incendiary device
- Mass murder
- Mass shooting
- School bullying
- School violence
- Shoot (Hellblazer)
- Social rejection
- Soft target
- Suicide attack
- Suicide bombing
- Suicide by cop
- SWAT
- Terrorism
References
- ^ Vossekuil, Bryan; et al. (2004). The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Secret Service. p. 4.
- ^ "Mass Shootings Are Contagious". Live Science. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ a b Foxman, Simone; King, Ritchie (December 14, 2012). "How school killings in the US stack up against 36 other countries put together". Quartz. Atlantic Media. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
- ^ a b Wolfe-Wylie, William (December 14, 2012). "Interactive: School shootings around the world since 1996". Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
- ^ Gold & Simon (December 2016). "Gun Violence and Mental Illness. Vol. First edition". European Journal of Public Health. 26 (6). American Psychiatric Association Publishing: 1080. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw192. ISSN 1101-1262. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) license.
- ^ School Shooter: A Quick Reference Guide. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes (U.S.). January 1969.
- ^ a b Vossekuil, Bryan; Fein, Robert; Reddy, Marisa; Borum, Randy; Modzeleski, William (2004). The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Secret Service and United States Department of Education. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
- ^ "What Decades Of Covering School Shootings Has Taught Me". NPR. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^ "The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative" (PDF). U.S. Department of Education. May 1, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 13, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
- ^ Raine, A (2002) – Biological Basis for Crime in Crime: Public Policies for Crime control (J.Q. Wilson & J. Petersilia) p. 23[permanent dead link] ICS Press 2002 Accessed February 20, 2018
- ^ [1], [2] and [3] Accessed February 20, 2018 (1st shown at an earlier date)
- ^ Feinberg, Irwin – Why synaptic pruning is important for the developing brain Scientific American Accessed February 15, 2018
- ^ Raising children network, in collaboration with, the Centre for Adolescent Health – Brain development: Teenagers Australian parenting website Accessed February 15, 2018
- ^ Steinberg, L (2004) – Risk taking in adolescence: what changes, and why? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Accessed February 20, 2018
- ^ Bjork, James M.; Pardini, Dustin A. (2015). "Who are those "risk-taking adolescents"? Individual differences in developmental neuroimaging research". Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 11: 56–64. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.07.008. PMC 4324055. PMID 25176616.
- ^ Brown, S. L. (October 2010). "Marriage and Child Wellbeing". Journal of Marriage and the Family. 72 (5): 1059–1077. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00750.x. PMC 3091824. PMID 21566730.
- ^ "Catholic Perspectives on Parenting". December 2017.
- ^ "SBC Statement Opposing Same-Sex Marriage". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. June 2015.
- ^ Manning, Wendy D.; Lamb, Kathleen A. (February 2004). "Adolescent Well-Being in Cohabiting, Married, and Single-Parent Families". Journal of Marriage and Family. 65 (4): 876–893. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00876.x.
- ^ "PRWORA". November 23, 2015.
- ^ "Internal Revenue Bulletin 2018-10". March 5, 2018.
- ^ "Consequences of Growing Up Poor | RSF". russellsage.org. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ "Growing Up with a Single Parent – What Hurts, What Helps". 1995. Archived from the original on August 28, 2006. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ "Cohabitation, marriage, relationship stability and child outcomes: an update". July 2011. Archived from the original on December 25, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
- ^ "National Survey on Drug Use and Health". nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm. 2009.
- ^ "Drug Abuse Statistics, NIDA". 1997–2014.
- ^ "Creativity in Context". 1996.
- ^ Gerard, F.J.; Whitefield, K.C.; Porter, L.E.; Browne, K.D. (2015). "Offender and Offence Characteristics of School Shooting Incidents" (PDF). Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 13: 24. doi:10.1002/jip.1439.
- ^ "Profiling School Shooters". March 2018.
- ^ a b "The gun's not in the closet". The Washington Post. August 2018.
- ^ "Government Vows to Take Action Following Kauhajoki Shootings". YLE. September 23, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
- ^ "The School Shooter". 1999.
- ^ "Forecasting Aggression: Toward a New Interdisciplinary Understanding of What Makes Some Troubled Youth Turn Violent". Dana.org. February 2011.
- ^ Swaak, Taylor (February 25, 2018). "How We Talk about Bullying After School Shootings Can Be Dangerous". Newsweek.
- ^ Lanata, John C. (March–April 2003). "Behind the scenes.: A closer look at the school shooters". Sheriff. 55 (2): 22–26. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015.
- ^ "Addressing Bullying in Schools". Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
- ^ Mears, Daniel P.; Moon, Melissa M.; Thielo, Angela J. (November 2, 2017). "Columbine Revisited: Myths and Realities About the Bullying–School Shootings Connection". Victims & Offenders. 12 (6): 939–955. doi:10.1080/15564886.2017.1307295. ISSN 1556-4886. S2CID 148745392.
- ^ "Uvalde killer was mocked as a 'school shooter,' griped about bullying at school before deadly rampage". New York Post. July 17, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ "Friends of Uvalde school shooter had hints of his violence ahead of attack". KXAN Austin. July 17, 2022. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Stuart, H (June 2003). "Violence and mental illness: an overview". World Psychiatry. 2 (2): 121–124. PMC 1525086. PMID 16946914.
- ^ ""Safe School Initiative"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 4, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ Peters, Justin (December 19, 2013). "Everything You Think You Know about Mass Murder Is Wrong". Slate.
- ^ Gold & Simon (December 2016). "Gun Violence and Mental Illness. Vol. First edition". European Journal of Public Health. 26 (6). American Psychiatric Association Publishing: 1080. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw192. ISSN 1101-1262. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) license.
- ^ Ferguson, Christopher J.; Coulson, Mark; Barnett, Jane (January 1, 2011). "Psychological Profiles of School Shooters: Positive Directions and One Big Wrong Turn". Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations. 11 (2): 141–158. doi:10.1080/15332586.2011.581523. S2CID 143967040.
- ^ McGinty, Emma E.; Webster, Daniel W.; Barry, Colleen L. (May 2013). "Effects of News Media Messages About Mass Shootings on Attitudes Toward Persons With Serious Mental Illness and Public Support for Gun Control Policies". American Journal of Psychiatry. 170 (5): 494–501. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010014. PMID 23511486.
- ^ Rosenberg, Jessica (March 2014). "Mass Shootings and Mental Health Policy". Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. 41 (1): 107–121. doi:10.15453/0191-5096.3835. S2CID 152225779.
- ^ Baird, Roellke, & Zeifman (2017). "Alone and adrift: The association between mass school shootings, school size, and student support". Social Science Journal. 54 (3): 261–270. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2017.01.009. S2CID 152233412.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Gilligan, James; Lee, Bandy (February 21, 2018). "Look at the Root Causes of Gun Violence". Archived from the original on February 24, 2018.
- ^ O'Toole, Mary Ellen (September 1, 2014). "The Dangerous Injustice Collector: Behaviors of Someone Who Never Forgets, Never Forgives, Never Lets Go, and Strikes Back!". Violence and Gender. 1 (3): 97–99. doi:10.1089/vio.2014.1509.
- ^ Cullen, Dave (August 31, 2015). "Inside the Warped Mind of Vester Flanagan and Other Shooters". The New Republic. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ Yukich, Joshua; Towers, Sherry; Gomez-Lievano, Andres; Khan, Maryam; Mubayi, Anuj; Castillo-Chavez, Carlos (2015). "Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings". PLOS ONE. 10 (7): e0117259. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1017259T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117259. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4489652. PMID 26135941.
- ^ "The story of the first copycat mass shooter". November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
- ^ Mullen, Paul quoted in Hannon K 1997, "Copycats to Blame for Massacres Says Expert", Courier Mail, March 4, 1997.
- ^ Cantor; Mullen; Alpers (2000). "Mass homicide: the civil massacre". J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 28 (1): 55–63. PMID 10774842.
- ^ Phillips, D. P. (1980). "Airplane accidents, murder, and the mass media: Towards a theory of imitation and suggestion". Social Forces. 58 (4): 1001–1024. doi:10.1093/sf/58.4.1001.
- ^ Cialdini, Robert 2001. Influence: Science and Practice 4th Ed. Allyn and Bacon, pp. 121–130.
- ^ Robertz, Frank (2007). "Deadly Dreams: What Motivates School Shootings?". Scientificamerican.com. 18. Scientific American: 52–59. doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0807-52.
- ^ "Term Paper Proposal". Journal of Mass Media Ethics. 1993. Archived from the original on August 7, 2007.
- ^ "Student Suspected in Washington State School Shooting Plot". Associated Press. February 14, 2018.
- ^ "Hijack Tied to Teen Classroom Siege". The Press-Courier. Oxnard. Associated Press. April 27, 1988.
- ^ "Kentucky Youth Frees 11 Hostages and Surrenders". The New York Times. McKee, KY. Associated Press. September 18, 1989.
- ^ Buckley, Jerry (October 31, 1993). "The Tragedy in Room 108". U.S. News & World Report.
- ^ AP (August 25, 1997). "Loukaitis trial starts today". Ellensburg Daily Record. Seattle. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ^ King, Stephen (May 26, 1999). "Stephen King's Keynote Address, Vermont Library Conference, VEMA Annual Meeting". horrorking.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2005. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
- ^ a b Gladwell, Malcolm (October 19, 2015). "Thresholds of Violence, How school shootings catch on". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
School shootings are a modern phenomenon. There were scattered instances of gunmen or bombers attacking schools in the years before Barry Loukaitis, but they were lower profile. School shootings mostly involve young white men. And, not surprisingly, given the ready availability of firearms in the United States, the phenomenon is overwhelmingly American.
- ^ Robertz, Frank (2007). "Deadly Dreams". Scientific American Mind. 18 (4). Scientific American: 52–59. doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0807-52.
- ^ "Schools are safer than they were in the 90s, and school shootings are not more common than they used to be, researchers say". Retrieved March 30, 2018.
- ^ a b "The School Shootings That Weren't". NPR. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Woodrow Cox, John; Rich, Steven (March 25, 2018). "Scarred by school shootings". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
- ^ a b "My school's lockdown drills, active shooter training are security theater. Yours are, too". USA Today. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
- ^ Erickson, Amanda (February 18, 2018). "This is how common school shootings are in America". Chicago Tribune. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
- ^ "National Violent Death Reporting System|NVDRS|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC". cdc.gov. September 19, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
- ^ "Stats of the States – Firearm Mortality". cdc.gov. May 1, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
- ^ "About School Violence". cdc.gov. November 1, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
- ^ a b c Woodrow Cox, John; Rich, Steven; Chiu, Allyson; Muyskens, John; Ulmanu, Monica (May 18, 2018). "School shootings". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Wilson, Chris (February 22, 2018). "This Chart Shows the Number of School Shooting Victims Since Sandy Hook". Time. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ McKelvey, Tara (November 7, 2017). "Why are US mass shootings getting more deadly?". BBC News. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Drash, Wayne (November 3, 2015). "The massacre that didn't happen". CNN. Archived from the original on April 2, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
The suspects are almost always white male teenagers who have studied the Colorado high school massacre or cite the killers as inspiration. In the 16 years since the attack in Littleton, Colorado, more than 40 people have been charged with Columbine-style plots, according to searches of news accounts.
- ^ a b Terkel, Amanda (December 5, 2013). "Columbine High School Had Armed Guard During Massacre In 1999". HuffPost. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ "A Look At All 11 School Shootings That Took Place In The First 23 Days Of 2018". NPR. January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ Bump, Philip (May 18, 2018). "2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than service members". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
More people have been killed at schools this year than have been killed while serving in the military.
- ^ a b Sommerfeldt, Chris (May 18, 2018). "This year has been deadlier for American students than American military members". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
More people have been murdered in schools so far this year than have been killed while serving in the U.S. military, according to depressing statistics...The number of individual school shootings is also much higher this year, with 16 deadly incidents across the country so far. Last year, there had been four fatal school shootings during the same period.
- ^ Gstalter, Morgan (May 18, 2018). "More people have died in schools than military service members in 2018: report". The Hill. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
A new analysis by The Washington Post found that more people have been killed at schools so far in 2018 than have been killed while serving in the U.S. military, based on data from Defense Department news releases.
- ^ Blad, Evie; Peele, Holly; Decker, Stacey; Kim, Hyon-Young (May 21, 2018). "School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where". Education Week. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Fattal, Isabel (February 14, 2018). "Another School Shooting—But Who's Counting?". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Farber, Madeline; Szathmary, Zoe (May 19, 2018). "Recent school shootings in the US". Fox News. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Ahmed, Saeed; Walker, Christina (May 18, 2018). "There has been, on average, 1 school shooting every week this year". CNN. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Reuters staff (February 14, 2018). "Factbox: Major school shootings in the United States". Reuters. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
{{cite news}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ Krishnakumar, Priya (May 18, 2018). "Since Sandy Hook, a gun has been fired on school grounds nearly once a week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
- ^ "Oxford High School shooting: 4 students dead, 8 hurt including 1 teacher". WJBK. November 30, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
- ^ SP Kachur, GM Stennies, KE Powell, W Modzeleski (1996) (sourced from Anderson; Kaufman; Simon 2001) Accessed February 24, 2018
- ^ M. Anderson; J. Kaufman; T.R. Simon (December 5, 2001)- School-Associated Violent Deaths in the United States, 1994–1999 Journal of the American Medical Association 2001;286(21):2695–2702. doi:10.1001/jama.286.21.2695 Accessed February 24, 2018
- ^ "Deadly Lessons: School Shooters Tell Why" (PDF). Chicago Sun-Times. October 15–16, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2006.
- ^ Vossekuil, B; Fein R; Reddy M; Borum R; Modzeleski W (2002). The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (PDF). National Threat Assessment Center, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program and U.S. Secret Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 17, 2003. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ^ Latif, Leila (January 18, 2022). "Mass and the films trying to make sense of senseless violence". www.bbc.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
- ^ "School Shootings: When TV Depicts the Unthinkable". The Hollywood Reporter. April 15, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
- ^ a b Geoff Boucher (June 15, 2008). "Why don't you get a job?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
- ^ "Hammerhead by The Offspring". Song Facts. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
- ^ a b "Grandson Signs With Fueled By Ramen Following His Powerful Post-Parkland Theme, 'Thoughts & Prayers'". Billboard. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ^ a b "Bulletproof school supplies get low grades from safety experts". NBC News. August 21, 2013. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ "How bulletproof whiteboards can protect classrooms" (sliding across doors). MSN.com. September 16, 2013. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ Christina Wilkie (February 4, 2013). "NRA School Safety Report Recommends Arming Teachers, Loosening Gun Laws". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
- ^ "NRA School Shield". NRA School Shield. National Rifle Association of America. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
- ^ Tess Owen (March 10, 2018). "Here's all the states where teachers already carry guns in the classroom". Vice News. Vice Media Group. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
- ^ "Teachers with Guns: Firearms Discharges by Schoolteachers, 1980–2012". Homicidecenter.org. August 2013. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2017.
- ^ Puryear, Eric (April 30, 2008). "A discussion of the reasoning behind gun free zone, 2007–2008". Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ "Issue 8: The debate on gun policies in U.S. and midwest newspapers – Berkeley Media Studies Group". Bmsg.org.
- ^ Clines, Francis. "3 Slain at Law School; Student Is Held". New York Times. January 17, 2002.
- ^ Wickman, Forrest. "Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?" Slate. December 18, 2012.
- ^ Koch, Kathy (March 10, 2000). "Zero Tolerance for School Violence". CQ Researcher by CQ Press. 10 (9): 185–208. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
- ^ a b Erica Goode (April 6, 2013). "In Shift, Police Advise Taking an Active Role to Counter Mass Attacks". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- ^ a b "Teachers with Guns: Firearms Discharges by School teachers, 1980–2012" (PDF). Homicidecenter.org. 2013. p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Morris, Robert; Duplechain, Rosalind (2002). "New Ways To Stop Bullying". Monitor on Psychology. 33 (9): 64.
- ^ "Now Is The Time" (PDF). Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ Robertz, Frank (August 1, 2007). "Deadly Dreams". Scientific American.
- ^ McKinley, James C. Jr. (August 28, 2008). "In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns". The New York Times.
- ^ "Guns on college campuses allowed in U.S. state Utah". Int. Her. Trib. The Associated Press. March 29, 2009. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ Lott, John (September 9, 2006). "Utah Supreme Court Shoots down University of Utah Gun Ban". Johnrlott.blogspot.com. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ "U of Wisconsin Prepares for New Concealed Carry Law". Campus Safety Magazine. September 7, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ "Mississippi Passes New Campus Gun Laws". Daily Mississippian. February 19, 2012. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
- ^ Whaley, Monte (March 5, 2012). "Colorado Supreme Court affirms that CU students with permits can carry concealed guns on campus". The Denver Post. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ Graves, Bill (September 28, 2011). "Oregon Court of Appeals rejects university system's ban on guns on campus". The Oregonian. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
- ^ "Oregon University System Policy on Firearms" (PDF). March 2, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 4, 2012.
- ^ Kopel, Dave (September 2, 2004). "Follow the Leader: Israel and Thailand set an example by arming teachers". National Review. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010.
- ^ Lichtblau, Eric; Rich, Motoko (December 21, 2012). "N.R.A. Envisions 'a Good Guy With a Gun' in Every School". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012.
- ^ "Five Concerns About Armed Guards in Schools". Huffington Post. January 13, 2013.
- ^ Tara, Haelle (June 19, 2017). "Children Are Dying Because Of Americans' Denial About Guns". Forbes.
- ^ "Preventing school shootings starts with gun safety at home". Christian Science Monitor. October 31, 2013.
- ^ Randich, Cheri (December 10, 2012). "Description of State Child Access Prevention Laws" (PDF). Law & Justice. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ National Threat Assessment Center, United States Secret Service (November 2019). Protecting America's Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ^ National Threat Assessment Center, United States Secret Service (July 2018). Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ^ a b "Indiana Sheriffs Set New Standard in School Safety". indianasheriffs.org. Indiana Sheriffs Association. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Hockenberry, John (October 8, 2015). "Is This the Safest School in America?". The Takeaway. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
- ^ "Tired of mass shootings, man creates a chair that turns into bulletproof vest". Newsweek. April 13, 2018.
- ^ a b "US school rebuilt with bulletproof barriers and curved corridors". BBC. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
- ^ Baumann, Beth (March 26, 2018). "Everything You Need to Know About the STOP School Violence Act".
- ^ "House OKs Stop School Violence Act; FBI's David Bowdich testifies on Nikolas Cruz failures to Senate". The Washington Times.
- ^ "House Passes School-Safety Bill on One-Month Anniversary of Parkland – National Review". National Review. March 14, 2018.
- ^ Draucker, Claire-Burke (2020). "The mental health consequences of mass school shootings: What do we need to know?". Journal of Advanced Nursing. 76 (2). Wiley: 423–425. doi:10.1111/jan.14258. hdl:1805/28112. PMID 31713890.
Sources
- Eppes, Mary (March 8, 2018). "JSU Student Shot on campus". MSNews. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- Muschert, Glen – Sumiala, Johanna (eds.): School Shootings: Mediatized Violence in a Global Age. Studies in Media and Communications, 7. Bingley: Emerald, 2012. ISSN 2050-2060 ISBN 978-1-78052-918-9
- Schildkraut, J.; Hernandez, T. (2014). "Laws that bit the bullet: A review of legislative responses to school shootings". American Journal of Criminal Justice. 39 (2): 358–374. doi:10.1007/s12103-013-9214-6. S2CID 144697331.
External links
- BBC timeline of US school shootings
- Student Threat Assessment and Management System Guide
- Horrific School Shootings – slideshow by Life magazine
- School Shooters.info – database of information and documents relating to school shooters