What Are We Talking About? Definitional Confusion Within Active and Mass Shooting Research (original) (raw)
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A comparative analysis of active and mass shooters and events
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A Comparative Analysis of Active and Mass Shooters and Events by Sarah E. Daly A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School – Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in the School of Criminal Justice written under the direction of Dr. Mercer L. Sullivan and approved by _________________________________ Dr. Mercer L. Sullivan _________________________________ Dr. Paul Boxer _________________________________ Dr. Norman Samuels _________________________________ Dr. Adam Lankford
Keeping with Tradition: Preference for the Longstanding Definition of Mass Shooting
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As defined back in the 1980s, the term “mass shooting” has long been understood to mean the intentional killing of four or more victims with gunfire in a single incident. However, recent efforts to examine this rare and tragic crime have employed alternate definitional criteria. In order to facilitate cross-study comparisons and curb rampant public fear, it is imperative that scholars, politicians, and the media avoid using the same terminology to describe very different phenomena. In this article, we advocate for the traditional definition in view of a variety of theoretical and methodological considerations.
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In the aftermath of the movie theater mass shooting in July of 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, Mother Jones magazine created one of the first open-source databases documenting mass shootings in the United States. They focused on documenting rampage shootings in public places which resulted in four or more victims killed by the attacker(s). Their initial database consisted of incidents between 1982 and 2012, then an additional 54 cases were added to this data base of incidents which occurred between 2013 and August 2019. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the incidents gathered in this complete database from 1982 to 2019. Special attention is given to overall trends and characteristics of types of offenders, events, and weapons used in such violent events
Mass Shootings: Defining by Numbers and the Implications for Policy
Public Mass shootings shock, disturb and provoke enormous and controversial debate, often causing significant public and media resonance/reaction, becoming the subject of intense discussion in political culture (Böckler et al, 2013). At times they provide an impetus for legislative amendments to European frameworks and policies (Duquet, 2016; Hurka, 2017), often in distinct ways that routine gun violence does not. Certain mass shootings can be seen to be 'signal crimes', acts that change the way people and institutions think about safety and security (Innes, 2004). This can be seen in the cases of Hungerford, Dunblane and Antwerp for example, where legislative/policy change occurred as a result of the incidents. Conversely, there are some mass shootings that despite also resulting in multiple deaths, generate nothing other than an intensely short-lived media response, with no change to legislation/policy, leading us to question: what events matter under what circumstances.
Homicide Studies, 2013
Mass shootings at a Connecticut elementary school, a Colorado movie theater, and other venues have prompted a fair number of proposals for change. Advocates for tighter gun restrictions, for expanding mental health services, for upgrading security in public places, and, even, for controlling violent entertainment have made certain assumptions about the nature of mass murder that are not necessarily valid. This article examines a variety of myths and misconceptions about multiple homicide and mass shooters, pointing out some of the difficult realities in trying to avert these murderous rampages. While many of the policy proposals are worthwhile in general, their prospects for reducing the risk of mass murder are limited.
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Research Summary: Public mass shootings tend to capture the public's attention and receive substantial coverage in both traditional media and online social networks (OSNs) and have become a salient topic in them. Motivated by this, the overarching objective of this paper is to advance our understanding of how the public responds to mass shooting events in such media outlets. Specifically, it aims to examine whether distinct information seeking patterns emerge over time and space, and whether associations between public mass shooting events emerge in online activities and discourse. Towards this objective, we study a sequence of five public mass shooting events that have occurred in the United States between October 2017 and May 2018 across three major dimensions: the public's online information seeking activities, the media coverage, and the discourse that emerges in a prominent OSN. To capture these dimensions, respectively, data was collected and analyzed from Google Trends, LexisNexis, Wikipedia
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Weapons have long been part of human evolutionary history-hafted spear points have been dated as far back as 500,000 years in South Africa-but killing instruments that can fire up to 30 or 100 bullets without reloading have not been part of our species' evolutionary heritage. According to recent coverage from the Hartford Courant, the December 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School expended 151 bullets in less than five minutes from a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle with 30-round extended magazines. Of course, there have been more destructive sudden events that enacted a higher death toll at human hands; the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki come immediately to mind. Generally these sudden events of intentional mass carnage have state sponsorship and derive from the consolidated efforts of many people in orchestrating the attack. Even as the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 lacked conventional state support, they emerged from the collective action of many individuals with significant financial backing. In contrast, a sudden mass shooting in a crowded theater can leave upwards of 70 shot and dozens dead in a matter of minutes, for a cost of about $1,000 for a legally acquired assault rifle and ammunition, and with a lone shooter as the agent of destruction. From Colorado to Connecticut, recent US mass shooting events have required far less organization and coordination than larger-scale tragedies such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole that now feel like history lessons to our undergraduate students.
Law Enforcement's Response to Mass Shootings and Multiple Victim Violence
Handbook of Research on Mass Shootings and Multiple Victim Violence, 2020
This chapter addresses various methods used by law enforcement to examine mass shootings. It reviews the fact that there is not one consistent definition of mass shootings, and that lacking this definition it makes it a true challenge to identify events that are mass shootings for assessment and analysis. It further discusses the fact that the inability to consistently obtain, assess, analyze, and glean necessary information leading to the understanding of the mindset of mass murders results from the lack of a clear and totally accepted definition of mass shootings. The chapter specifically discusses and examines several methods used by law enforcement in their attempt to prevent and respond to mass shootings. The chapter also provides an understanding that law enforcement must rely on a multiplicity of entities to assist them in trying to prevent and responding to mass shootings to include everyday citizens.
Correlates of the Number Shot and Killed in Active Shooter Events
Homicide Studies, 2020
Active shooter events have captured the public’s attention since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Although there has been research on various aspects of these events, only a single study has attempted to identify factors that are related to the number of people injured or killed in these events. This study was limited in that it only considered the presence or absence of a semi-automatic rifle. This paper expands on the existing research by examining several other factors that may impact the total number of people shot or killed during active shooter events.
Adam Lankford (2016) asserted that the United States accounted for 31 percent of the world’s public mass shooters over the 47 years from 1966 to 2012. The news media around the globe widely publicized Lankford’s claim as soon as he started circulating his unpublished paper in 2015. Yet, despite numerous requests from researchers and the news media over four years, Lankford refused to provide a list of his cases or explain how he compiled them (see Lott 2018b). In responding to our research (Lott and Moody 2019), Lankford (2019) finally provided an appendix listing the 292 cases upon which he says he based his 2016 article. The extreme difference between his findings and ours, we now know, is driven by Lankford not following the definitions that he says that he was using. While we are still missing the data for the regressions that he ran for his 2016 paper, we at least now know what cases his sample included and excluded. Lankford (2016, 190–191) claimed that he followed the FBI, De...