tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/gun-violence-7990/articlesGun violence – The Conversation2024-02-06T19:49:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2227312024-02-06T19:49:27Z2024-02-06T19:49:27ZMichigan mother convicted of manslaughter for school shootings by her son – after buying him a gun and letting him keep it unsecured<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573587/original/file-20240205-25-g5p82p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=498%2C94%2C2497%2C1895&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jennifer Crumbley enters the Michigan courtroom during her trial on involuntary manslaughter charges on Feb. 5, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jennifer-crumbley-the-mother-of-oxford-school-shooter-ethan-news-photo/1981068568?adppopup=true">Bill Pugliano/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a decision expected to have far-reaching implications for the criminal responsibility of parents of mass shooters, a Michigan jury on Feb. 6, 2024, convicted Jennifer Crumbley on charges of involuntary manslaughter for her role in her son’s deadly rampage nearly three years ago. </p>
<p>Both Crumbley parents have pleaded not guilty to four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. Jennifer Crumbley faces a maximum <a href="https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2021/12/04/oxford-shooting-heres-what-charges-potential-sentences-suspects-parents-are-facing/">prison sentence of 60 years</a> and maximum fines of US$30,000. Jennifer’s husband, James Crumbley, goes on trial for the same charges in March, and, if convicted, faces the same sentencing guidelines as his wife did.</p>
<p>In December 2023, their son, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/michigan-shooting-suspect-ethan-crumbley-b1975865.html">Ethan Crumbley</a>, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting in which he killed four people and wounded seven others. </p>
<p>During the sentencing hearing for Ethan, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwamé Rowe said one of the victims was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/us/oxford-shooting-ethan-crumbley-sentencing/index.html">shot at point-blank range</a> after being told by the defendant to get on his knees. Another victim was shot a second time after she was down, Rowe said, “to finish the job by shooting her again.”</p>
<h2>Were the parents responsible?</h2>
<p>Many were surprised when <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/12/14/court-hearing-parents-accused-oxford-high-school-shooter/6470468001/">the Crumbleys</a>, were charged for their alleged role in the tragedy.</p>
<p>Criminal law, unlike civil law, is less likely to hold defendants liable for the actions of a third party, even if that third party is the defendant’s child. This is because in criminal law defendants face incarceration and the associated stigma that comes with a conviction. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Ethan Crumbley, as seen in a police mug shot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437904/original/file-20211215-21-9autxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ethan Crumbley was convicted of fatally shooting four students at Oxford High School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-undated-handout-photo-provided-by-the-oakland-news-photo/1237057035?adppopup=true">Photo by Oakland County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the rare instances that <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/9-years-after-sandy-hook-oxford-shooting-sees-parents-prosecuted-unprecedented-move-1659265">parents of school shooters are prosecuted</a>, they were normally charged with crimes such as child abuse, child neglect and the failure to properly secure a firearm. The charge lodged against the Crumbleys, <a href="https://www.justia.com/criminal/offenses/homicide/involuntary-manslaughter/">involuntary manslaughter</a>, also known as gross negligent homicide, was even more uncommon. </p>
<p>But it’s not without precedent. </p>
<p>In 2000, <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/02/20-years-after-kayla-rolland-the-fatal-first-grade-shooting-that-sparked-a-national-gun-debate.html">Jamelle James</a>, a Michigan resident, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter for leaving his handgun in a shoebox in his bedroom. At the time, James lived in an apartment prosecutors described as a “flophouse” that was shared with a number of people, including two young children. </p>
<p>A 6-year-old boy – James’ nephew – was temporarily living in the apartment and discovered the gun, brought it to school and fatally shot his first grade classmate Kayla Rolland. James spent more than two years in prison before he was released on probation.</p>
<p>Prosecutors claimed that James’ conduct was “grossly negligent” and “so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury resulted.” Arguably, leaving an unsecured gun around very young children demonstrated James’ gross negligence. </p>
<p>Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has taken direct aim at Crumbley’s parents. Their behavior, McDonald explained, was “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/03/1061190344/michigan-school-shooting-parents-oxford-charged">egregious</a>.” </p>
<p>“I want to be really clear that these charges are meant to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable and also send a message that gun owners have a responsibility,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/03/us/michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-superintendent-message/index.html">McDonald said during a news conference</a> on Dec. 4, 2021, less than a week after the shootings at Oxford. “When they fail to uphold that responsibility, there are serious and criminal consequences.”</p>
<h2>‘Egregious’ behavior</h2>
<p>One of the key questions for jurors was whether the parents knew that a school shooting would occur or had reckless disregard of this fact. To prove the parents’ <a href="https://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=838">gross negligence</a>, the prosecution relied on a series of alleged facts.</p>
<p>Among the most central facts was that the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/us/crumbley-parents-charged-michigan-shooting.html">Crumbleys bought their son the handgun</a> as a Christmas present and later took him to target practice.</p>
<p>Neither parent informed the school that they had bought the gun and that their son had access to it.</p>
<p>After being told that her son was searching for ammo on his phone at school, Jennifer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59523682">Crumbley told her son via text message not to get caught</a>: “LOL I’m not mad. You have to learn not to get caught.” </p>
<p>Neither of the parents opted to remove their son from school after being told that a teacher found a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/12/05/michigan-school-shooting/">disturbing drawing of a bloody figure</a> in his desk.</p>
<p>Finally, the gun was unsecured.</p>
<p>During closing arguments on Feb. 2, 2024, in Jennifer Crumbley’s trial, McDonald urged the jury to consider the “really egregious facts” before deciding to convict Crumbley.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Karen McDonald answers questions at news conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437893/original/file-20211215-25-cm5btl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Oakland County prosecuting attorney Karen McDonald announces on Dec. 3, 2021, that charges have been filed against the parents of Oxford High School gunman Ethan Crumbley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oakland-county-prosecuting-attorney-karen-mcdonald-news-photo/1356998362?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>“It takes the unthinkable, and she has done the unthinkable, and because of that, four kids have died,” McDonald said.</p>
<p>Though the prosecution’s case appeared compelling, Shannon Smith, Crumbley’s defense attorney, had some very strong counterarguments.</p>
<p>For starters, the weapon was legal to own, and Michigan had no law at the time requiring the gun to be properly stored away from juveniles.</p>
<p>Smith argued that the blame lay not with Jennifer but elsewhere: on her husband for improperly securing the firearm and on the school for failing to notify her about her son’s behavioral issues. Jennifer, in her testimony, appeared to absolve herself of any missteps or negligent acts, stating, “I’ve asked myself if I would have done anything differently, and I wouldn’t have.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, Smith argued, the blame lay on Ethan, who planned and carried out the attack on his own.</p>
<p>As Smith asked in her closing defense argument, “Can every parent really be responsible for everything their children do, especially when it’s not foreseeable?” </p>
<h2>Changing the laws</h2>
<p>In the James case, the 6-year-old who shot his classmate was never charged with a crime because most jurisdictions hold that children under the age of 7 are <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/9747/chapter/7">unable to formulate</a> criminal intent. </p>
<p>The same cannot be said for Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 years old at the time of the shootings. He was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/12/02/oxford-michigan-shooting-charges-ethan-crumbley-explained/8835757002/">charged with four counts</a> of first-degree murder, one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. </p>
<p>Many people on both sides of the gun safety debate <a href="https://quchronicle.com/75407/opinion/oxford-is-yet-another-example-why-parents-of-school-shooters-should-be-held-responsible/">have applauded McDonald’s efforts</a> to hold people responsible for allowing guns to fall into the hands of children. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/explainer-how-unusual-to-charge-parents-in-school-shooting">According to a 2019 assessment by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security</a>, 76% of the guns used in school shootings came from a parent or close relative, and approximately half the weapons were easily accessible. </p>
<p>Prosecuting the Crumbleys may reverse this trend, as may recently proposed state and federal legislation. </p>
<p>Two weeks after the Oxford shootings, for example, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, <a href="https://detroit.cbslocal.com/2021/12/15/michigan-rep-elissa-slotkin-introduces-legislation-requiring-safe-storage-of-firearms-in-wake-of-oxford-school-shooting/">proposed a new federal law</a> holding parents or other responsible adults liable for failing to secure their firearms. </p>
<p>That federal proposal became part of a state legislative package
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/a-look-at-gun-laws-set-to-take-effect-in-2024/">signed into law</a> April 13, 2023, by Michigan Gov. <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/04/13/whitmer-signs-commonsense-gun-violence-prevention-legislation-to-keep-michigan-communities-safe">Gretchen Whitmer</a>.</p>
<p>The new laws took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. They established universal background checks for all firearm purchases and <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/08/13/michigan-gun-laws-background-checks-storage-red-flags-changes/70432935007/">safe storage requirements</a> designed to keep guns out of the hands of children.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Some material used in this <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-parents-criminally-responsible-for-the-actions-of-their-child-in-the-oxford-shooting-case-prosecutors-say-yes-173881">story</a> was originally published on Dec. 20, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus Hoffmeister does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty for a school shooting committed by her son; the father faces trial next.Thaddeus Hoffmeister, Professor of Law, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157802023-11-08T13:36:27Z2023-11-08T13:36:27ZNew anti-violence PSA may hit home, but change depends on follow-up and other factors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557144/original/file-20231101-21-lji227.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=132%2C45%2C3598%2C2092&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"Goodbye" is the name of a new PSA that seeks to show the impact of gun violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://vimeo.com/862137854/928ba36c0e?share=copy">Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When Erek L. Barron, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/meet-us-attorney">U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland</a>, premiered a <a href="https://vimeo.com/862137854/928ba36c0e?share=copy">60-second video</a> that seeks to show how gun violence devastates families, he said his goal was to create an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/28/end-gun-violence-psa-erek-barron/">innovative public service announcement</a> that would help “turn around violent crime and improve safety in our neighborhoods.”</em></p>
<p><em>Titled “Goodbye,” the <a href="https://vimeo.com/862137854/928ba36c0e?share=cop">video PSA</a> starts with a high school girl, Tasha, getting a surprise visit from the ghost of her brother, “T,” who tells his sister that he won’t be home and that she is now in charge.</em></p>
<p><em>After T disappears, Tasha learns from law enforcement and Barron that her older brother has been shot and killed.</em> </p>
<p><em>While the PSA – released in September 2023 – is heartbreaking, a critical question remains: Will it work? To answer that question, The Conversation reached out to three communication scholars for their perspectives on the effectiveness of PSAs.</em> </p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Jessica Gall Myrick, professor of health communication</h2>
<p><strong>Penn State University</strong></p>
<p>While PSAs can prompt people to talk about a particular topic and keep it front of mind, using PSAs to persuade people to actually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60809-4">change behavior</a> is more difficult.</p>
<p>Some people simply <a href="https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38">are not ready to change</a>. They are at what researchers call the “precontemplative stage.” For such people, a PSA can be more persuasive if it just gets them to think about the topic. One strategy to achieve this end is to <a href="https://oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-324">appeal to people’s emotions</a>.</p>
<p>However, just provoking an emotional response will not necessarily lead to a change in behavior. If audiences are overwhelmed with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2017.1415767">fear</a> or anger, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218410">often reject the message</a> or discredit its source.</p>
<p>When encouraging audiences to emotionally invest in a topic, too much of any one negative emotion may backfire, while not enough will leave them uninterested, perhaps believing the topic is not very important.</p>
<p>Research suggests that many audiences often respond more favorably to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1422847">messages that offer some hope, at least by the end</a>. Hope is an important emotion because it can boost our confidence in our ability to handle the threat discussed in the PSA.</p>
<p>In the case of a PSA like “Goodbye,” the sadness or sympathy evoked by showing the grief of the little sister may not immediately change anyone’s policy position or attitude about guns. However, it is memorable – it has the potential to keep people thinking about the issue of gun violence.</p>
<p>“Goodbye” also makes the impact of gun violence more concrete – it feels less abstract than a news story filled with statistics about injuries or deaths. </p>
<p>When stories <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4824">evoke feelings of empathy and identification</a> with the people directly affected by a social issue, they can help audiences to start to think more, and more often, about the issue’s effects on both themselves and on society more broadly, even if they do not instantly change behavior. </p>
<h2>Holli H. Seitz, professor of communication</h2>
<p><strong>Mississippi State University</strong></p>
<p>When they work, media campaigns – which often include PSAs – can have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730490271548">small beneficial effects</a> on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2015.1095820">people’s behavior and knowledge</a>. However, sometimes PSAs have unintended effects or even harmful effects on behavior. In such cases, the effects are called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00344.x">boomerang effects</a>” because they go in an unexpected direction.</p>
<p>Case in point: From 1998 to 2004, Congress appropriated over <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-06-818">US$1.2 billion for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign</a>. However, an evaluation found that the media campaign <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.125849">failed to have favorable effects</a> and may have even <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-06-818">promoted the perception that drug use among others was normal</a>.</p>
<p>Even in cases where the message of a PSA is effective, there are other factors to consider. </p>
<p>For one, a lot of PSA research was conducted before the rise of social media. The changing media landscape may make it more difficult for PSAs to wrestle people’s attention away from whatever else they’re viewing.</p>
<p>Secondly, PSA creators don’t always do enough to ensure that their PSAs reach their intended audience. Getting a PSA into the media platforms that the target audience uses – and showing it frequently – is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15245000214135">key to see effects</a>. The limited effects of past programs, such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.85.2.183">Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15245000214135">may be attributable to a lack of sufficient exposure</a> to key messages. </p>
<p>To increase the effectiveness of PSAs, we can look to communication research for guidance. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730500461059">Communication scholar Seth Noar</a> says that campaigns are more likely to be effective when campaign creators conduct research with the intended audience to understand the behavior they hope to change and pretest messages for effectiveness. For example, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0430-5">campaign to encourage people in Victoria, Australia, to reserve ambulances for emergencies</a> used audience research to inform their campaign development. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0430-5">evaluation</a> of that campaign showed desirable effects on public attitudes toward the appropriate use of ambulances.</p>
<h2>Sara C. Doan, assistant professor of experience architecture</h2>
<p><strong>Michigan State University</strong></p>
<p>I argue that telling a relatable story makes people want to act. By avoiding the lectures, such as <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-just-say-no-doesnt-work/">Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No”</a> anti-drug campaign, and the ironic pictures and quotes from New York City’s <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-citys-new-teen-pregnancy-psas-use-crying-babies-to-send-message/">posters of crying babies to prevent teen pregnancy</a>, Maryland’s PSA invokes a real situation: how families of gun violence victims deal with losing a family member.</p>
<p>This story allows people to bring their own knowledge, experience and social connections to the <a href="https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/the-impact-of-gun-violence-on-children-and-adolescents/#:%7E:text=Gun%20violence%20may%20also%20lead,deaths%20among%20children%20and%20adolescents">problem of gun violence</a>, making people want to act. T tells his younger sister, “You’re in charge right now, Tasha… Just feed my birds for me, alright?” This dialogue feels genuine, without the cheesiness that made people <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.92.2.238">joke about previous anti-drug PSAs</a>.</p>
<p>People <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23448568/">respond better to real images and situations</a> in PSAs, especially when the topic is unpleasant. The “Goodbye” PSA shocked me but doesn’t rely on shock value.</p>
<p>I believe a call to action – whether by a local government, nongovernment organization, or a group of citizen activists – that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12310">shows how people’s actions will matter</a> would make the PSA’s message more powerful. </p>
<p>Actions also need to follow a PSA to change people’s behavior.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/click-it-or-ticket">National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s</a> campaign “Click It or Ticket” – <a href="https://ncvisionzero.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ciot-history.pdf">combined with traffic enforcement</a> begun in the 1990s and still ongoing – has helped raise rates of seat belt use by <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/click-it-or-ticket">8% between 2009 and 2022</a>. </p>
<p>The horrors of gun violence should not be made into a snappy slogan, which, thankfully, Maryland’s PSA avoids. I argue that giving people a concrete action to take – and <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-baltimore-national-intiative-to-reduce-gun-homicides-20230223-hc3fw56hcjfj3cnq6f62vajyd4-story.html">empowering communities to act</a> through funding and support for on-the-ground efforts – would make PSAs more effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holli H. Seitz receives funding from the Extension Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has previously received funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Seitz received her PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania where she worked with Dr. Robert Hornik whose research is cited in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Gall Myrick receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara C. Doan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US attorney for the District of Maryland recently released a PSA to help stem the tide of violence in the state. But will it work?Holli H. Seitz, Associate Professor of Communication, Mississippi State UniversityJessica Myrick, Professor of Media Studies, Penn StateSara C. Doan, Assistant Professor of Experience Architecture, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152202023-11-07T13:36:48Z2023-11-07T13:36:48ZYoung men in violent parts of Philadelphia, Chicago die from guns at a higher rate than US troops in the heat of battle<p>Mass shootings tend to dominate the debate over gun violence – but they accounted for <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10-expanded.html">just 3% of all firearm homicides</a> in the United States in 2021.</p>
<p>The vast majority of gun homicides are murders that happen in an extremely concentrated number of neighborhoods – places where the rate of gun deaths rivals war zones.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mR-1XBIAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of gun violence and victimization</a> in the United States, I study and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2023.102068">publish research</a> on the geographic and demographic concentration of shootings, and I’m always searching for new perspectives to help people understand this crisis. </p>
<h2>Concentrated disadvantage</h2>
<p>Shootings happen over and over in the same locations. About <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2023.102068">half take place</a> in just 1% to 5% of the land area in U.S. cities – in other words, in a tiny percentage of the nation’s homes, stores, parks and street corners.</p>
<p>These same neighborhoods tend to suffer from what criminologists call <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/sites/scholar.harvard.edu/files/sampson/files/2006_takingstock_efficacy.pdf">concentrated disadvantage</a> – an unsavory mix of high crime rates, illegal drug markets, poverty, limited educational and economic opportunities, and residential instability. Cumulatively, these factors decrease the residents’ <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5328.918">ability to maintain</a> public order and safety in the ways that safer neighborhoods do informally by confronting violent behavior or supervising teenagers.</p>
<p>Kids who grow up in these neighborhoods suffer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-092316">the long-lasting repercussions of exposure to violence</a>, such as high levels of stress and trauma that dampen educational attainment and result in decreased cognitive ability.</p>
<p>The demographics of these neighborhoods means that both victims and perpetrators of shootings are <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.44221">disproportionately young Black men</a>. Young Black men represented 93.9% of firearm-related homicide victims in Chicago and 79.3% of gun homicides in Philadelphia – where young Hispanic men make up another 12.9%. Homicides disproportionately affect the young largely because men ages 15 to 25 are more likely to engage in delinquent and criminal behavior, a phenomenon known as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.4.674">age-crime curve</a>. </p>
<p>How bad is it? For some young men, it can be safer to be in the U.S. military at war than living at home in the most violent neighborhoods of Philadelphia and Chicago.</p>
<h2>How we did this work</h2>
<p>This finding comes from a study my co-authors, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C7&q=Brandon+Del+Pozo&btnG=">Brandon Del Pozo</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wJJLcZoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Aaron Chalfin</a>, and I did to compare shooting rates in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles with casualty rates of U.S. military personnel during the recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. </p>
<p>Our paper is published in JAMA Network Open, an open-source medical journal, and is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.48132">freely available to read</a>.</p>
<p>We first collected all publicly available city-level data on shooting deaths, including the time, exact place and information about the victim. Our study focused on Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago because they were the largest American cities with public data available. However, <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders">gun homicides happen everywhere</a>, with notable rates of gun homicides in St. Louis, Missouri; Baltimore; New Orleans; Detroit and Cleveland.</p>
<h2>In military zones</h2>
<p>For the military casualties, we relied on the estimates from studies of the mortality of U.S. soldiers at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2015.1129816">war in Afghanistan</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00185.x">Iraq</a>. </p>
<p>The Afghan War was deadlier, with 395 deaths of U.S. combatants per 100,000 people per year, compared with 330 in Iraq. We used the higher rate from the Afghan War as our reference, setting its value as 1 and expressing the homicide rate in other places in relationship to this benchmark.</p>
<h2>How places compare</h2>
<p>The most violent ZIP code in Philadelphia is 19132 in North Philadelphia, which includes parts of Strawberry Mansion and the blocks further north and east. The violence of these city streets was captured by sociologist Elijah Anderson in his ethnographic study “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Code-of-the-Street/">Code of the Street</a>,” published in 2000.</p>
<p>A young man living in this ZIP code had 1.91 times more annual risk of getting killed with a firearm than a U.S. soldier deployed to Afghanistan for a comparable amount of time. </p>
<p>During 2020 and 2021, this ZIP code was home to about 2,500 young men. Thirty-seven were killed in gun homicides. </p>
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<p>A similar calculation for the most violent neighborhood of Chicago, an area around Garfield Park with the ZIP code 60624, yields statistics that are even grimmer. Young men living there were 3.23 times more likely to die from a bullet than U.S. service members deployed to Afghanistan. Sixty-six young men were shot dead during 2020 and 2021.</p>
<p>Moreover, survivors of this violence bear the burden of it for the whole time they live in these neighborhoods. In contrast, <a href="https://www.uso.org/stories/2871-how-long-is-a-military-deployment">the average deployment</a> is less than 12 months.</p>
<h2>Complicating the narrative</h2>
<p>Research papers like ours can raise many “yeah but” questions. Answering them can better help us understand the limitations of our study.</p>
<p>For example, many service members do not engage in active combat. This fact made our research team wonder if the inclusion of data from personnel in safer support roles was skewing our data, so we specifically looked at the casualties of one U.S. brigade combat team that was heavily engaged during the Iraq War. </p>
<p>The brigade had a casualty rate 1.71 times higher than our benchmark. That means that members of the brigade were still safer than male youth in the most violent area of Philadelphia (with a casualty rate of 1.91 times higher) and Chicago (3.23 times higher).</p>
<p>It is also worth noting that we studied two particularly violent years in U.S. cities. 2020 saw <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/10/27/what-we-know-about-the-increase-in-u-s-murders-in-2020/">a record increase in homicide rates</a>. That number stayed high in 2021, before <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/31062/us-homicide-rate/">decreasing slightly in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>Lastly, on a more positive note, gun mortality in New York and Los Angeles was significantly lower than in Philadelphia and Chicago, and much lower than the risks faced in war.</p>
<h2>Faster care could help</h2>
<p>Our research also showed that soldiers who are injured on the battlefield are less likely to die from their wounds than people shot in the American cities we studied.</p>
<p>Surviving a wound is more likely if medical help is immediate. This suggests two ideas to decrease shooting deaths: train more police officers to provide urgent basic <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220904048">medical treatment to the victims of gun violence</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767920916900">add capacity to trauma centers near violent neighborhoods</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215220/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Knorre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mass shootings account for only about 3% of gun homicides in the U.S.Alex Knorre, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2151332023-10-16T12:31:43Z2023-10-16T12:31:43ZGun deaths among children and teens have soared – but there are ways to reverse the trend<p>Firearm injuries are now <a href="https://doi.org//10.1056/NEJMc2201761">the leading cause of death</a> among U.S. children and teens following a huge decadelong rise.</p>
<p>Analyses published on Oct. 5, 2023, by a research team in Boston found an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-063411">87% increase in firearm-involved fatalities</a> among Americans under the age of 18 from 2011 to 2021.</p>
<p>Such an increase is obviously very concerning. But <a href="https://ssw.umich.edu/faculty/profiles/tenure-track/rlsokol">as scholars</a> <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/zimmerman-marc.html">of adolescent health</a> <a href="https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/emergency-medicine/patrick-carter-md">and firearm violence</a>, we know there are many evidence-based steps that elected officials, health care professionals, community leaders, school administrators and parents can implement to help reverse this trend.</p>
<h2>Trends in firearm deaths</h2>
<p>The latest study is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This data also provides information on whether firearm deaths were the result of homicide, suicide or unintentional shootings.</p>
<p>We have seen <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/06/gun-deaths-among-us-kids-rose-50-percent-in-two-years/">increases over time</a> in all three areas. The steepest increase has been in the rate of firearm homicides, which <a href="https://wisqars.cdc.gov/reports/">doubled over the decade</a> to 2021, reaching 2.1 deaths per 100,000 children and teens, or about 1,500 fatalities annually. Firearm-involved suicides have also increased steadily to 1.1 deaths per 100,000 children and teens in 2021.</p>
<p>Whereas the proportion of youth firearm-involved deaths due to unintentional shootings is typically highest during childhood, the <a href="https://wisqars.cdc.gov/reports/">share of gun deaths</a> due to suicide peaks in adolescence.</p>
<p>In 2021, homicide was the most common form of firearm-involved deaths in almost every age group under the age of 18, with an exception of 12- and 13-year-olds, in which suicide was the leading cause of firearm fatalities.</p>
<p>Racial disparities in firearm deaths, which have been present for multiple generations, are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/firearm-deaths/index.html">also expanding</a>, research shows.</p>
<p>Black children and teens are now dying from firearms at around <a href="https://wisqars.cdc.gov/reports/">4.5 times the rate</a> of their white peers. </p>
<p>This disparity is the consequence of structural factors, including the effects of systemic racism and economic disinvestment within many communities. Addressing racial disparities in firearm-involved deaths will require supporting communities and <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.12425">disrupting inequity by</a> addressing long-term underfunding in Black communities and punitive policymaking.</p>
<p>More research is needed to fully understand why firearm-involved deaths are universally increasing across homicide, suicide and unintentional deaths. The COVID-19 pandemic and its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.08.026">exacerbation of social inequities and vulnerabilities</a> likely explain some of these increases. </p>
<h2>How to reduce gun fatalities</h2>
<p>Reducing young people’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-easy-access-to-guns-at-home-contributes-to-americas-youth-suicide-problem-187744">access to unsecured and loaded firearms</a> can prevent firearm-involved deaths across all intents — including suicide, homicide and unintentional shootings.</p>
<p>Gun-owning parents <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.1078">can help</a> by storing all firearms in a secure manner – such as in a locked gun safe or with a trigger or cable lock – and unloaded so they are not accessible to children or teens within the household.</p>
<p>Data shows that only one-third of firearm-owning households with teens in the U.S. currently <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10865-021-00242-w">store all their firearms unloaded and locked</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to locking household firearms, parents should consider storing a firearm away from the home, such as in a gun shop or shooting range, or temporarily transferring ownership to a family member if they have a teen experiencing a mental health crisis.</p>
<p>Families, including those that don’t own firearms, should also consider how firearms are stored in homes where their children or teens may spend time, such as a grandparent’s or neighbor’s house.</p>
<p>Community-based and clinical programs that provide counseling on the importance of locked storage and provide free devices are effective in improving the ways people store their firearms. In addition, researchers have found that states with <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/secure-storage-or-child-access-prevention-required/">child access prevention laws</a>, which impose criminal liability on adults for negligently stored firearms, are associated with <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.6227">lower rates of child and teen firearm deaths</a>.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of young people who carry and use firearms in risky ways is another key step to prevent firearm deaths among children and teens. Existing hospital- and community-based prevention services support this work by identifying and enrolling youth at risk in programs that reduce violence involvement, the carrying of firearms and risky firearm behaviors. </p>
<p>While researchers are currently testing such programs to understand how well they work, early findings suggest that the most promising programs include a combination of reducing risky behaviors – through, for example, nonviolent conflict resolution; enhancing youth engagement in pro-social activities and with positive mentors; and supporting youth mental health.</p>
<h2>Support structures</h2>
<p>In addition to ongoing focused prevention efforts, hospital-, school- and community-based interventions that support youth in advancing social, emotional, mental, physical and financial health can reduce the risk of firearm deaths. Such measures include both <a href="http://doi.org//10.2105/AJPH.2021.306311">creating opportunities for children and teens</a> – building playgrounds, establishing youth programs and providing access to the arts and green spaces – and <a href="https://doi.org//10.2105/AJPH.2016.303434">community-level improvements</a>, such as improved public transportation, economic opportunities, environmental safety conditions and affordable and quality housing. Allocating resources toward these initiatives is an investment in every community member’s safety.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, we have seen an 87% increase in firearm-involved fatalities among children and teens in the United States. But we also have the strategies and tools to stop and reverse this troubling trend.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebeccah Sokol receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct research to prevent violence.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc A. Zimmerman receives funding from NIH, CDC, BJA, & foundations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Carter receives funding from NIH and CDC for conducting firearm-related prevention research. </span></em></p>Fatalities from gun homicides, suicides and accidents are all up for Americans ages 18 and under.Rebeccah Sokol, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of MichiganMarc A. Zimmerman, Professor of Public Health, University of MichiganPatrick Carter, Co-Director, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention; Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074042023-07-17T15:04:00Z2023-07-17T15:04:00ZA 1-minute gun safety video helped preteen children be more careful around real guns – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537385/original/file-20230713-29-yv0v92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=133%2C0%2C3420%2C2423&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A little training helped kids make safer choices when they stumbled across a gun.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/child-found-pistol-in-drawer-at-home-royalty-free-image/940915496">M-Production/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Children who watched a 1-minute-long gun safety video were more cautious when they found a real handgun hidden in a drawer in our lab compared to children who watched a car safety video, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.2397">according to our randomized clinical trial</a> published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LUrHrxcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We</a> <a href="https://sophiekja.com">observed</a> this difference even though children saw the gun safety video a week earlier at home and even after they had watched scenes from a violent movie in our lab.</p>
<p>We tested 226 children ages 8 to 12. By the flip of a coin, children watched either a gun safety video or car safety video alone at home. Both safety videos featured The Ohio State University Chief of Police in full uniform. Younger children tend to respect authority figures, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/135532500167967">especially those in uniform</a>.</p>
<p>Then a week later, pairs of kids – who were friends or siblings, for example – came to our lab at Ohio State to participate in what we told them was a study about what children do for entertainment.</p>
<p>First, the child volunteers watched scenes from a PG-rated violent movie. After 20 minutes, they went to a playroom furnished with toys and games like Lego and checkers. The room also contained a file cabinet with two disabled 9 mm handguns hidden in the bottom drawer. We told the kids they could play with any of the toys and games in the room and then left them alone. A hidden camera videotaped the children’s behavior.</p>
<p>By the end of 20 minutes, 96% of the children had found the guns. Children are naturally curious, and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/09/health/gun-safety-tips-for-home-parents-children-wellness/index.html">adults often underestimate their ability</a> to find guns hidden in the home.</p>
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<p>Kids who saw the gun safety video (compared to the car safety video) were more likely to tell an adult (33.9% of kids vs. 10.6% of kids), less likely to touch a gun (39.3% vs. 67.3%) and held it for less time if they did touch it (42.0 seconds vs. 99.9 seconds). They were also less likely to pull the trigger (8.9% vs. 29.8%), and pulled the trigger fewer times if they did pull it (4.2 vs. 7.2). </p>
<p>Risk factors that raised the likelihood of engaging in unsafe behavior around the guns included being male, watching age-inappropriate PG-13 and R-rated movies, and interest in guns, as reported by parents.</p>
<p>We also identified several protective factors that made children less likely to engage in unsafe behavior around the guns. One was previous exposure to gun safety material in a course or video. Another was having guns in the home, which makes sense because surveys find that parents with guns are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/06/26/among-u-s-gun-owners-parents-more-likely-than-non-parents-to-keep-their-guns-locked-and-unloaded/">more likely to talk to their children about gun safety</a> than parents without guns. Finally, having negative attitudes about guns, like believing they’re not cool or fun, made kids less likely to engage in unsafe behavior in our study.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>In 2020 in the U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2201761">guns killed more people ages 1 through 19</a> than any other cause, including motor vehicle crashes, drug overdoses and poisoning. And the rate of gun-related deaths among U.S. children has been increasing for about a decade. Gun deaths among U.S. children under 18 <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/06/gun-deaths-among-us-kids-rose-50-percent-in-two-years/">increased from 1,732 in 2019</a> to 2,590 in 2021.</p>
<p>Gun safety videos might be a relatively simple but effective option to help decrease these gun-related deaths and injuries.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Participants in this study watched the safety video about a week before they came to our lab. Future longitudinal research is needed to establish how long the protective effects of firearm safety videos might last.</p>
<p>To see if our results apply in other situations, future research should also be conducted in a more naturalistic setting – like the home – and with children of a variety of ages and from geographical locations beyond Ohio.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Other research on children and gun safety primarily focuses on access to guns and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.1494">responsible, safe</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.6.707">and secure gun storage</a>. The <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/state-advocacy/safe-storage-of-firearms/">American Academy of Pediatrics recommends</a> that gun owners store their firearms unloaded, locked up and separate from ammunition.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify the ages of those included in the statistics about gun-related deaths.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kids were more likely to tell an adult and less likely to touch or hold a handgun that they discovered if they’d recently watched a short video about gun safety.Brad Bushman, Professor of Communication, The Ohio State UniversitySophie L. Kjaervik, Ph.D. Candidate in Communication, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2055532023-06-26T12:21:26Z2023-06-26T12:21:26ZTaking students to the range to learn about gun culture firsthand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530147/original/file-20230605-22195-gqn7mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3404%2C1798&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Sociology of Guns' students during a gun range field trip.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sandra Stroud Yamane</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Sociology of Guns”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>I grew up in the liberal culture of the San Francisco Bay Area and never touched a firearm until I was 42 years old, living in North Carolina and <a href="https://sociology.wfu.edu/people/faculty/david-yamane">teaching sociology at Wake Forest University</a>.</p>
<p>For the past 10-plus years I have been deeply immersed in American gun culture both professionally and personally. I have both studied and am a member of the Liberal Gun Club, National Rifle Association and other gun-related groups.</p>
<p>Having one foot outside and one foot inside gun culture allows me to see the social life of guns from different perspectives. Wanting to convey this diversity to others prompted me to construct and teach this course for the first time in 2015. This fall, I will teach the course for the ninth consecutive academic year.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>Rather than focusing exclusively on gun violence and politics, my course looks more broadly at guns in society.</p>
<p>The class begins by literally putting firearms in students’ hands.</p>
<p>The first class meeting is at a gun range, where students have the opportunity – but are not required – to shoot three semi-automatic firearms: a .22 pistol, a Glock 17 9 mm pistol and an AR-15 style .223 caliber rifle. The field trip is a source of insight that carries through the entire semester.</p>
<p>Substantively, the course builds on the students’ firsthand experience of guns by exploring the multifaceted role they play in society. It puts guns in historical, legal and global contexts. The intention is to provide students with a greater understanding of the lawful possession and use of guns, gun crime and injuries, and the future of gun politics.</p>
<p>Guest speakers vary from semester to semester but include leaders of various gun owner groups, professional gun educators and trainers, and representatives of gun violence prevention organizations.</p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>It often feels as though the United States is being torn apart by cultural and political divisions over guns. As Mark Joslyn argues in “<a href="https://www.choice360.org/choice-pick/the-gun-gap-rotw-4-5-21/">The Gun Gap</a>,” the different social worlds inhabited by gun owners and non-owners shape not just their fundamental orientations to guns, risk and policy, but their very understanding of what constitutes a good society.</p>
<p>I believe that we as a society cannot repair this divide until people begin to talk to each other about their differences with the goal of mutual understanding. These conversations should be built on a solid foundation of empirical knowledge about the role guns actually play in society - both positive and negative.</p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>The trip to the gun range stands out because it offers direct exposure to gunfire. As expected, <a href="https://guncurious.wordpress.com/2023/06/23/collected-posts-on-sociology-of-guns-seminar/">student responses vary</a>. Most enjoy it. Some dislike it. No one is indifferent. All are better able to relate to the course material because of it.</p>
<p>In particular, those who were personally repulsed by guns prior to the field trip often come to see why guns can be attractive to others. Those who had lacked exposure often become gun curious. And the few gun enthusiasts I get in my course do not just have their enthusiasm reinforced; they also understand why others see guns differently. </p>
<p>Reflecting on the field trip experience over the course of the semester through the lens of scholarship on guns turns the heat of gunfire on the range into the light of comprehension in the classroom.</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://lgolens.com/anthropillar/">The Liberal Gun Owners Lens, Pillar 1: The Human-Weapon Relationship</a>” – which explains the deep anthropological connection between <em>Homo sapiens</em> and projectile weaponry. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393345834">Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America_</a>,” – Adam Winkler’s magnificent book on the historical and legal context of guns.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231156292">Gun Culture 2.0: The Evolution and Contours of Defensive Gun Ownership in America</a>” – my comprehensive summary of the history and development of gun culture in the United States.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa1916744">Handgun Ownership and Suicide in California</a>” and “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115617227">Race and Mass Murder in the United States</a>” – articles that address negative outcomes with guns in society.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>“Sociology of Guns” teaches students to approach this fraught topic in a more objective and nuanced manner encompassing both the everyday uses and abuses of firearms. This knowledge then helps students better understand their own personal beliefs about and relationship to guns. </p>
<p>Taken together, these lessons prepare students to make informed choices for the rest of their lives about being involved with guns – or not – as well as the place of guns in the communities in which they will live.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Yamane has received funding from The Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion to study church security. He is a member of the Liberal Gun Club, National African American Gun Association, and National Rifle Association and financially supports the Liberal Gun Owners 501c4 and Walk the Walk America 501c3 organizations.</span></em></p>In this course, a gun range becomes a classroom for students to explore their previously held beliefs about firearms.David Yamane, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077912023-06-22T22:14:58Z2023-06-22T22:14:58ZPreventing and addressing violence in schools: 4 priorities as educators plan for next year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533292/original/file-20230621-27-llwb2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C266%2C7396%2C4025&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontario must prioritize funding for accessing essential social services to address the root causes of students' behavioural issues. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Farewell to another school year. In Ontario, after a return to full activities with academics, clubs and teams after pandemic shutdowns, it seems that schools were constantly in the news for negative reasons. </p>
<p>The public heard about a <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/york-catholic-district-board-students-deserve-to-be-safe-after-alleged-violence-erupts-at-lgbtq2s-walkout-1.6440138">lack of support for LGBTQ2S+ identities</a>, <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/teacher-argues-school-board-violated-her-freedom-of-speech-when-her-presentation-on-library-books-was-cut-off-1.6428140">chaotic and divisive school trustee meetings</a> and a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-ontario-teachers-violence-schools/">rise in violence</a> in schools.</p>
<p>A major contributing factor to this rise in violence in schools is <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2023/04/20/there-will-be-an-impact-ford-government-shortchanging-school-boards-unions-say.html">the chronic underfunding of public education and the social service sector</a>. We need more infrastructure in communities that are economically neglected, often racialized communities. </p>
<p>In this challenging context, schools need to think hard about how they allocate resources and staff equitably, particularly now, at a time when they are approving their budgets for September. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen lining up outside an apartment building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532960/original/file-20230620-8426-rsjkhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Schools have faced challenges as students returned to full activities following pandemic shutdowns. Here, residents of Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood line up at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic in April 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston</span></span>
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<h2>Violence in schools</h2>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9705668/tdsb-students-involved-violence-2022-2023/">323 students were involved in violence between September 2022 and April 2023, meaning the year has been on pace to set a new record by the end of the school year</a>. </p>
<p>An alarming three-quarters (77 per cent) of members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/media-releases/etfo-member-survey-shows-violence-pervasive-in-schools">said they have “personally experienced violence or witnessed violence against another staff member</a>” in a recent survey conducted by Strategic Communications. Survey results are based on a weighted sample of 24,872 ETFO members’ responses. </p>
<p>Black and other minoritized youth and educators <a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/systemic-violence-institutional-apathy-and-the-death-of-222-school-aged-students/">are becoming collateral damage by being pushed out of schools due to wilful neglect of institutions in not supporting their needs</a>. For students, the effects can be deadly: there have been 222 homicides of school-aged children (students up to age 21 years old) since 2007 in Toronto, with the victims and perpetrators predominantly Black. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s3mD7Dyf6bY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘The School to Prison Pipeline in Ontario’ video from Black Legal Action Centre.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The school-to-prison pipeline</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline continues to cast a dark shadow over the education system in Ontario. This “pipeline” refers to the systematic processes that push students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, <a href="https://www.kroegerpolicyreview.com/post/the-school-to-prison-pipeline-an-analysis-on-systemic-racism-with-ontario-school-boards">out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system</a>.</p>
<p>This trend disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly Black and Indigenous students, <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/covid-19/impact-covid-19-in-racialized-communities/racial-inequity-covid-19-and-education-black-and">perpetuating a cycle of poverty, systemic discrimination and mass incarceration</a>.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-podcast-194145">Jordan Manners died 16 years ago, it was the first time a high school student had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532780/original/file-20230619-1844-wgz3k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jordan Manners’s mother, Lorraine Small, is comforted by her sister as she speaks at a news conference in Toronto in January 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
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<p>Since that time, despite numerous reports commissioned and recommendations made by various stakeholders, <a href="https://www.falconerschoolsafetyreport.com/finalReport.html">little has been done to address the root causes of violence in schools and racialized communities</a>. There is no national strategy to prevent violence and homicide largely impacting Black and racialized communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Manitoba%20Office/2015/09/Tough%20on%20Crime%20WEB.pdf">More policing and the tough-on-crime rhetoric is not the solution</a>, particularly with a mayoral election happening soon in the City of Toronto. </p>
<h2>Tragic impact on marginalized communities</h2>
<p>The school-to-prison pipeline encompasses various interconnected factors including <a href="https://colourofpovertyca.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/cop-coc-fact-sheet-3-racialized-poverty-in-education-learning-3.pdf">zero-tolerance punitive disciplinary practices in schools, over-policing of racialized communities, inadequate resources for students’ social and emotional well-being</a> and a lack of alternative support systems. </p>
<p>This is a result of many institutions and leaders at all three levels of government collectively failing to support the needs of racialized communities. </p>
<p>Suspensions and expulsions <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardroom/Agenda-Minutes/Type/A?Folder=Agenda/20210623&Filename=CaringandSafeSchoolsAnnualReport201920204134.pdf">disproportionately affect marginalized students</a>. This is why as of 2020, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/students">Ontario’s Ministry of Education mandated no more suspensions for children from junior kindergarten to Grade 3</a>.</p>
<p>Indigenous and Black people are <a href="http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">disproportionately overrepresented in the criminal justice system</a>. This disparity is rooted in systemic racism and a culture of institutional apathy which together perpetuates cycles of inequality, poverty and intergenerational trauma. </p>
<h2>Calls to action</h2>
<p>There needs to be long-term funding by all institutions to create infrastructure and access to timely and reflective social services for minoritized communities to mitigate and dismantle <a href="https://springmag.ca/rising-food-insecurity-and-the-cost-of-living-crisis">systemic inequities, such as the housing crisis and food insecurity</a>, contributing to the rise in violence in schools. A comprehensive approach is necessary. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, schools and school boards need to plan for the future. Important considerations include: </p>
<p>1) <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-restorative-practices-benefit-all-students-maurice-elias">Implement restorative justice practices within all institutions</a>: Move away from punitive disciplinary measures and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKa7C-wxZk">embrace restorative justice models that focus on repairing harm through trauma-informed and healing approaches</a>. </p>
<p>2) Allocate staff and resources equitably: <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/2022-annual-report-on-schools-a-perfect-storm-of-stress/">Ontario must prioritize funding for essential social services to address the root causes of students’ behavioural issues</a>, ultimately preventing students being pushed into the criminal justice system. Redirect funds towards mental health services, counsellors, social workers and community programs that prioritize <a href="https://yaaace.com/initiatives">prevention and timely intervention</a>. </p>
<p>3) Develop culturally responsive programs and services: <a href="https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-education/assets/resources/edi-resources-for-educators.html">Inclusive curricula</a> and <a href="https://yaaace.com/social-inclusion-strategy">programs and services</a> that reflect the histories, cultures and contributions of diverse communities matter. </p>
<p>This helps foster a sense of belonging and connection and reduces the likelihood of student and staff disengagement. There needs to be a more urgent implementation of <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action</a>. </p>
<p>4) Establish community partnerships to mitigate risk factors during evenings and weekends: Forge collaborations between schools, community organizations and families to provide holistic supports <a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">and resources that address local community needs, particularly on evenings and weekends</a>. Such community partnerships create continuity of care for children and youth.</p>
<p>At the end of April, Ontario’s Ministry of Education <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002960/ontario-combating-violence-and-improving-safety-in-schools">announced funding to combat violence and improving safety in schools through community partnerships</a>. Such investments are critical.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">Ontario can close students’ access and opportunity gaps with community-led projects</a>
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<p>Yet, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the provincial government has <a href="https://cupe.ca/fords-budget-risks-cutting-7000-education-workers-across-ontario#">used accounting tricks to disguise what amounts to a cut in public school funding for 2023-24</a>. Trustees with the Halton District School Board
say there is a $20-million funding shortfall, and <a href="https://www.insauga.com/school-classroom-cuts-predicted-as-20-million-shortfall-hits-burlington-oakville-and-milton/">funds for 2023-24 won’t support important classroom programs</a>. </p>
<p>If we do not systemically change our approach in how we support marginalized schools, students, parents and teachers, why are we surprised that the system keeps failing them? The effect of such failure is often the tragic outcome of death, being pushed out of schools or receiving a prison sentence. </p>
<p>We all have to do our part to hold institutions accountable, including for failures and neglect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community. </span></em></p>A contributing factor to a rise in violence in Ontario schools is underfunding of education and the social service sector. Using trauma-informed responses is part of the solution.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069602023-06-19T22:19:49Z2023-06-19T22:19:49ZCanada’s inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence promotes prevention and healing<p>This month, the Canadian federal government publicly announced the first <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-national-day-against-gun-violence-1.6861618">National Day Against Gun Violence</a>, to be held annually on the first Friday of June. Simultaneously, Ontario was also the first province to take action moving towards recognition of a gun violence awareness day. These declarations represent a significant step to mitigate the growing risk of gun violence.</p>
<p>While gun violence problems in Canada are not as acute as those in the United States, <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier">Canada ranks as third among high-income countries for rates of firearm homicides</a>. To reduce gun violence risks, the inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2023/06/statement-on-national-day-against-gun-violence.html">promotes prevention, intervention and healing</a>.</p>
<p>Writing as a mass shooting survivor from a 2022 incident in Vaughan, Ont., I have experienced situations where <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vaughan-condo-shooting-resident-support-1.6819413">communities are unequipped to provide for the necessary trauma support</a>. The impacts of gun violence are not only in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but remain long after.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-research-mass-shootings-but-i-never-believed-one-would-happen-in-my-own-condo-in-vaughan-ont-196863">I research mass shootings, but I never believed one would happen in my own condo in Vaughan, Ont.</a>
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<p>Gun violence survivors learn to accommodate memories of the violence in their lives. But that comes <a href="https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/JF20p10.shtml">at the cost of the survivor’s psycho-social, medical and mental health</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Trudeau announces the inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Chicago origins</h2>
<p>The origins of the first Friday in June as U.S. Gun Violence Awareness Day are related to a specific shooting in Chicago. Fifteen-year-old <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/hadiya-pendleton-shooting-chicago-gun-violence-kenwood/12749117/">Hadiya Pendleton</a> was shot and killed at <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/harsh-park-pendleton-murder/">Harsh Park</a> in the city’s South Side, on Jan. 29, 2013. She was one of at least <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/12/31/258413771/despite-the-headlines-chicagos-crime-rate-fell-in-2013">412 gun violence deaths in Chicago that year</a>. </p>
<p>Pendleton’s death gained <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/obama-center-honors-hadiya-pendleton-chicago-girl-shot-82518056">symbolic national attention</a>, as she had recently performed as a majorette in Barack Obama’s second inauguration celebration in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>Given that this shooting occurred less than one mile from Obama’s Chicago home, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/02/10/171609578/first-lady-among-mourners-at-funeral-for-slain-chicago-teen">the presidential family took a special interest in this tragedy</a>. </p>
<p>That attention from the highest levels of government, along with grassroots anti-gun actions in Chicago neighbourhoods, resulted in a <a href="https://wearorange.org/">social movement to recognize the toll of gun violence</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a group of people holding papers with a young girl's face printed on them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532771/original/file-20230619-25476-oh4l8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protesters hold up copied photos of Hadiya Pendleton at the scene where she was killed during an anti-gun violence march and rally Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)</span></span>
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<h2>Canadian impact</h2>
<p>The National Day Against Gun Violence in Canada did not derive from a particular shooting incident. Rather, it grew out of the recognition that <a href="https://time.com/6258603/canada-gun-violence-rise-us/">too many Canadians are being impacted by gun violence</a>, and is related to a combination of factors. </p>
<p>Long-standing concerns of community-based organizations and citizens catalyzed action. Organizations ranging from the <a href="https://www.danforthfamilies.com/post/statement-from-danforth-families-for-safe-communitiesthe-first-national-day-against-gun-violence-in">Danforth Families for Safe Communities</a> to the <a href="http://zerogunviolence-movement.com/">Zero Gun Violence Movement</a> support this nascent social movement. </p>
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<p>Another contributing factor was the support from the Toronto Raptors. Professional sports franchises have often acted as community leaders to support communities in crisis. As a part of their community engagement portfolio, <a href="https://www.nba.com/raptors/news/raptors-start-petition-to-observe-national-gun-violence-awareness-day-in-canada">the Raptors’ organization has been working towards having a nonpolitical day of awareness for gun violence since 2022</a>.</p>
<p>Media coverage of the inaugural day reflected the reality that any discussion regarding the role of guns in Canadian society is a political lightning rod. Reports on the first National Day Against Gun Violence also mentioned the unconnected issue of <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/trudeau-government-proclaims-annual-day-against-gun-violence">Conservative Party opposition to recent gun legislation promoted by the Liberal Party</a>.</p>
<h2>Formal recognition</h2>
<p>On June 1, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeG0T1apeBo">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Raptors’ practice facility to announce Canada’s first National Day Against Gun Violence</a>. His announcement was backstopped by a <a href="https://www.canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2023/2023-05-24/html/si-tr16-eng.html">formal Federal Government Proclamation</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, Ontario was the first province to take concurrent action with a formal Day Against Gun Violence. The day before, <a href="https://www.chrisglovermpp.ca/">MPP Chris Glover</a> made a public announcement on the steps of the Ontario legislature, accompanied by a coalition of community members concerned with and impacted by gun violence. </p>
<p>Similarly, the symbolic announcement was backstopped by <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-119">Ontario Bill 119</a>, a private members bill in its first reading.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people surround a podium" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532289/original/file-20230615-21-l2j8qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto community members who were impacted by gun violence introduce the first Provincial Day Against Gun Violence in Ontario at Queen’s Park on June 2, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(J. Rozdilsky)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disaster mitigation</h2>
<p>Living with persistent gun violence results in community-level stress and trauma. The increasing number of Canadians who are being directly and indirectly impacted by gun violence is a <a href="https://globalresilience.northeastern.edu/disaster-unfolding-in-slow-motion-drastic-effect-of-gun-violence-on-resilience/">disaster unfolding in slow motion</a>.</p>
<p>The inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence in Canada can be considered as a form of disaster mitigation. In general, <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/dsstr-prvntn-mtgtn/bt-dsstr-mtgtn-en.aspx">disaster mitigation</a> includes a wide variety of measures taken before a disastrous event occurs. In this case, mitigation will not eliminate gun violence, but it can act to reduce it, prevent it from occurring, or help in better preparing for its aftermath. </p>
<p>In the coming years, Canada’s National Day Against Gun Violence will evolve and take on its own meanings. It has the potential to reduce risks associated with gun violence.</p>
<p>It remains as an open question as to how Canadians will treat this new day of awareness. Will it become a day of remembrance for gun violence victims? Or will it be a day where the growing contingent of gun violence survivors makes a call to action for safer communities? </p>
<p>Or will it just be another opportunity for political posturing by those who are either for or against Canada’s gun legislation?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack L. Rozdilsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada’s first National Day Against Gun Violence paves the way forward to help mitigate gun violence and promote healing for survivors.Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059802023-05-25T12:27:37Z2023-05-25T12:27:37ZAmericans are increasingly moving to red, Republican-leaning states – where life is cheaper, but people also die younger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527818/original/file-20230523-15-2671gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While blue, Democratic states are becoming bluer, red, Republican-leaning states are becoming more conservative. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1332599651/photo/divided-american-flag-in-window.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=YofHukGaSoRcgrB59fBzp47y8zYm91SW5xEaVntqcc4=">Matt Champlin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States is an <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/winter-2021/america-is-exceptional-in-its-political-divide">increasingly polarized country</a> when it comes to politics – but one thing that almost all people want is to live a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/25/longevity-centenarians-healthy-living/">long, healthy life</a>.</p>
<p>More and more Americans are moving from <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/states-where-americans-are-moving-florida-texas-north-carolina-south-carolina/">Democratic-leaning blue states to Republican-voting red ones</a>, and one of the effects of this change is that they are relocating to places with lower life expectancy. </p>
<p>Idaho, Montana and Florida, <a href="https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/red-and-blue-states/">all red states</a>, had the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/04/07/population-change-pandemic">greatest population growth</a> among U.S. states between 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, New York and Illinois, both blue states, and Louisiana, a red state, suffered the biggest population losses. California, another blue state, has experienced significant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/03/us/california-population-decline.html">recent population loss</a> as well.</p>
<p>One key reason for this migration is the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/californias-population-dropped-by-500000-in-two-years-as-exodus-continues/">high cost of living</a> in places like New York and California, compared with the lower cost of living in red states such as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/moving-services/cheapest-states-to-live-in/">Georgia or Indiana</a>. </p>
<p>I am a scholar who <a href="https://writing.ucsb.edu/people/robert-samuels">studies the intersection</a> between politics, media and psychology. I think it is important to note that another trend, though, is that people are largely migrating to places with <a href="https://www.prb.org/resources/liberal-u-s-state-policies-linked-to-longer-lives/">lower life expectancies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view shows suburban houses, all similar with dark roofs and white exteriors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527820/original/file-20230523-23-1oyxlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of a new housing development in Houston, Texas, which has experienced significant population growth in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/534814446/photo/usa-texas-suburban-housing-developement.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=-4LxrUj_mSjHO3p701SusJwwVyDMVRHBlcGYTrx8A7o=">Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding demographics</h2>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/life_expectancy/life_expectancy.htm">large difference in expected life spans</a> for people living in certain states, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.</p>
<p>For instance, people born in New York and California – two of the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/richest-states-in-usa">richest states</a> in the country, which largely vote Democratic – have a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/life_expectancy/life_expectancy.htm">life expectancy</a> of 77.7 and 79 years, respectively. But people in Mississippi and Louisiana – two of the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/poorest-states">poorest states</a>, which tend to vote Republican – live, on average, until they are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/life_expectancy/life_expectancy.htm">71.9 and 73.1 years old</a>.</p>
<p>People who live in Republican-leaning states tend to have <a href="https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/">less money</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-in-republican-counties-have-higher-death-rates-than-those-in-democratic-counties/">worse health conditions</a>, higher rates of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/04/28/red-states-have-higher-gun-death-rates-than-blue-states-heres-why/?sh=739569121f81">gun-related deaths</a> and <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/least-educated-states">lower levels of education</a> than people living in Democratic states.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/acs-5-year-estimates.html">On average, people in red states have higher rates of poverty</a> than residents of blue states.</p>
<p>Poverty is an indicator for life expectancies in the U.S. – the poorer someone is, the more likely to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7792745/">die younger</a>. </p>
<p>But there are likely other issues at play in people in red states’ having lower life spans.</p>
<h2>Health differences</h2>
<p>Research in 2020 showed that Americans in blue states tend to live longer than people in red states, <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/08/04/2072712/0/en/Researchers-say-where-you-live-could-add-years-to-your-life.html">primarily because of state policies</a> on everything from seat belt laws to abortion laws. That research also identified health policies as a major factor. </p>
<p>People in blue states also tend to have <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">higher rates of health insurance</a> than people in red states. </p>
<p>Moreover, when looking at the rates of people who are diagnosed with <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cancer-rates-by-state">cancer in each state</a>, it is clear that people in red states are generally less healthy than people in blue ones. Red-state residents are also more likely to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/national_maps/hd_all.htm#:%7E:text=Heart%20Disease%20Death%20Rates%2C%20Total%20Population%20Ages%2035%2B&text=The%20map%20shows%20that%20concentrations,%2C%20Kentucky%2C%20Tennessee%20and%20Guam.">die from heart disease</a> than people in blue states.</p>
<p>But health rates vary greatly across racial and ethnic groups. Black and Hispanic people are far more likely than white and Asian people in the U.S. to not have access to <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/report/key-data-on-health-and-health-care-by-race-and-ethnicity">quality affordable health care</a>, regardless of their state of residence.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html">Black people remain more likely</a> than white people to have high blood pressure and to die from heart disease, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/maternal-mortality/index.html">among other health conditions</a>.</p>
<h2>Lower education levels</h2>
<p>Another key factor in this life span trend is that people in red states have <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/educational-attainment-by-state">lower levels of education</a> than people in blue states.</p>
<p>This matters, since some recent research has shown that education levels are the best <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2020/02/20/want-live-longer-stay-school-study-suggests#:%7E:text=Each%20educational%20step%20obtained%20led,are%20powerful%2C%22%20Roy%20said">predictor of a person’s life span</a> for a variety of complex, interconnected reasons, including an increased likelihood that receiving a higher education will <a href="http://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-019-0055-0">lead to a boost in income</a>. </p>
<p>Experts also often consider race and ethnicity another <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/what-is-driving-widening-racial-disparities-in-life-expectancy/:%7E:text=As%20of%202021,%20provisional%20data,Asian%20people%20at%2083.5%20years.">major factor</a>, in part because of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/unequal-opportunity-race-and-education/">structural inequalities</a> facing people of color that may place access to quality affordable education out of reach, for example. </p>
<p>Lack of education may be the most direct reason for <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Educating-Inequality-Beyond-the-Political-Myths-of-Higher-Education-and/Samuels/p/book/9781138084988">lower incomes and shorter lives</a> – but it is not clear if attaining a higher level of education makes people wealthier, or if people who are born into wealth receive more and better education.</p>
<h2>Are people moving to die young?</h2>
<p>There are other reasons that factor into the complex question of life expectancy, and discrepancies in longevity across states.</p>
<p>One reason identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, is that there are more gun deaths – <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/issue-brief/do-states-with-easier-access-to-guns-have-more-suicide-deaths-by-firearm/">by homicide and suicide</a> – in red states <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm">than blue states</a>.</p>
<p>People are moving to different states in the U.S. for a variety of reasons – including, in some cases, political ideologies. While blue ZIP codes have been found to be getting bluer, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/18/1081295373/the-big-sort-americans-move-to-areas-political-alignment">red ones are becoming</a> even more red.</p>
<p>But it is important to keep in mind that data on life spans and health are simply averages, and so there can be a high variation within particular locations.</p>
<p>There are people in red and blue states who defy these statistics – many people living long lives in poor red states, and people dying younger in rich blue ones.</p>
<p>Still, the overall trends are clear. People living in blue states – by and large – tend to live longer, healthier and wealthier lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Samuels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Idaho, Montana and Florida had the highest population growth among US states between 2020 and 2022.Robert Samuels, Continuing Lecturer in Writing, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030852023-05-11T14:27:39Z2023-05-11T14:27:39ZWest Africa has a small weapons crisis – why some countries are better at dealing with it than others<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525193/original/file-20230509-23793-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small arms and light weapons recovered from bandits in Jos, north central Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research has found that globally, small arms and light weapons <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1998_08-09/mkas98">increase</a> the likelihood, intensity and longevity of conflict. </p>
<p>Small arms and light weapons <a href="https://unidir.org/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs//the-complex-dynamics-of-small-arms-in-west-africa-en-329.pdf#page=9">account</a> for most of the African continent’s conflict-related deaths. An estimated <a href="https://oneearthfuture.org/news/stemming-tide-african-leadership-small-arms-and-light-weapons-control">100 million</a> light weapons circulate in Africa. About <a href="https://www.giaba.org/media/f/613_519_giaba%20salw%20nexus-final.pdf#page=4">8 million</a> are in the hands of non-state actors in west Africa. </p>
<p>In 1998 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) <a href="https://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/quotes/3219">established</a> the world’s first small arms and light weapons moratorium. It became a legally binding convention in <a href="https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/112514/fp2p-cs-from-moratorium-convention-small-arms-ECOWAS-140608-en.pdf;jsessionid=C4DBF8CCB40D00B0DF8EA04B2C754F49?sequence=1">2006</a>. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14702436.2023.2188199?journalCode=fdef20">recent paper</a>, I assessed how ECOWAS members had applied the convention on small arms and light weapons. Compliance varied between countries and the paper looked at domestic political legitimacy as an explanation of these differences. </p>
<p>I used the case studies of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to test the explanation. </p>
<p>The study revealed that domestic political legitimacy was paramount for effective application and compliance. Legitimacy influences how states and domestic groups behave. A lack of legitimacy can lead to illegal purchases of small arms and light weapons. </p>
<p>The findings suggest that political legitimacy is important for states’ ability to implement collective security agreements such as the one on small arms and light weapons. ECOWAS members with legitimacy challenges must be given support around implementation, because they cannot do this individually. </p>
<h2>State legitimacy as a differentiator</h2>
<p>When a state is seen as legitimate, it’s because those who hold power got it in widely accepted ways and wield it rightfully. A legitimate state is lawful and has authority to issue orders. Citizens obey them because the leaders have moral authority. The path to state legitimacy is through the integrity of elections or the degree to which governments represent the populations they govern. </p>
<p>Where a state does not act legitimately, organised political opposition and sustained armed struggles or insurgencies follow. When a government lacks popular support, it will use strong-arm tactics like illegally obtaining small arms and light weapons to rule.</p>
<p>I examined Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana’s compliance trends and the role of state legitimacy. The countries are neighbours and have plenty in common, but they differ in two ways: their domestic legitimacy; and their records of implementing the region’s small arms convention. </p>
<p>I assessed compliance by looking at what countries do about illegal production and possession of weapons.</p>
<h2>Côte d'Ivoire</h2>
<p>Côte d’Ivoire was one of the top violators of the small arms conventions. </p>
<p>For instance, Laurent Gbagbo’s government between 2000 and 2011 brazenly purchased weapons using <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14702436.2023.2188199?af=R&journalCode=fdef20">illegal documents</a>. United Nations weapons experts uncovered vast quantities of ammunition and weapons that Gbagbo’s government had bought illegally. A company linked to Gbagbo appointees unlawfully traded <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/biometric-bribery-semlex/how-semlex-and-gunvor-armed-the-ivorian-civil-war">US$16.3 million</a> worth of weapons to the government. </p>
<p>Legal purchases also rose abruptly, accounting for more than <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14702436.2023.2188199?journalCode=fdef20">50%</a> of small arms imported to the region in 2003 alone. </p>
<p>Non-compliance by Gbagbo’s government’s corresponded with domestic legitimacy problems. Legitimacy crises around electoral processes provoked the first and second Ivorian civil wars between 2002 and 2011, increasing the demand for small arms. Gbagbo, under whose watch the small arms convention regime kicked in, chose not to implement it because of low political legitimacy. </p>
<p>Weakened political legitimacy in Côte d’Ivoire sidetracked compliance by diverting Gbagbo’s focus and rerouting opposition energy towards grabbing political power, which requires more weapons. </p>
<p>Gbagbo contested the results of the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2010/12/07/131870188/Ivory-Coast-s-President-Lost-Election-But-Won-t-Concede">2010 election</a>, won by Alassane Ouattara. He bought more weapons illegally to hold on to political power. In response, Ouattara’s fighters used a military offensive to drive Gbagbo from power. </p>
<p>Ouattara’s fighters solicited illicit small arms from foreign and from neighbouring sources. When forces loyal to Ouattara emerged victorious, rebels elevated to military commands used illegal weapons, while troops loyal to Gbagbo fought the state from bases in Liberia. </p>
<p>In Côte d’Ivoire, political illegitimacy morphed into territorial violence, undermining the country’s compliance records.</p>
<h2>Ghana</h2>
<p>In Ghana, no known evidence exists of Ghanaian authorities or organised groups purchasing weapons illegally. My argument is that this is due to the relatively strong legitimacy of the state and its institutions. </p>
<p>Some Russians and Ukrainians <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3568892">allegedly registered</a> front companies in Ghana and tried to use false letterheads from the Ghanaian defence and foreign ministries to sell weapons in 2003. However, these have been foiled. </p>
<p>Since embracing the ECOWAS convention, Ghana has experienced increased political stability and democratic consolidation. Ghana’s relative state legitimacy is grounded in the elite’s willingness to regulate the competition for political power. </p>
<p>The consensual and efficient management of social differences and electoral processes can explain this avoidance of state legitimacy crises. Ghana’s relative stability minimises the use of weapons.</p>
<p>While Ghana has seen high compliance at the national level, the country has a highly developed artisanal weapon market. People make weapons in Ghana and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14702436.2023.2188199?af=R&journalCode=fdef20">sell them to buyers in other countries</a> where state legitimacy has been questioned. </p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>In Côte d’Ivoire, domestic legitimacy problems have fuelled small arms and light weapons-seeking behaviours by state and non-state groups. In Ghana, a better record of applying the weapons convention stemmed from the country’s domestic legitimacy. </p>
<p>The findings suggest that in troubled regions like the ECOWAS zone, the state’s domestic characteristics matter for a state-level application of collective security regimes and, at the regional level, for their overall success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Banini does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A lack of political legitimacy can lead governments to illegal purchases of small arms and light weapons.Daniel Banini, Researcher and analyst, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033072023-05-03T12:15:54Z2023-05-03T12:15:54ZBlack mothers trapped in unsafe neighborhoods signal the stressful health toll of gun violence in the U.S.<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523312/original/file-20230427-18-2ufwkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2121%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The stress of experiencing high levels of community violence harms entire families.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-american-mother-consoling-her-sad-girl-at-royalty-free-image/1077179266">skynesher/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Black mothers are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to the mental and physical harms of stress from living with gun violence in America.</p>
<p>In the U.S., Black people are likelier than white people to reside in impoverished, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-019-09280-1">racially segregated communities</a> with high levels of gun violence. Research has suggested that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21060558">living in</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232006000200007">violent and unsafe</a> environments can result in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032484">continuous traumatic stress</a>, a constant form of PTSD. Researchers have also linked experiences of violence and poverty to an increased risk of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102746">chronic disease</a> such as cancer and cardiovascular, respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
<p>We are Black women and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mrM-LJsAAAAJ&hl=en">public policy</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xIwwuN4AAAAJ&hl=en">sociology professors</a> who study health inequities and sustainable policy solutions. Our research has found that Black mothers who feel trapped in neighborhoods they perceived as unsafe because of high levels of community violence are more likely to report <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01432-1">elevated PTSD and depression symptoms</a>, as well as elevated stress hormone levels.</p>
<p>The trauma of gun violence and systemic racism isn’t simply a Black mother’s story – it’s an American story. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gun violence is an epidemic in the U.S.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Health effects of feeling trapped</h2>
<p>Our research team sought to understand <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01432-1">how stress from structural violence affects the body</a>, specifically the immune system. We talked to 68 low-income single Black mothers living on the South Side of Chicago about how they deal with gun violence in their communities and how it affects their health. </p>
<p>We asked these Black mothers to complete surveys that measured depression and PTSD symptoms. We also asked them to provide blood samples to examine the effects of stress at the cellular level, measuring the activity of genes that code for the receptors for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2007.11.071">stress hormone cortisol</a>. Looking at cortisol receptors offers a more cumulative measure of cortisol levels over time.</p>
<p>We found that about 65% of the mothers wanted to move out of their neighborhoods but could not afford to do so. These mothers felt trapped in areas with high levels of gun violence that fostered a sense of not feeling safe for adults and children. One mother in our study, whom we will call Ellan, described her neighborhood as dangerous and wanted to leave as soon as she could. “I’m very terrified of my kids going out to the park, playing in front of the house,” she said. “And I’m afraid that a car might come past shootin’ and one of my kids get hurt.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mother cradling child against chest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523308/original/file-20230427-2243-r895dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black mothers who feel trapped in their neighborhoods feel terrified for their children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-holding-sleeping-son-royalty-free-image/84910809">Jose Luis Pelaez/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another mother in our study, whom we will call Skylar, felt she couldn’t escape to a safer community. “I don’t really want to raise my kids there, but I don’t have a choice. You know, cause it’s what I can afford. But it’s real violent.”</p>
<p>Mothers who felt trapped reported more symptoms of PTSD, like disturbing memories and dreams and reliving stressful experiences, than mothers who did not feel trapped. They also reported more depressive symptoms, such as feeling down and hopeless, taking little pleasure in doing things and having trouble sleeping. </p>
<p>Mothers unable to afford the move to safer neighborhoods had lower levels of glucocorticoid receptors. Having fewer glucocorticoid receptors helped protect their bodies from being overwhelmed by high cortisol levels caused by stress. Nevertheless, high cortisol levels from chronic stress are linked to a number of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/racism-stress-covid-allostatic-load/">negative mental and physical health outcomes</a>.</p>
<h2>Environment determines health</h2>
<p>Where someone lives, learns, works, plays and worships can <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28845341">determine their health</a> and has the power to make them sick and cause premature death.</p>
<p>Researchers have estimated that around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.459">83,570 Black people die prematurely</a> each year in the U.S. because of health disparities, using 2002 data. Some scholars have previously described this as equivalent to a <a href="https://unnaturalcauses.org/amazing_facts.php">plane full of Black passengers</a> falling out the sky every day every year.</p>
<p>It is important to note that it is not the racial makeup of where a person lives that shapes the significant disparities they face, but exposure to violence, poverty and lack of resources as a result of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112305">structural racism</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1497358/">Redlining</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2020.0019">environmental contamination</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12846">food deserts</a> and gun violence are a part of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1090198120922942">racial capitalism</a>, or exploitation of marginalized communities, that affect the health of Black women.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Black people face systemic economic and health disparities in the U.S.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What we are learning about the constant threats to the safety of Black mothers and their families also applies to the general American public. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/">rate of mass shootings</a> is increasing. Firearm fatalities are a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2201761">leading cause of death among children</a> ages 1 to 19 in the U.S. Gun violence has harmed people while they are <a href="https://theconversation.com/scapegoating-rap-hits-new-low-after-july-fourth-mass-shooting-186443">watching a parade</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rampage-at-virginia-walmart-follows-upward-trend-in-supermarket-gun-attacks-heres-what-we-know-about-retail-mass-shooters-195241">shopping at a store</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fueled-by-virtually-unrestricted-social-media-access-white-nationalism-is-on-the-rise-and-attracting-violent-young-white-men-186896">worshipping</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-years-after-parkland-school-shootings-havent-stopped-and-kill-more-people-198224">attending school</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/hate-crimes-against-lgbtq-people-are-a-public-health-issue-61186">other</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/stand-your-ground-laws-empower-armed-citizens-to-defend-property-with-violence-a-simple-mistake-can-get-you-shot-or-killed-204012">ordinary</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/monterey-park-a-pioneering-asian-american-suburb-shaken-by-the-tragedy-of-a-mass-shooting-198373">events</a>.</p>
<h2>Increasing access to wellness</h2>
<p>Understanding the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00648">complexity of the exposome</a> – the word researchers use for environmental factors like gun violence that affect an individual’s health and well-being – can help extend the <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-rapid-ager-biological-age-is-a-better-health-indicator-than-the-number-of-years-youve-lived-but-its-tricky-to-measure-198849">years of healthy life</a> of groups who typically experience premature death. Building this knowledge requires input from people of color and others who have traditionally been pushed to the margins of society.</p>
<p>We are currently creating a “<a href="https://www.youthwellnessproject.com/wellness-store">wellness store</a>” that places wellness tools and health knowledge at the fingertips of individuals, especially for those experiencing interlocking traumas such as racism, sexism, classism, incarceration, racial segregation and rural geographic isolation. These tools, co-created with community health workers and citizen scientists, range from phone apps to public policy designed to get stress “out from under the skin.” Our goal is to work with clinics, hospitals and community organizations to provide accessible tools to prevent illness.</p>
<p>Black communities are filled with resilient and vulnerable individuals who deserve urgent policy solutions that lead to societal change. We believe that more investment in disease prevention and health equity can help the U.S. use the knowledge, technology and finances that it already has to help people access its most precious resource: a healthy life and the ability to pursue wellness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loren Henderson is affiliated with Association of Black Sociologists. I am the Executive Officer of the Association of Black Sociologists.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruby Mendenhall receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.</span></em></p>Chronic stress from living with systemic racism and gun violence can lead to increased symptoms of PTSD and depression as well as elevated cortisol levels.Loren Henderson, Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyRuby Mendenhall, Associate Professor in Sociology, African American Studies, Urban and Regional Planning and Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028862023-03-29T18:18:41Z2023-03-29T18:18:41ZNashville attack renews calls for assault weapons ban – data shows there were fewer mass shooting deaths during an earlier 10-year prohibition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518201/original/file-20230329-14-pucltf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C358%2C8157%2C5129&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gun control activists rally in Nashville, Tenn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gun-control-activists-rally-in-nashville-tennessee-on-march-news-photo/1249704709?adppopup=true">Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The shooting deaths of three children and three adults inside a Nashville school has put further pressure on Congress to look at imposing a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-make-prime-time-address-calling-gun-reform-legislation-rcna31665">ban on so-called assault weapons</a>. Such a prohibition would be designed cover the types of guns that the suspect legally purchased and used during the March 27, 2023, attack.</p>
<p>Speaking after the incident, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/03/28/remarks-by-president-biden-on-investing-in-america/">issued his latest plea</a> to lawmakers to act. “Why in God’s name do we allow these weapons of war on our streets and at our schools?” he asked.</p>
<p>A prohibition has been in place before. As Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/06/02/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gun-violence-in-america/">has previously noted </a>, bipartisan support in Congress helped push through a federal assault weapons ban in 1994 as part of the <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/billfs.txt">Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act</a>. </p>
<p>That ban was limited – it covered only certain categories of semiautomatic weapons such as AR-15s and applied to a ban on sales only after the act was signed into law, allowing people to keep hold of weapons purchased before that date. And it also had in it a so-called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/13/750656174/the-u-s-once-had-a-ban-on-assault-weapons-why-did-it-expire">sunset provision</a>” that allowed the ban to expire in 2004.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the 10-year life span of that ban – with a clear beginning and end date – gives researchers the opportunity to compare what happened with mass shooting deaths before, during and after the prohibition was in place. Our group of injury epidemiologists and trauma surgeons did just that. In 2019, we published a population-based study <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Fulltext/2019/01000/Changes_in_US_mass_shooting_deaths_associated_with.2.aspx">analyzing the data</a> in a bid to evaluate the effect that the federal ban on assault weapons had on mass shootings, <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44126.pdf">defined by the FBI</a> as a shooting with four or more fatalities, not including the shooter. Here’s what the data shows:</p>
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<p><strong>Before the 1994 ban:</strong> </p>
<p>From 1981 – the earliest year in our analysis – to the rollout of the assault weapons ban in 1994, the proportion of deaths in mass shootings in which an assault rifle was used was lower than it is today. </p>
<p>Yet in this earlier period, mass shooting deaths were steadily rising. Indeed, high-profile mass shootings involving assault rifles – such as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/18/us/five-children-killed-as-gunman-attacks-a-california-school.html">killing of five children in Stockton, California, in 1989</a> and a <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/101-california-street-shooting-sparked-change-in-gun-laws">1993 San Francisco office attack</a> that left eight victims dead – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/04/biden-assault-weapons-ban/">provided the impetus</a> behind a push for a prohibition on some types of gun.</p>
<p><strong>During the 1994-2004 ban:</strong> </p>
<p>In the years after the assault weapons ban went into effect, the number of deaths from mass shootings fell, and the increase in the annual number of incidents slowed down. Even including 1999’s <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings">Columbine High School massacre</a> – the deadliest mass shooting during the period of the ban – the 1994-2004 period saw lower average annual rates of both mass shootings and deaths resulting from such incidents than before the ban’s inception.</p>
<p><strong>From 2004 onward:</strong></p>
<p>The data shows an almost immediate – and steep – rise in mass shooting deaths in the years after the assault weapons ban expired in 2004.</p>
<p>Breaking the data into absolute numbers, from 2004 to 2017 – the last year of our analysis – the average number of yearly deaths attributed to mass shootings was 25, compared with 5.3 during the 10-year tenure of the ban and 7.2 in the years leading up to the prohibition on assault weapons.</p>
<h2>Saving hundreds of lives</h2>
<p>We calculated that the risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active. The proportion of overall gun homicides resulting from mass shootings was also down, with nine fewer mass-shooting-related fatalities per 10,000 shooting deaths.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1044981284022484994"}"></div></p>
<p>Taking population trends into account, a model we created based on this data suggests that had the federal assault weapons ban been in place throughout the whole period of our study – that is, from 1981 through 2017 – it may have prevented 314 of the 448 mass shooting deaths that occurred during the years in which there was no ban.</p>
<p>And this almost certainly underestimates the total number of lives that could be saved. For our study, we chose only to include mass shooting incidents that were reported and agreed upon by all three of our selected data sources: the <a href="https://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/">Los Angeles Times</a>, <a href="https://library.stanford.edu/projects/mass-shootings-america">Stanford University</a> and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/">Mother Jones magazine</a>. </p>
<p>Furthermore, for uniformity, we also chose to use the strict federal definition of an assault weapon – which may not include the entire spectrum of what many people may now consider to be assault weapons. </p>
<h2>Cause or correlation?</h2>
<p>It is also important to note that our analysis cannot definitively say that the assault weapons ban of 1994 caused a decrease in mass shootings, nor that its expiration in 2004 resulted in the growth of deadly incidents in the years since.</p>
<p>Many additional factors may contribute to the shifting frequency of these shootings, such as changes in domestic violence rates, political extremism, psychiatric illness, firearm availability and a surge in sales, and the recent rise in hate groups. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, according to our study, President Biden’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/06/02/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gun-violence-in-america/">claim that the rate of mass shootings</a> during the period of the assault weapons ban “went down” only for it to rise again after the law was allowed to expire in 2004 holds true.</p>
<p>As the U.S. looks toward a solution to the country’s epidemic of mass shootings, it is difficult to say conclusively that reinstating the assault weapons ban would have a profound impact, especially given the growth in sales in the 18 years in which Americans have been allowed to purchase and stockpile such weapons. But given that many of the high-profile mass shooters in recent years purchased their weapons <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/25/uvalde-shooter-bought-gun-legally/">less than one year</a> <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/15/florida-shooting-suspect-bought-gun-legally-authorities-say/340606002/">before committing their acts</a>, the evidence suggests that it might.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-assault-weapons-ban-of-1994-bring-down-mass-shootings-heres-what-the-data-tells-us-184430">article originally published</a> on June 8, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Klein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Analysis of the 10 years in which the US banned sales of assault weapons shows that it correlates with a drop in mass shooting deaths – a trend that reversed as soon as the ban expired.Michael J. Klein, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1999122023-02-14T20:12:34Z2023-02-14T20:12:34ZMichigan State murders: What we know about campus shootings and the gunmen who carry them out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510084/original/file-20230214-18-a2gi9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C197%2C5964%2C3790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tent covers the body of the alleged gunman at Michigan State University.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MIchiganStateShooting/5d026dc1ff3a4a47b72949b33930fbf7/photo?Query=Michigan%20State%20University&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1200&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Carlos Osorio</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A gunman <a href="https://apnews.com/article/colleges-and-universities-michigan-education-shootings-153ab68bc4f108c2019bb138de2dc8fb">opened fire at Michigan State University</a> on Feb. 13, 2023, killing three people and injuring five others before taking his own life.</em></p>
<p><em>A lot is still unknown about the campus attack. Police have yet to release a motive and said the 43-year-old man responsible <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/us/michigan-state-university-shooting.html">did not have any known connections</a> to the university.</em></p>
<p><em>While rare, campus attacks are not unheard of in the U.S. In November 2022, three members of the University of Virginia football team <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/us/university-of-virginia-shooting-wednesday/index.html">were shot and killed on campus</a>, and four University of Idaho students were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/idaho-murders-update-university-of-idaho-college-students-investigation-bryan-kohberger/">stabbed to death</a> in their off-campus residence.</em></p>
<p><em>Criminologists <a href="https://ccie.ucf.edu/person/david-riedman/">David Riedman of the University of Central Florida</a> and <a href="https://www.metrostate.edu/about/directory/james-densley">James Densley, at Metropolitan State University</a>, <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/">maintain databases</a> <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/">of mass shootings</a> in the U.S. The Conversation asked them how the latest attack fit with the pattern of such attacks in the past.</em></p>
<h2>How frequent are campus shootings at colleges and universities?</h2>
<p>No agency is tracking every U.S. campus shooting in real time, and defining them can be difficult because many higher education institutions are intertwined with the surrounding community. For example, Michigan State University has over 50,000 students enrolled and <a href="https://studentlife.umich.edu/article/michigan-housing">more than 11,000 residing</a> on its <a href="https://mobility.msu.edu/campus-ecosystem/index.html">main campus</a>, which is made up of more than 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) of contiguous urban, suburban, industrial and rural areas. </p>
<p>Technically, a shooting in the parking lot during a college football game attended by 100,000 people or at a residence that leases to college students could be classed as a college or university shooting.</p>
<p>We do, however, have data on mass shootings on campus.</p>
<p>There have been nine mass shootings in or around college or university settings since 1966, according to <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooter-database/">The Violence Project database</a>, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are murdered in public in a single incident. This would not include the Michigan State University shooting at this stage, or many other incidents in which fewer people than four were killed. It also doesn’t include the <a href="https://www.kent.edu/may-4-historical-accuracy">1970 Kent State massacre</a> in which four students were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard. </p>
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<p>The most deadly of these mass shootings was the <a href="https://www.weremember.vt.edu/">2007 attack by a student at Virginia Tech</a> in which 32 people were killed. Since then, there have been five more mass shootings, the last being in 2015 when a 26-year-old student at Umpqua Community College near Roseburg, Oregon, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/emergency-officials-say-active-shooter-oregon-community-college-campus">fatally shot a professor and 8 students</a> in a classroom.</p>
<p>In all the campus mass shootings in the database, the gunman was a man, with an average age of 28. The youngest was 22 and the oldest was 43. Six of the nine perpetrators were nonwhite.</p>
<h2>What do we know about campus shooters in general?</h2>
<p>College and university shooters typically have a prior connection to the campuses they target. For example, a shooter who killed three people and wounded three others at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2010 was a <a href="https://www.waff.com/2020/02/11/whats-changed-years-after-deadly-uah-shootings/">biology faculty member with a history of violence</a> who had recently been denied tenure.</p>
<p>It is unclear why the latest shooter targeted Michigan State, and because he died on the scene, we may never know for sure.</p>
<p>But the fact that he took his life after the attacks is not unusual. Five of the nine college mass shooters in our data died by suicide. Our <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/violence-project_9781419752964/">research shows</a> mass shootings are often a form of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/26/opinion/us-mass-shootings-despair.html">suicide driven by despair</a>. </p>
<p>Mass shooters also tend to be boys and men in a noticeable crisis who <a href="http://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073">communicate intent to do harm</a> in advance. If family, friends and co-workers know the <a href="https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/blog/teacher-resources/know-the-signs-of-gun-violence/">warning signs</a> of violence and how to report them, there is an opportunity to stop it from occurring. In December 2021, for example, students at <a href="https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/crime/2021/12/09/police-embry-riddle-student-planned-mass-shooting-school/6450911001/">Embry-Riddle University warned campus officials of violent threats a fellow student had made on Snapchat</a> and helped avert a potential shooting tragedy.</p>
<h2>Was the police operation typical of similar shootings?</h2>
<p>Between the first alert at 8:31 p.m. <a href="https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2023/02/14/timeline-of-michigan-state-university-shootings-search-for-suspect/">telling Michigan State students to “run, hide and fight</a>” where necessary, and the police news conference confirming the gunman’s death at 12:20 a.m., a lot of misinformation circulated online amid confusion on campus.</p>
<p>There were two shootings within minutes at Berkey Hall, an academic building on the northern part of campus, and the MSU Union Building, west of Berkey Hall, but <a href="https://twitter.com/K12ssdb/status/1625343222171009026?s=20&t=ofeZejua7Y4_mu0lAmiiuQ">police also received calls</a> about shots fired at seven other campus locations. Law enforcement were sent scrambling across the university campus only to find no other evidence of shootings.</p>
<p>Police also responded to reports of men on campus with rifles that <a href="https://twitter.com/K12ssdb/status/1625339441081462786?s=20&t=ofeZejua7Y4_mu0lAmiiuQ">turned out to be plainclothes police officers</a>, and the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/michigan-shooter-gunman-lynne-dee-walker-wrong-fake-hoax-1781034">name and photo of an alleged suspect</a> circulated online that turned out to be false.</p>
<p>Mass public shootings are chaotic scenes, and the confusion at Michigan State was similar to the 2017 <a href="https://medium.com/homeland-security/commanding-is-not-communicating-c9f28e87caff">Las Vegas Harvest Festival</a> shooting in which 60 people were killed by a single gunman. In that attack, officers received dozens of incorrect reports about who and where the shooter was.</p>
<p>This loss of what is known as a “common operating picture” – a single, consistent, display of relevant information – was cited as one of the <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/download/?file=/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CommissionRecommendations.pdf">critical issues for first responders to address</a> in the 9/11 Commission Report released in 2004. It continues to be an issue today, exacerbated in part by social media.</p>
<h2>What can college students and staff do today?</h2>
<p>The immediate focus should be on providing services for survivors, and the families of those who died. The trauma of experiencing or witnessing a shooting can have <a href="https://miningquiz.com/pdf/Mass_Shootings/The-Mental-Health-Consequences-of-Mass-Shootings.pdf">lasting psychological impacts</a>, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. Survivors may also face <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/us/survivors-mass-shootings-costs/index.html">physical injuries, long-term disabilities and financial burdens</a> related to medical treatment and recovery.</p>
<p>Mass shootings have <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/09/news-mass-shootings-collective-traumas">far-reaching and devastating effects that extend to communities and society as a whole</a>, including increased fear and anxiety, social isolation, and a sense of helplessness and despair. Supporting the survivors and victims of mass shootings means providing them with the resources and support needed to heal and recover, while also working to prevent future acts of gun violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199912/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman receives funding from Everytown for Gun Safety.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley has received funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p>A gunman at Michigan State University shot dead three people before taking his own life. Two criminologists explain how the incident fits a pattern of campus attacks.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaJames Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982242023-02-09T20:10:33Z2023-02-09T20:10:33ZFive years after Parkland, school shootings haven’t stopped, and kill more people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508659/original/file-20230207-29-ygggac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C12%2C4260%2C2821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two mourners embrace at a memorial for those killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SchoolShootingFlorida/19d9b3109dad473aa598fc9382c2c1ee/photo">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting on Valentine’s Day 2018, many Americans hoped that, finally, something would be done to address the problem of gun violence in the nation’s schools.</p>
<p>Despite the outpouring of grief and calls for action that followed the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, school shootings continue to occur with <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">alarming frequency</a>. While progress has been made in some areas, such as <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/bipartisan-safer-communities-act/">increased funding</a> for school security and mental health resources, there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety and well-being of students and educators in schools across the country. </p>
<p>On Jan. 6, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html">6-year-old student is alleged</a> to have intentionally shot his teacher. He is among the youngest school shooting perpetrators dating back to 1970.</p>
<p>And as criminologists who track any time <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/methodology-1">a gun is fired at a K-12 school</a>, including deliberate attacks, suicides, accidental shootings, gang-related violence and shootings at after-hours school events, we know this case is only the tip of the iceberg. </p>
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<h2>School shootings got more common, not rarer, after Parkland</h2>
<p>Since Parkland, there have been <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">over 900 shootings</a> in K-12 school settings according to our data. Thirty-two were indiscriminate attacks apparently driven by the intent to kill as many people as possible, including mass casualty events at <a href="https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/reports/87interim/Robb-Elementary-Investigative-Committee-Report.pdf">Robb Elementary School</a> in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 and at <a href="https://www.fox2detroit.com/tag/oxford-high-school-shooting">Oxford High School</a>, in Oxford, Michigan, in November 2021.</p>
<p>School gun violence takes many forms. In January 2023, five students were wounded during <a href="https://twitter.com/K12ssdb/status/1616798162747785216">shootings at high school basketball games</a> in five different states. These shootings at school games are a “<a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/34685039/rise-gun-violence-school-sports">quiet phenomenon</a>” that gets little national attention. Based on our data on more than <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings">260 shootings at sports events</a>, most schools do not have a plan for them, such as what an announcer should say or how people can evacuate.</p>
<p>Another emerging challenge for school leaders is the 264 fights in five years that escalated into shootings. Unlike any planned attacks, these cases were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/08/school-shootings-are-increasing-changing-easily-accessible-guns-are-blame/">simple disputes that turned deadly</a> because students were armed at school.</p>
<p>There were a record 302 shootings on school property in 2022. In April, one month before Uvalde, a sniper fired hundreds of shots during dismissal at the <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-sniper-van-ness-shooting-edmund-burke-school-16-year-old-student-recalls-mass-shooting-helping-12-year-old-classmate-shot-injured-cleveland-park-victims-crime">Edmund Burke School</a> in Washington, D.C. Then, in October, at Central Visual Performing Arts High School in south St. Louis, a 19-year-old armed with a semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition shot and <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2022-10-25/photos-school-shooting-at-central-visual-performing-arts-high-school-in-st-louis">killed a teacher and a 15-year-old student, and injured seven other people</a>.</p>
<p>Among the 250 shootings at schools in 2021, a 12-year-old girl, who wrote plans to target scores of her <a href="https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2022/04/07/documents-shed-light-on-rigby-middle-school-shooting/">Rigby, Idaho</a>, middle school classmates, wounded three students before a heroic teacher disarmed her in the hallway.</p>
<p>Owing to the pandemic and widespread school closures, in 2020 there were no planned attacks at schools for the <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/active-shooter">first time since 1981</a>. But in 2019, a student shot five classmates, killing two, before dying by suicide between classes at <a href="https://abc7.com/nathaniel-tennosuke-berhow-nate-saugus-high-school-santa-clarita-shooting/5699170/">Saugus High</a> in Santa Clarita, California. And two students committed a coordinated attack that killed one student and injured eight others at the <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/17/devon-erickson-sentence-stem-school-shooting/">STEM School</a> in Highland Ranch, Colorado.</p>
<p>In total, since Parkland, 198 people have been killed, including 84 students, teachers and school staff, and another 637 people wounded in school shootings. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man kneels in front of a brick wall saying 'Robb Elementary School,' with piles of flowers all around." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508660/original/file-20230207-17-4spem1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A man pays his respects to the victims of the June 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MassShootingsStates/4e7195b1f0a44fd0b774a57ae09cbf42/photo">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span>
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<h2>Equipment is not prevention</h2>
<p>Since Parkland, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/us/school-shootings-security.html">school safety has been a priority</a> for parents and policymakers, but efforts to <a href="https://medium.com/homeland-security/what-is-school-security-c962263bef00">physically fortify schools</a> to keep intruders at bay often are detached from the reality that most school shooters are current or former students of the schools they target.</p>
<p>Having been trained in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaba.369">lockdown procedures since kindergarten</a>, students know exactly how a school will respond to an active shooter and even plan for it; they navigate security daily. At Uvalde, the shooter was a former student who <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/uvalde-school-shooting-door-shut-didnt-lock-texas-police/">entered through a back door</a>. The shooter in St. Louis was a former student who broke a side window to open a locked door.</p>
<p>New equipment designed to protect students from shooters can create a false sense of security and make classrooms feel <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814748206/homeroom-security/">more like prisons</a> than places of learning. Following the attack in Uvalde, Texas legislators approved $110 million for school safety, but nearly half of the money went to <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/50-million-grant-program-ballistic-shields-texas-schools/285-d372fc47-1559-462f-b04b-3858fa468f37">new ballistic shields</a> for school police officers. These shields do not prevent school shootings, or aid during one, because police are <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf">trained to immediately run to the shooter</a>, not to their office to get a shield. </p>
<p>Some technologies could even inadvertently endanger students. Most <a href="https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/classroom-barricade-devices/">classroom barricades violate the Americans with Disabilities Act</a> and other federal codes designed to help people evacuate from fires and other dangerous situations. And much like <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/rise-of-body-armor-in-mass-shootings-like-buffalo-and-uvalde.html">body armor can make a mass shooter harder to stop</a>, so too, potentially, could a school’s new bulletproof furniture.</p>
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<h2>Preventing the next Parkland</h2>
<p>Just three weeks before Parkland, on Jan. 23, 2018, 20 students were shot, two fatally, in a planned attack at <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-high-school-shooting/index.html">Marshall County High</a> in Benton, Kentucky. Three months after Parkland, on May 18, 2018, 10 people were killed and 13 wounded at <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/05/19/286500/official-says-explosives-found-at-santa-fe-high-school-couldnt-have-detonated/">Santa Fe High School</a> in Santa Fe, Texas. Despite <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-and-campus-safety-industry/">billions spent</a> on security upgrades, schools are stuck in a perpetual cycle of gun violence. If current trends hold, there will be another 1,000 school shootings over the next five years.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/violence-project_9781419752957/">research shows</a> that school shootings are not inevitable. They are preventable. </p>
<p>Nearly all school shooters exhibit <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785799">warning signs</a> before pulling the trigger, from changes in their behavior to verbal or written threats. From <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10887679211062518?journalCode=hsxa">Parkland</a> to <a href="https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/reports/87interim/Robb-Elementary-Investigative-Committee-Report.pdf">Uvalde</a>, these warnings were not recognized or reported until it was too late. Schools must think beyond metal detectors, security cameras and other <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/business/school-safety-technology.html">high-tech gadgets and gizmos</a> to invest in multidisciplinary <a href="https://www.nabita.org">behavioral intervention and threat assessment</a> systems to respond to warning signs. There is federal money and resources available to do this thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in the wake of Uvalde in the summer of 2022.</p>
<p>Almost all shootings by children and teens can be prevented by safe storage of firearms and accountability for adult gun owners. When a weapon is stored separately from its ammunition, locked and unloaded, it is much more difficult for someone to quickly use it in a violent attack. While the family <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/newport-news/gun-used-to-shoot-newport-news-teacher-secured-lawyer/291-a3744037-6746-43f9-ac5c-858f60526744">claims the gun was locked</a>, safe and separate storage could have prevented a <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-grader-who-shot-teacher-in-virginia-is-among-the-youngest-school-shooters-in-us-history-197392">6-year-old</a> from shooting his teacher. It also could have prevented thousands of guns from being stolen and <a href="https://www.atf.gov/firearms/national-firearms-commerce-and-trafficking-assessment-nfcta-crime-guns-volume-two">diverted into illegal markets</a>. </p>
<p>Five years after Parkland, school shootings have become more frequent and deadly. The status quo is not working. Instead of accepting that more young lives will be lost and that the best schools and police can do is lock down and rehearse emergency responses, we believe school safety must shift to focus on upstream prevention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman receives funding from Everytown for Gun Safety.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley has received funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p>Some Americans hoped the Parkland shooting in 2018 would herald a turning point for gun violence in schools. Shootings, and deaths, have continued – and gotten more frequent.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaJames Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987702023-02-08T18:44:53Z2023-02-08T18:44:53ZBiden calls for assault weapon ban – but does focus on military-style guns and mass shootings undermine his message?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508949/original/file-20230208-17-hips9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden urges lawmakers to ban assault weapons "once and for all."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-talks-about-passing-an-assault-weapons-news-photo/1246878544">Jacquelyn Martin/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Among those attending the State of Union address on Feb. 7, 2022, was Brandon Tsay. Invited by President Joe Biden, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-02-07/brandon-tsay-hero-treatment-washington-state-union">26-year-old has been hailed as a hero</a> for disarming a gunman who <a href="https://theconversation.com/monterey-park-a-pioneering-asian-american-suburb-shaken-by-the-tragedy-of-a-mass-shooting-198373">killed 11 people in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California</a>.</p>
<p>Biden mentioned Tsay by name as he launched into a segment of the speech in which he <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/world/ban-assault-weapons-us-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-us-gun-control-laws-1580805">implored lawmakers to ban assault weapons</a> “once and for all.”</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=otGUUEoAAAAJ">political science</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RFfXF4YAAAAJ&hl=en">scholars</a> who study the framing of the gun policy debate in America. We believe the framing exemplified by Biden’s speech – which focuses on high-profile mass shootings and the role of assault weapons over other firearms – helps explain why so many Americans feel gun laws are doomed to fail.</p>
<h2>Do gun laws work?</h2>
<p>The Monterey Park rampage on Jan. 21 was just one of a number of mass shootings to occur in California in January. Two days after that event, seven people were killed at <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/29/1152389441/half-moon-bay-shooting-motive-repair-bill">Half Moon Bay</a>, while a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/us/oakland-shooting-california/index.html">mass shooting in Oakland</a> claimed another life.</p>
<p>With over <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/california-gun-laws-mass-shootings.html">100 gun control laws</a>, California has an <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/states/california/">“A” rating</a> from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and is ranked No. 1 in the country in gun law strength by gun control advocates <a href="https://www.everytown.org/state/california/">Everytown for Gun Safety</a>. How, then, could multiple mass shootings occur in California, leaving at least 19 dead and many others injured, in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/experts-explain-california-rife-gun-violence-despite-stringent/story?id=96665000">the span of one week</a>?</p>
<p>The answer is nuanced and complex. First, stricter gun control laws do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12242">reduce gun-related deaths</a>. This is true for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2008.03.023">homicides</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.08.027;%20https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(03)00212-5">suicides</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12242">accidental shootings</a>. In California, the annual death rate from gun violence is 8.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national average of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm">13.7</a>.</p>
<p>However, the effectiveness of state gun laws is influenced by those of other states. Trafficking of guns across state lines for purposes both legal and illicit is well documented, and guns used in crimes are more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0251-9">likely to flow</a> from less regulated states into those with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.5.4.200">stronger gun laws</a>. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/there-are-more-guns-than-people-in-the-united-states-according-to-a-new-study-of-global-firearm-ownership/">a 2018 study</a>, there are at least 393 million guns in the United States, making it the most heavily armed civilian population in the world. Given the wave of pandemic-fueled <a href="https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/one-in-five-american-households-purchased-a-gun-during-the-pandemic.aspx">gun buying that started in 2020</a>, that number is likely much higher.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brandon Tsay stands up to be recognized during 2023 State of the Union address." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508985/original/file-20230208-13-3xeln6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biden recognizes special guest Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the Monterey Park mass shooter, for his ‘courage to act.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/brandon-tsay-who-disarmed-a-shooter-monterey-park-calif-is-news-photo/1246891656">Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Image</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reframing the issue</h2>
<p>Beyond these facts, the question of why mass shootings continue to happen reveals how policymakers, media, interest groups and citizens understand the problem.</p>
<p>Using an approach called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-022-00379-6">narrative policy framework</a>, we identify the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12207">stories that politicians and interest groups tell</a> about the problem of gun violence and how they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12255">use these stories</a> to build political support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12187">for their policy goals</a>. A policy narrative typically contains characters – the victims and perpetrators of violence; a setting – the location and other contextual details; and a moral or solution.</p>
<p>Research shows that gun policy narratives often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-022-09517-x">focus on mass shootings</a> while placing less emphasis on more common forms of gun injury and death, such as individual homicide and suicide. Studying the communications of gun policy organizations from 2000 to 2017, one of us found that gun control groups mentioned mass shootings in 30% of their blogs, emails and press releases, and in 11% of their Facebook posts. They devoted <a href="https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.10063035">significantly less attention</a> to all other types of gun violence.</p>
<p>This emphasis, however, does not accurately reflect statistics on gun injury and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2020, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm">more than 45,000</a> people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. More than half of those deaths were suicides, while over <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/">40% were murders</a>.</p>
<p>Mass shootings – defined by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive as shooting incidents involving <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/methodology">four or more victims</a> – accounted for just 0.1% of gun fatalities.</p>
<p>The overemphasis on mass shootings likely has many causes, not least of which is the media’s tendency to highlight <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2017.1284689">dramatic and shocking events</a>. Given that public support for gun control temporarily <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2022/05/26/support-for-gun-control-after-uvalde-shooting/">increases in the wake of mass shootings</a>, these events create brief <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00003068">windows of opportunity for policy change</a>. Thus, it should be no surprise that gun control groups highlight mass shootings in their policy narratives. </p>
<h2>Futility arguments</h2>
<p>In asking how mass shootings like the recent ones in California could happen, it’s important to acknowledge the implicit argument that precedes the question: the idea that gun laws simply don’t work.</p>
<p>This argument, which is pervasive in the gun policy debate, is labeled the <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674768680">futility thesis</a>. The futility thesis holds that attempts at political change will ultimately amount to nothing, because the policy fails to appreciate that it is attempting to alter fundamental aspects of society. </p>
<p>In the case of gun policy, this may include the observation that the United States contains a constitutional right to bear arms, or that the country has a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12497">long-standing gun culture</a>. Gun rights organizations, such as the National Rifle Association, also frequently claim that gun regulations do not work <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12323">because criminals do not respect the law</a>. According to this logic, any attempt to address the prevalence of firearms or to reduce criminal gun violence is destined to fail. </p>
<h2>Consequences for politics and policy</h2>
<p>As social scientists, we seek both to identify the major gun policy narratives and to explore their consequences. One potential consequence of focusing on mass shootings is it can lead policymakers to focus on solutions that address just one facet of the gun violence problem. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-01-27/analysis-why-biden-pushes-an-assault-weapons-ban-despite-the-political-odds">Democratic politicians</a> and gun control advocates often call for a ban on “assault weapons,” with a focus on military-style rifles like the AR-15, while <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/type-gun-us-homicides-ar-15/story?id=78689504">most shooting deaths in the U.S. involve handguns</a>.</p>
<p>With each mass shooting, these arguments are reproduced, and over time the policy debate has become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12421">increasingly polarized</a>. It is no wonder that while many Americans approve of federal efforts to regulate firearms, most don’t expect legislation to do much <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/11/broad-public-approval-of-new-gun-law-but-few-say-it-will-do-a-lot-to-stem-gun-violence/">to reduce gun violence</a>. </p>
<p>Is there a way to break the policy stalemate and make real progress on the problem of gun violence? We suggest that one path forward is to reformulate the policy narratives to better capture the full scope and severity of the problem. Mass shootings are horrific tragedies, but so is every gun death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gun policy scholars explain why even supporters of gun control often believe new restrictions are doomed to fail.Melissa K. Merry, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of LouisvilleAaron Smith-Walter, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984862023-01-25T00:10:21Z2023-01-25T00:10:21ZTypical mass shooters are in their 20s and 30s – suspects in California’s latest killings are far from that average<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506204/original/file-20230124-16-st7p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C106%2C3531%2C2255&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two deadly mass shootings have California on edge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXCaliforniaShooting/067f0d30edf4470ab167896ccb42161b/photo?Query=Monterey%20Park%20Jae%20C.%20Hong&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=99&currentItemNo=37">AP Photo/Jae C. Hon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The two men who <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-staggered-by-deadly-back-to-back-mass-shootings-2023-01-24/">shot dead 18 people in separate incidents</a> just days apart in California are the latest perpetrators in America’s long history of mass gun violence. But something about these public shootings, and the men held responsible, stands out.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/">median age of mass shooters in the United States is 32</a>. Yet the man who is alleged to have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/us/monterey-park-california-mass-shooting-tuesday/index.html">shot dead 11 people in Monterey Park</a> on Jan. 21, 2023, before turning the gun on himself <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/24/1150818507/the-suspected-monterey-park-attacker-was-72-heres-why-older-shooters-are-rare">was 72 years old</a> – the <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/">oldest mass shooter in modern American history</a>, our records show. Meanwhile, the gunman who <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/us/half-moon-bay-california-shootings-tuesday/index.html">took the lives of seven more in Half Moon Bay</a> two days later was also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/northern-california-shootings-3eb00c19a36ad129ca7f0063f4b2aaf9">older than most</a> — 66, the third-oldest in history. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iS4HAEMAAAAJ">We</a> are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hoHQX8MAAAAJ&hl=en">criminologists</a> who <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org">built a database</a> of 191 mass shooters using public data. The shooters in our records date back to 1966 and are coded on nearly 200 different variables, including age at the time of attack. Our research shows that mass shootings – <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/methodology/">defined here</a> as events in which four or more people are killed in a public place with no underlying criminal activity – have become more frequent, and deadly, over time.</p>
<p><iframe id="dScJ5" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dScJ5/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Prior to the January 2023 Californian shootings, mass shooters were also <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/02/mass-shooting-killers-young-teens">getting younger overall</a>. From 1980 to 1989, the median age of mass shooters was 39. Over the next two decades, it was 33. And from 2010 to 2019, it was 29. </p>
<p>Since 2020, the median age of mass shooters has come down to just 22 years old — mostly young men and boys who were born into or came of age in an <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/">increasingly divided America</a> and carried out their attacks <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9393">amid the disruption of a global pandemic</a>.</p>
<h2>Older mass shooter behind deadliest assault</h2>
<p>Ages vary by shooting location, <a href="https://www.theviolenceproject.org/mass-shooter-database/">the data shows</a>. Though mass shooters at offices, warehouses and houses of worship skew older, shooters at K-12 schools, colleges and universities tend to be younger – in large part because many school shooters tend to be current or former students.</p>
<p>Prior to the tragic incidents in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, just six mass shooters in our study were over the age of 60. The oldest was a <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/17/Mountain-town-shocked-by-shooting-outburst/9178372139200/">70-year-old who killed five people</a> at an auto parts store in Kentucky in 1981. The list also includes the perpetrator of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history – a 64-year-old who <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/las-vegas-police-investigating-shooting-mandalay-bay-n806461">killed 60 people at a 2017 music festival</a> in Las Vegas.</p>
<p>The others were a 66-year-old who was supposed to turn himself in to serve a prison sentence but instead <a href="https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/baker-william.htm">killed four people at the manufacturing plant</a> where he used to work in Illinois in 2001; a 64-year-old who <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/03/14/upstate-new-york-herkimer-mohawk-suspect-surrounded/1986913/">killed four barbershop and oil change shop patrons</a> in rural New York in 2013; a 62-year-old who <a href="https://www.fosters.com/story/news/local/2017/02/22/author-to-speak-at-library-about-colebrook-shooting/22146250007/">killed four people</a> in 1997 in New Hampshire, including two state troopers and a judge; and a 60-year-old <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-25-mn-990-story.html">who killed six at a shopping center</a> in Palm Bay, Florida, in 1987.</p>
<p>Nearly all of the over-60s perpetrators of mass shootings prior to the January 2023 Californian incidents were white men – just one was a nonwhite male. This differs in the Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay incidents, both of which are thought to have been carried out by Asian Americans.</p>
<h2>Less likely to leak details of attack</h2>
<p>Mass shooters over 60 also tend to have prior criminal records and to target their place of employment, or retail and outdoor locations in communities they knew well.</p>
<p>What separates the older mass shooters from their younger counterparts is that mass shooters in their 20s and 30s typically study previous mass shooters for inspiration and validation. Younger shooters also tend to <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073">communicate intent to do harm</a> in advance. This practice, known as leakage, is often seen as a final cry for help. Younger shooters also tend to leave behind manifestos to communicate their anger and grievances to the world, the data shows. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.07.005">Analysis of their expressed motives</a> suggest they are seeking fame and notoriety for their actions. </p>
<p>None of the shooters aged 60 and above in our database did that – although investigations are ongoing in the back-to-back California cases. Instead, they tend to have experienced a recent stressor, such as a family conflict or debt. They are more likely to be motivated by legal, financial and interpersonal conflicts, not hate or fame-seeking like many of their younger counterparts.</p>
<p>But all perpetrators of mass shootings, young and old, have some things in common. Their mass shooting is intended to be their final act. Whether they die by suicide – as is <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-22/la-me-monterey-park-mass-shooting">seemingly the case with the alleged Monterey Park shooter</a>, are killed on scene, or <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-23/half-moon-bay-shooting-multiple-victims">sit and wait to be arrested like the Half Moon Bay suspect did</a>, mass shootings are a final act of hopelessness and anger. </p>
<p>They also have access to the firearms they need to commit these devastating crimes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Densley has received funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Joyce Foundation. </span></em></p>Mass shooters over the age of 60 are rare, but often differ from younger gunmen in motives and actions prior to their attack.Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983732023-01-24T18:40:32Z2023-01-24T18:40:32ZMonterey Park: A pioneering Asian American suburb shaken by the tragedy of a mass shooting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506119/original/file-20230124-19-5f1ehp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C7309%2C4883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A community in mourning.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mourner-attends-a-candlelight-vigil-for-victims-of-a-mass-news-photo/1459049683?phrase=Monterey%20Park&adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Americans of Asian descent, Monterey Park – a town near Los Angeles, located in the San Gabriel Valley – is a cultural center. </p>
<p>It embodies <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520345850/resisting-change-in-suburbia">the modern Asian American experience</a>; that is, a place where Asians in America can access and practice a diverse array of traditions and cultural pursuits in an environment where they are the norm, as opposed to marginal.</p>
<p>The tragic <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-22/la-me-monterey-park-mass-shooting">mass shooting of Jan. 21, 2023</a>, in which 11 people were killed by a gunman who later took his own life, has put an unwanted spotlight on a site held near and dear to the Asian diaspora in the U.S. As an <a href="https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/james-zarsadiaz">Asian American scholar who has written about the importance</a> of communities like Monterey Park, I know the trauma felt there will ripple across all of Asian America.</p>
<h2>Asian America’s ‘town square’</h2>
<p>Monterey Park is the <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/ethnoburb-the-new-ethnic-community-in-urban-america/">original Asian “ethnoburb”</a> – that is, a suburb featuring a large, palpable concentration of immigrants or refugees and their kin. Businesses and community spaces in the town often reflect the cultural sensibilities and needs of these populations.</p>
<p>In the case of Monterey Park, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and, later, Mainland China and Vietnam have shaped the suburb’s landscapes and lifestyles for decades.</p>
<p>Like other inner-ring <a href="https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/40/california-and-the-postwar-suburban-home/">suburbs of postwar Los Angeles</a>, Monterey Park offered modest, affordable homes. It appealed to white mainly middle-class buyers who wanted to be near, but not in, the city.</p>
<p>In the 1950s and 1960s, a handful of Latino and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-19-ga-1788-story.html">Japanese American families</a> settled in the predominantly white community, making Monterey Park a relatively diverse suburb for the era. That diversity would only grow in the late 1970s when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/20/us/frederic-hsieh-is-dead-at-54-made-asian-american-suburb.html">Frederic Hsieh</a> – a Chinese investor – purchased property in Monterey Park and dubbed it the future “Chinese Beverly Hills.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man in dark pants and a light blazer sits on a car in front of a building with 'Mandarin Realty Co. Inc' written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Real estate broker Fred Hsieh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FredHsieh/f9f6f4f194bc4b28b9baa876ec6936b8/photo?Query=Monterey%20Park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=428&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Wally Fong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hsieh believed its location was ideal for like-minded immigrants in search of the suburban good life. And his transnational effort in making Monterey Park a magnet for Chinese families worked. During the 1980s, settlers from Hong Kong and Taiwan bought homes. Within a decade, Chinese restaurants, shops, language schools, and community organizations dotted Monterey Park’s hills and boulevards. </p>
<h2>Building a community</h2>
<p>While Asian Americans found a handful of sympathetic allies across racial lines in their efforts to turn Monterey Park into a vibrant immigrant community, they also <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-aug-03-la-me-english-signs-20130804-story.html">encountered critics</a> who claimed they did not “Americanize” enough. Naysayers condemned Chinese-language business signage or Asian-owned properties that transgressed Monterey Park’s aesthetic norms.</p>
<p>Over time, dissatisfied white <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-12-ga-991-story.html">suburbanites left Monterey Park</a>. Those who stayed built multiracial coalitions for the sake of moving forward. Today, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/montereyparkcitycalifornia/PST045222">Monterey Park is two-thirds Asian</a>, with Chinese residents comprising the majority.</p>
<p>With the passage of time and the rapid growth of Asian settlers, Monterey Park became known as the “first suburban Chinatown.” With its overtly Asian strip malls and plazas, Monterey Park’s novelty is its difference – showcasing the diaspora all day, every day, in the most “typical” of American landscapes: the suburbs.</p>
<h2>Ripples of grief</h2>
<p>And now, Monterey Park must contend with what is also an all-too-familiar part of the American landscape: <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/gun-violence-7990">gun violence</a>.</p>
<p>Residents in Monterey Park – and in neighboring ethnoburbs like Alhambra, San Gabriel and Rosemead – have been left shaken. But the news and images from the mass shooting will haunt all Asian Americans because of the location’s familiarity. Monterey Park’s Lunar New Year celebrations were not unlike gatherings throughout the country: house parties with families and friends dressed to the nines, restaurants open long hours to serve the community, and dance halls packed with multigenerational revelers. Those tender moments were ruined in just minutes.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-23/jealousy-possible-motives-in-monterey-park-shooting">motives of the perpetrator</a> are under investigation, the tragedy in America’s “first suburban Chinatown” revealed that there is still much to do in keeping our communities safe. Moreover, for countless Asian Americans, grief has become all too familiar as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwide-last-year-repo-rcna14282">anti-Asian hate crimes have risen</a> across the nation – sparking initial concern that the shooting might have been race-related.</p>
<p>Time will tell how Monterey Park recovers, but at least the community there can take comfort in knowing that millions of Asian Americans will be alongside their journey.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Zarsadiaz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once seen as the Chinese Beverly Hills, Monterey Park is now seen as Asian America’s ‘town square’ – the impact of a mass shooting there will ripple across the country.James Zarsadiaz, Associate Professor of History, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983662023-01-23T21:15:26Z2023-01-23T21:15:26ZHorror and anguish are playing out on repeat following the latest mass shooting – and the mental health scars extend far beyond those directly affected<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505949/original/file-20230123-7861-4i7gf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C142%2C5909%2C3737&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, Calif., is the latest in an endless string of gun violence tragedies.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CaliforniaShooting/adecd28f335647b9a565166a7d3e540f/photo?Query=monterey%20park%20shooting&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=79&currentItemNo=36">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Yet another <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/monterey-park-shooting/suspect-dead-2/">community is stricken with grief</a> in the wake of the horrific shooting at Monterey Park, California, on Jan. 21, 2023, that left <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/23/monterey-park-mass-shooting/">11 people dead and 9 more wounded</a>. Families and friends of the victims, as well as those who were injured, are no doubt gripped with grief, anguish and despair. </p>
<p>In addition to those who are experiencing direct loss, such events also take a toll on others, including those who witnessed the shooting, first responders, people who were nearby and those who hear about it through the media.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UDytFmIAAAAJ&hl=en">trauma and anxiety researcher and clinician</a>, and I know that the effects of such violence reach millions. While the immediate survivors are most affected, the rest of society suffers, too.</p>
<h2>First, the immediate survivors</h2>
<p>It is important to understand that no two people experience such horrific exposure in the same way. The extent of the trauma, stress or fear can vary. Survivors of a shooting may want to avoid the neighborhood where the shooting occurred or the context related to shooting, such as grocery stores, if the shooting happened at one. In the worst case, a survivor may develop post-traumatic stress disorder. </p>
<p>PTSD is a debilitating condition that develops after exposure to serious traumatic experiences such as war, natural disasters, rape, assault, robbery, car accidents – and, of course, gun violence. Nearly 8% of the <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/what/ptsd_basics.asp">U.S. population deals with PTSD</a>. <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/dsm5_ptsd.asp">Symptoms include</a> high anxiety, avoidance of reminders of the trauma, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, frequent intrusive memories of trauma, nightmares and flashbacks. The brain switches to fight-or-flight mode, or survival mode, and the person is always waiting for something terrible to happen. </p>
<p>When the trauma is caused by people, as in a mass shooting, the impact can be profound. The rate of PTSD in mass shootings may be as high as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.151.1.82">36% among survivors</a>. Depression, another debilitating psychiatric condition, occurs in as many as <a href="https://theconversation.com/syrian-refugees-in-america-the-forgotten-psychological-wounds-of-the-stress-of-migration-96155">80% of people with PTSD</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women embrace each other, one with a tear-stained face, at a daytime gathering to honor the victims killed in the ballroom dance studio shooting in Monterey Park, California." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505951/original/file-20230123-24-5g23yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jolie Slater, right, and Beth Paz, from Lake Avenue Church, embrace each other at a gathering held to honor the victims killed in the Jan. 21, 2023, ballroom dance studio shooting in Monterey Park, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CaliforniaShooting/7027b43e6ead4afa93ae360e3de6f86e/photo?Query=monterey%20park%20shooting&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=79&currentItemNo=11">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Survivors of shootings may also experience <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/types/mass_violence_help.asp">survivor’s guilt</a>, the feeling that they failed others who died or did not do enough to help them, or just guilt at having survived. </p>
<p>PTSD can improve by itself, but many people need treatment. There are effective treatments available in the form of psychotherapy and medications. The more chronic it gets, the more negative the impact on the brain, and the harder to treat.</p>
<p>Children and adolescents, who are developing their worldview and deciding how safe it is to live in this society, may suffer even more. Exposure to horrific experiences such as school shootings or related news can fundamentally affect the way people perceive the world as a safe or unsafe place, and how much they can rely on the adults and society in general to protect them. </p>
<p>They can carry such a worldview for the rest of their lives, and even transfer it to their children. Research is also abundant on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/howard-stern-talks-childhood-trauma-and-a-trauma-psychiatrist-talks-about-its-lasting-effects-118027">long-term detrimental impact</a> of such childhood trauma on a person’s <a href="https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/long_term_consequences.pdf">mental and physical health</a> and their ability to function through their adult life.</p>
<h2>The effect on those close by, or arriving later</h2>
<p>PTSD can develop not only through personal exposure to trauma, but also via exposure to others’ severe trauma. Humans have survived as a species particularly because of the ability to fear as a group. That means we <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-fright-why-we-love-to-be-scared-85885">learn fear and experience terror through exposure</a> to the trauma and fear of others. Even seeing a frightened face in black and white on a computer will make our <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00154">amygdala</a>, the fear area of our brain, light up in brain imaging studies. </p>
<p>People in the vicinity of a mass shooting may see exposed, disfigured, burned or dead bodies. They may also see injured people in agony, hear extremely loud noises and experience chaos and terror in the post-shooting environment. They must also face the unknown, or a sense of lack of control over the situation. The fear of the unknown plays an important role in making people feel insecure, terrified and traumatized. </p>
<p>A group whose chronic exposure to such trauma is usually overlooked is the first responders. While victims and potential victims try to run away from an active shooter, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aching-blue-trauma-stress-and-invisible-wounds-of-those-in-law-enforcement-146539">the police</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aching-red-firefighters-often-silently-suffer-from-trauma-and-job-related-stress-164994">firefighters</a> and paramedics rush into the danger zone. </p>
<p>Many of these first responders might have their own children in that school or nearby. They frequently face uncertainty; threats to themselves, their colleagues and others; and terrible bloody post-shooting scenes. This exposure happens to them too frequently. PTSD has been reported in up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.06.015">20% of first responders</a> to mass violence. </p>
<h2>Widespread panic and pain</h2>
<p>People who were not directly exposed to a disaster but who were <a href="https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.19709">exposed to the news</a> also experience distress, anxiety or even PTSD. This happened <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.5.581">after 9/11</a>. Fear, the coming unknown – is there another strike? are other co-conspirators involved? – and reduced faith in perceived safety may all play a role in this. </p>
<p>Repeated media exposure to the circumstances surrounding a tragic event, including images of the aftermath of a shooting, can be highly stressful to survivors, those who lost loved ones and to first responders. In my clinic, I hear from affected people that repeatedly seeing the event on the news, as well as having others ask them about their experiences, can bring painful memories to the surface. Some first responders I’ve worked with try to hide their occupation from others to prevent being asked about such events.</p>
<p>Every time there is a mass shooting in a new place, people learn that kind of place is now on the not-very-safe list. People worry not only about themselves but also about the safety of their children and other loved ones.</p>
<h2>Is there any good to come of such tragedy?</h2>
<p>We can channel the collective agony and frustration to encourage meaningful changes, such as making gun laws safer, opening constructive discussions, informing the public about the risks and calling on lawmakers to take real action. In times of hardship, humans often can raise the sense of community, support one another and fight for their rights, including the right to be safe at schools, concerts, restaurants and movie theaters.</p>
<p>One beautiful outcome of the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 was the solidarity of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/10/28/respond-evil-with-good-muslim-community-raises-money-victims-synagogue-shooting/">Muslim community with the Jewish</a>. This is especially productive in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-fear-how-it-manipulates-us-to-tribalism-113815">current political environment</a>, with fear and division being so common.</p>
<p>Sadness, anxiety, anger and frustration can be channeled into actions such as becoming involved in activism and volunteering to help the victims. It is also important not to spend too much time watching television coverage; turn it off when it stresses you too much.</p>
<p>Finally, studies have shown that exposure to media coverage for several hours daily following a collective trauma <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316265110">can lead to high stress</a>. So check the news a couple of times a day to be informed, but don’t continue seeking out coverage <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-protect-your-family-from-horrific-news-images-and-still-stay-informed-181818">and exposure to graphic images and news</a>. The news cycle tends to report the same stories without much additional information.</p>
<p>_Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of an article originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/mass-shootings-leave-emotional-and-mental-scars-on-survivors-first-responders-and-millions-of-others-157935">March 26, 2021</a>. It was updated with the news of an 11th death on Jan. 23, 2023.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arash Javanbakht does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even people who are only indirectly exposed to these repeat tragedies, such as first responders and those affected by media coverage, can experience profound and long-lasting grief.Arash Javanbakht, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982182023-01-19T21:22:32Z2023-01-19T21:22:32ZWhat is involuntary manslaughter? A law professor explains the charge facing Alec Baldwin for ‘Rust’ shooting death<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505468/original/file-20230119-26-w9y9jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C169%2C5345%2C3315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, in late 2021 while filming a movie in New Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PropFirearmMovieSet/373f9ec3a3014e6c985d1d165d7bca12/photo?Query=alec%20baldwin%20rust&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=63&currentItemNo=25">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A prosecutor in New Mexico <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/arts/rust-shooting-charges-alec-baldwin.html">intends to charge Alec Baldwin</a> with two counts of involuntary manslaughter it was announced on Jan. 19, 2023, over the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/us/alec-baldwin-shooting-rust-movie.html">deadly shooting</a> on the set of the film “Rust” in 2021. The shooting occurred while Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a gun that had been loaded with live ammunition instead of blanks. The prosecutor also intends to charge Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the <a href="https://www.careersinfilm.com/armorer/">armorer</a> responsible for <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/after-rust-shooting-industry-veterans-say-buck-stops-armorers-movie-n1282743">overseeing the safety of firearms</a> on the set, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter as well. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X8tNfOsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">professor of law</a>, my job is to understand the nuance of the U.S. legal system. Involuntary manslaughter occurs when a person unintentionally, but still unlawfully, kills another person. And a prosecutor will need to show the unlawful nature of either Baldwin’s or Gutierrez-Reed’s actions to get a conviction in this case.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A number of handgun cartridges with the tops pinched closed and no bullet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505472/original/file-20230119-16395-n9cbqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baldwin thought the gun was loaded with blanks, ammunition that contains powder but not a bullet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffalo_Blanks_Mounted_Shooting_Blanks.jpg">KenAmorosano/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A reckless or negligent accident</h2>
<p>To convict someone of involuntary manslaughter, a prosecutor has to prove that the defendant <a href="https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/involuntary-manslaughter-overview.html">acted either recklessly or with criminal negligence</a>.</p>
<p>To prove someone acted recklessly, a prosecutor has to show that the defendant was aware of the risk they were creating with their actions – like a drunk driver crashing into a car and <a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/driver-convicted-involuntary-manslaughter-killed-baby-2-parents-jefferson-co/63-e9d29793-5187-446e-9067-96e8f29e0806">killing a baby and her parents</a>. In contrast, the charge of criminal negligence is filed when a defendant is not aware of the risk, but a reasonable person in the position of the defendant would have been aware of the risk. For example, if someone rents out an apartment without smoke detectors and there is a fire that kills the occupants, the owner of the apartment could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.</p>
<p>The question for a potential jury is whether Baldwin was guilty of either reckless or criminally negligent actions that resulted in the death of <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/halyna-hutchins-in-her-own-words/ar-AA16wWuh">Halyna Hutchins</a>, the cinematographer on the “Rust” set. </p>
<p>The prosecutor is alleging that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/arts/rust-shooting-charges-alec-baldwin.html?">Baldwin had a duty</a> to ensure that the gun and the ammunition he used were properly checked and that without doing that check himself, Baldwin should never have pointed the gun at anyone. Although that is what the prosecutor is claiming, a complicating factor is that there was another person, an on-set safety person responsible for the weapons and ammunition. </p>
<p>To convict Baldwin of manslaughter – assuming the case goes to trial – the prosecutor will have to convince a jury of two things. First, that Baldwin could not reasonably rely on Gutierrez-Reed to do her job and ensure that the gun did not have any live ammunition in it. And second, that Baldwin acted recklessly, or at least with criminal negligence, by not checking the gun and the ammunition himself before pointing the gun at the person he killed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter A. Joy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To convict Alec Baldwin of manslaughter for the on-set deadly shooting of Halyna Hutchins in 2021, prosecution will need to show that the actor was either reckless or criminally negligent.Peter A. Joy, Henry Hitchcock Professor of Law, School of Law, Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975972023-01-12T13:20:36Z2023-01-12T13:20:36ZHow does a child become a shooter? Research suggests easy access to guns and exposure to screen violence increase the risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504081/original/file-20230111-18-oyusqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C2747%2C1826&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The shooting of an elementary school teacher by one of her students is a shocking example of gun violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-tape-hangs-from-a-sign-post-outside-richneck-news-photo/1246066075?phrase=virginia%20teacher&adppopup=true">Jay Paul/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of a shocking incident in which a <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-grader-who-shot-teacher-in-virginia-is-among-the-youngest-school-shooters-in-us-history-197392">first grader shot and seriously injured a teacher</a> at a school in Newport News, Virginia, the city’s mayor <a href="https://twitter.com/Phil_Jones_757/status/1611843035905785856">asked the question</a>: “How did this happen?” </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/6-year-old-unlikely-charged-teachers-shooting-parents-experts-say-rcna65176">details</a> are now known: The child took the gun from his home, and the firearm was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/09/virginia-teacher-6-year-old-student-authorities-gun-shooting/11020209002/">legally purchased by his mother</a>.</p>
<p>Many other aspects of the incident have yet to be established – not least, the likely many factors that resulted in the boy shooting his teacher. But as <a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/dan-romer-phd">experts in media use</a> <a href="https://comm.osu.edu/people/bushman.20">and its connections to violence</a>, we have reported some disturbing findings about how children are influenced by gun violence depicted in media like television, movies and video games. What makes this more troubling is the fact that <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951">millions of children in the U.S. have easy access</a> to firearms in their homes, increasing the risk of gun deaths, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-easy-access-to-guns-at-home-contributes-to-americas-youth-suicide-problem-187744">including suicides</a>. </p>
<h2>The effect of media violence on children</h2>
<p>Research has shown that the depiction of gun violence is increasing in both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-1600">movies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247780">on TV</a>. Our research found that acts of gun violence in PG-13 movies has nearly tripled in the 30 years since the rating was introduced in 1984. And PG-13 movies are not exclusively watched by teens and above. A <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1018017/pg-13-movie-viewing-age-us/">survey of adults in 2019</a> found that 12% said they were allowed to watch PG-13 movies between the ages of 6 and 9, with 6% saying they watched such films aged even younger.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://homeword.com/2019/01/22/movie-violence-doesnt-make-kids-violent-study-finds/#.Y78jYOzML9E">some skeptics say</a> violent media do not lead children to become more aggressive, a large survey conducted in 2015 found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000046">most pediatricians and media scholars agree</a> that there is a link. </p>
<p>Violent media can also lead children to engage in more dangerous behavior if they find a real gun. In studies one of us conducted, exposure to both <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.2229">movies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org//10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4319">video games</a> with guns was found to encourage children ages 8-12 years old to pick up a real gun that had been hidden in a drawer and pull the trigger, including while pointing the gun at themselves or their friend. This behavior was observed by a hidden camera.</p>
<p>This is what can happen if parents do not store a gun in a secure location in the home.</p>
<p>The child in the Virginia shooting was younger than 8 years old, but there is no reason to believe the effects we found would differ in a younger child. In fact, the effects might be stronger in younger children because those younger than about 8 can have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Fake-Fact-and-Fantasy-Childrens-Interpretations-of-Television-Reality/Davies/p/book/9780805820478">more difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy</a>.</p>
<p>Violence in the media can desensitize or numb children to violence. In <a href="https://doi.org//10.1177/0886260515584337">one study</a>, researchers found that “children exposed to multiple sources of violence may become desensitized, increasing the possibility of them imitating the aggressive behaviors they watch and considering such behavior as normal.”</p>
<p>Movies containing gun violence that are rated PG-13 portray the use of guns <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3491">in ways that are unrealistic</a>. The effects of gun use in such films are often sanitized so that one rarely sees much blood or serious harm, unlike what is typically shown in movies that are rated R. This could give a child the sense that using a gun to harm someone is not as dangerous as it actually could be.</p>
<p>What concerns us about these findings is that they come at a time of increased media consumption by younger children. A <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2021">2021 report</a> by Common Sense Media found that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/health/covid-kids-tech-use.html">media use by children has risen faster</a> in the two years since the pandemic than the four years before. <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2798256">Research has found</a> that children ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old spent an average of more than three hours a day on screens and consuming media during the pandemic. </p>
<h2>Guns in the home</h2>
<p>Children are naturally curious, and adults often <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-school-shooters-get-their-guns-from-home-and-during-the-pandemic-the-number-of-firearms-in-households-with-teenagers-went-up-172951">underestimate their ability to find guns</a> hidden in the home. As one <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/09/health/gun-safety-tips-for-home-parents-children-wellness/index.html">firearms expert noted</a>, “Their brains are developing. That same curiosity that can inspire them to pick up a book and want to learn how to read can inspire them to go looking for a parent’s gun.” </p>
<p>And the U.S. has <a href="https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/database/global-firearms-holdings">far more</a> civilian-owned guns per capita than any country in the world, with 120.5 guns per 100 residents – the next highest country is Yemen, with 52.8 guns per 100 residents.</p>
<p>The U.S. is also an outlier when it comes to gun-related violence, with rates about <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier">23 times higher</a> than in other developed countries. </p>
<p>Figures from the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety show that every year <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/">more than 300 people are either wounded or killed</a> in unintentional shootings by children. Data on the number of people shot by children intentionally is not, to our knowledge, available.</p>
<p>It is vital for gun owners to lock away firearms, unloaded, with ammunition stored separately – especially if there are children in the home. The <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/state-advocacy/safe-storage-of-firearms/">American Academy of Pediatrics</a> recommends that all guns be secured to decrease “the risk of both unintentional gun injuries and intentional shootings.” Roughly a third of U.S. homes with children have guns, but <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2018/survey-more-than-half-of-u-s-gun-owners-do-not-safely-store-their-guns">less than half</a> of gun owners secure their guns. As of 2022, an estimated <a href="https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Handguns-in-the-Home.aspx">4.6 million children in the U.S.</a> live in a home with unlocked, loaded guns.</p>
<p>What drove the child at an elementary school in Virginia to shoot his teacher is something that is not publicly known. But what the research clearly shows is that exposure to gun violence in media and easy access to firearms around the home all serve to increase the risks of any child picking up a gun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Romer receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Bushman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Watching gun violence on screen can desensitize children to the harm caused by firearms.Brad Bushman, Professor of Communication and Rinehart Chair of Mass Communication, The Ohio State UniversityDan Romer, Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973922023-01-08T17:56:08Z2023-01-08T17:56:08ZFirst grader who shot teacher in Virginia is among the youngest school shooters in US history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503494/original/file-20230108-19-ebm248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C12%2C2733%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A school sign wishing students a Happy New Year stands outside Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 7, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, where a 6-year-old boy reportedly shot his teacher after an altercation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-tape-hangs-from-a-sign-post-outside-richneck-news-photo/1246066061?phrase=newport+news+shooting&adppopup=true">Jay Paul / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Barely a week into the new year, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html">6-year-old boy shot his teacher</a> at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, becoming one of the youngest school shooters in the nation’s history. While <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/us/virginia-shooting-richneck-elementary.html">details of the case are still emerging</a>, his teacher remains hospitalized with serious injuries. David Riedman, creator of the <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/">K-12 School Shooting Database</a>, discusses the relative rarity of school shooters under age 10 and the likely aftermath of the event.</em></p>
<h2>How rare is it to have a school shooter this young?</h2>
<p>This is the 17th shooting involving a student under the age of 10 at a school since 1970 – the first year for which my database keeps track. Most of these shootings were not intentional. But in 1975, a 9-year-old student at the Pitcher School in Detroit was in a fight with a 13-year-old, left campus, got a rifle from his house and came back to the school and shot the student in the head, killing him. </p>
<p>In 2000, a <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2020/02/first-grader-kayla-rolland-was-fatally-shot-at-school-20-years-ago-heres-how-it-happened.html">6-year-old boy fatally shot his 6-year-old classmate, Kayla Rolland</a>, in their classroom at Buell Elementary School in Michigan while their teacher lined up other students in the hallway. The shooting <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rUsqghKKBfsC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=kayla+rolland+playground+fight&source=bl&ots=S6A2xBTk5G&sig=ACfU3U2dIuDHD1ukKTBNTWXfPRo0OzSrSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiipOfp27X8AhW1lGoFHc-gDwM4ChDoAXoECAMQAw#v=onepage&q=kayla%20rolland%20playground%20fight&f=falseon">followed a dispute on the playground</a>.</p>
<h2>How do kids this young typically get guns?</h2>
<p>In most school shootings, the gun is taken from the student’s home or from the house of a friend or relative. In the 2000 shooting at Buell Elementary, the student’s uncle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/e4d184e6ebb0d5859636d05963c2daba">sentenced to prison for a minimum of two years</a> for leaving a firearm in an easily accessible place. </p>
<p>The 6-year-old shooter did not face charges due to his age.</p>
<h2>What stands out about this recent case?</h2>
<p>The most striking part of this shooting is that it appears to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/06/virginia-school-student-shot-teacher">intentional</a>. While many details remain unknown, it is likely that the student had the gun with him the entire day, possibly multiple days, before shooting his teacher. In many states, the legal system assumes that young children are not capable of the thought and planning that goes into committing a violent crime. In Virginia, the <a href="https://virginiarules.org/varules_topics/introduction-to-juvenile-justice-in-virginia/">minimum age</a> to charge someone with a felony is 14 years old.</p>
<h2>Do schools need to start searching first graders?</h2>
<p>Despite the attention that they generated, school shootings at any age are relatively rare. There have been 17 shootings involving kids under 10 publicly reported across a 52-year period. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=55">More than 50 million students</a> attend schools every year, and fewer than 300 of them shoot someone on campus.</p>
<p>When most guns that end up in schools come from the home, I’d argue it is the responsibility of parents, relatives and older siblings to make sure that every firearm is locked, secured and accounted for.</p>
<p>The use of metal detectors has been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124510380717">increase students’ anxiety</a> and are only effective with constant maintenance, training, staffing and screening procedures. Some of the incidents involving children have resulted from adults putting a firearm in the kid’s bag and the child firing it when they find the gun at school. </p>
<h2>What’s next for this boy?</h2>
<p>This remains unclear, and due to juvenile privacy laws, we may never know. The 6-year-old who killed his classmate at Buell Elementary in 2000 was not charged with a crime. In 2021 in Rigby, Idaho, a 12-year-old girl shot three people during a planned attack at Rigby Middle School. Based on her written plan, this young girl intended to <a href="https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2022/04/07/documents-shed-light-on-rigby-middle-school-shooting/">kill 20 students and wound 40 to 60 others</a>. She is <a href="https://www.idahoednews.org/news/rigby-school-shooter-still-in-state-custody/">being held in juvenile custody</a> until she turns 19 – and possibly until age 21 if she is not deemed fully rehabilitated – following a guilty plea to three counts of first-degree murder.</p>
<h2>What’s next for the school?</h2>
<p>While much attention is focused on the shooter and teacher, a classroom full of first graders witnessed their classmate shoot the teacher. She was <a href="https://www.wsaz.com/video/2023/01/07/teacher-critical-after-newport-news-school-shooting/">critically injured</a>, which means that it was likely a gruesome scene. These students will all need extensive counseling to understand and deal with this trauma. For the other students, teachers and parents, this is also a traumatic experience, and many students may no longer want to go to school. </p>
<h2>What does this case suggest for school safety in the US broadly?</h2>
<p>There were 302 shootings in school property in 2022, more than in any other year since 1970. Since 2017, the number of shootings each year has significantly increased. This pattern matches the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-recent-rise-in-violent-crime-is-driven-by-gun-violence/">spiking rates of violent crime and gun crime</a> across the country. It is important to remember that most shootings at schools are committed by current or former students, not outsiders breaking into the building. Because of this, school security plans need to include all levels of schools and shootings by all ages of students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Extremely young school shooters are not believed to be capable of forming criminal intent.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959202022-12-22T03:35:53Z2022-12-22T03:35:53ZPolice gun violence is glorified on screen. But more armed and aggressive policing doesn’t actually make us safer<p>American popular culture dominates international markets. Among its most enduringly successful products are police dramas and movies. Many of these feature frequent and overwhelmingly positive depictions of police gun violence – a popular example, and a favourite at this time of year, is Die Hard.</p>
<p>These works are, of course, fictions. But popular fictional depictions of policing can have real-world consequences for police and communities.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_13">new book chapter</a>, published in November, argues that continued exposure to frequently repeated media tropes and narratives can affect public perceptions and expectations of policing.</p>
<p>In many parts of the world, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1805161115">policing is becoming more militarised</a>. Even in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/22/one-in-three-uk-officers-want-all-police-to-carry-guns-survey-finds">Great Britain</a> and <a href="https://www.policeassn.org.nz/news/we-need-general-arming#/">New Zealand</a>, two of the small number of jurisdictions where police do not routinely carry firearms, the appetite for armed policing has increased. This shift is justified by police in the name of ensuring safety.</p>
<p>But there’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-15-9526-4">no clear empirical evidence</a> that routinely armed police are less likely to be killed or injured in the line of duty, or that communities whose police routinely carry firearms are safer.</p>
<p>On the contrary: <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/vio.2019.0020">our research</a> indicates that a more armed and aggressive style of policing is associated with lower levels of safety.</p>
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<h2>Weapon product placement</h2>
<p>Most of us are familiar with product placement – the use of identifiable products and brands in media. When the products are relatively harmless, such as sunglasses or luggage, the practice is arguably relatively innocuous.</p>
<p>But there’s greater concern when the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10641734.1997.10505056">products are inherently more risky</a>, such as alcohol and tobacco, where their use can be harmful in the real world.</p>
<p>On-screen depictions of smoking have become steadily more restricted. </p>
<p>But less attention has been given to the sponsored use of recognisable branded firearms, particularly in United States’ police procedural dramas and movies. We call this “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-9526-4_7">weapon product placement</a>”.</p>
<p>Firearms company Glock has its weapons <a href="https://features.hollywoodreporter.com/the-gun-industrys-lucrative-relationship-with-hollywood/">prominently</a> <a href="https://productplacementblog.com/tag/glock/">featured</a> in many US TV dramas and movies, so much so that in 2010, a branding website gave Glock <a href="https://theconversation.com/hollywoods-love-of-guns-increases-the-risk-of-shootings-both-on-and-off-the-set-170489">a</a> “lifetime achievement award for product placement”.</p>
<p>Product placement can have a significant and long-lasting influence on behaviours, expectations, and popular understandings. Prior to the <a href="https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/commercial-tobacco-control/master-settlement-agreement">restrictions</a> introduced during the 1990s, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pcn.12365">smoking on TV and in movies</a> was often synonymous with glamour, sophistication and success. US police-based dramas and movies now present firearms as essential for successful policing. </p>
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<h2>On-screen police gun violence is often revered</h2>
<p>A study of US TV programming between 2000 and 2018 found the rate of gun violence has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33730080/">increased in popular TV dramas</a> – both in absolute terms, and as a proportion of the violence in these programs.</p>
<p>Depictions of police gun violence in US movies and TV dramas typically reflect the well-worn <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-20817967">US National Rifle Association mantra</a>: “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”. </p>
<p>Viewers of US police-focused dramas and movies are exposed to frequent and extreme gun violence by police officers. Much of it is presented as essential, positive and heroic.</p>
<p>But such valorisation risks eroding the public’s understanding of the crucial <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003047117-4/doctrine-minimum-force-policing-richard-evans-clare-farmer">doctrine of minimum-force policing</a>. This requires police officers to use the minimum force necessary to bring a situation under control.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-are-more-likely-to-kill-men-and-women-of-color-121158">Police are more likely to kill men and women of color</a>
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<p>On-screen glorification of police gun violence can create unrealistic and undesirable public expectations of how police go about their work, and how critical incidents should be resolved.</p>
<p>Police-focused movies and TV shows rarely include realistic depictions of the consequences of a shooting, such as wounded people screaming. There’s typically little consideration of the potential for police shooting the wrong person, or a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_12">person who has a mental illness</a>, or a person assumed to be an offender because of <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.us">racial or other stereotyping</a>. </p>
<p>The human consequences of gun violence – pain, suffering, loss – are usually acknowledged only when one of the “good guys” is hurt or killed. The overall effect is to dehumanise those depicted as “bad guys” and to present their deaths as being of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/47894/the-normalization-of-fatal-police-shootings/">little consequence</a>.</p>
<h2>Excessive force</h2>
<p>Too often, this dangerous perception plays out in real-world policing.</p>
<p>In the US, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z">excessive force is commonplace</a>, and <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/">roughly 1,000 people are killed each year</a> by police officers, many of them needlessly, and some unlawfully.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/breonna-taylor-boyfriend-kenneth-walker-2m-settlement-louisville/101767160">Breonna Taylor</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-minneapolis-police-officer-derek-chauvin-sentenced-more-20-years-prison-depriving">George Floyd</a> are recent high-profile examples.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_16">research</a> examining public perceptions of US police gun violence has found respondents typically support the use of deadly force.</p>
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<h2>Media priming</h2>
<p>Do these media tropes contribute to a belief that firearms are central to effective policing? And do they contribute to instances of police aggression in the real world?</p>
<p>There’s no simple causal link between the fictional presentation of police gun violence and specific actions in the real world. Indeed, the effects of <a href="https://fusion-journal.com/issue/007-fusion-mask-performance-performativity-and-communication/police-as-television-viewers-and-policing-practitioners/">screen depictions</a> of police gun violence are complex, nuanced and multidimensional.</p>
<p>However, the associations between <a href="https://oxfordre.com/criminology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-33?TB_iframe=true&width=921.6&height=921.6">media priming and copycat behaviours</a> are well documented. That is, people can perceive what they view (such as how police behave in a TV drama) as being indicative of real life, and some may even act out what they see on screen.</p>
<p>Imitation is a key learning tool. We derive such learning from many sources, including family and friends, and also broader social and cultural influences.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-kumanjayi-walker-murder-case-echoes-a-long-history-of-police-violence-against-first-nations-people-179289">The Kumanjayi Walker murder case echoes a long history of police violence against First Nations people</a>
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<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_13">Our research</a> suggests that the prominent use of firearms by police within US TV and movies, and the particular ways in which their use is depicted, can affect public perceptions and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093854815604180?journalCode=cjbb">expectations of policing</a>. For example, it might lead to a belief that it’s appropriate for police, in almost any scenario, to arrive with their firearms drawn and ready to discharge. </p>
<p>Despite the publicity surrounding high-profile unlawful killings, one <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093854815604180?journalCode=cjbb">study</a> found respondents who watched US crime shows were more likely (than those who do not view such shows) to believe that force is only used by police officers when necessary.</p>
<p>Serving and potential future police officers are also viewers of TV and movies. Our contention is that the widespread and positive depictions of a firearms-focused, aggressive yet heroic style of fictional policing has the capacity to influence the way in which police officers themselves behave.</p>
<p>Ultimately, <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/vio.2019.0020">real-world evidence</a> confirms that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2020.1811694">minimum-force policing is safer</a> and often more effective than the style of policing so colourfully depicted in US police dramas and movies such as Die Hard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Evidence confirms that minimum-force policing is safer and more effective than the style of policing so colourfully depicted in US crime shows and movies like Die Hard.Clare Farmer, Senior Lecturer, Criminology, Deakin UniversityRichard William Evans, Honorary Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908252022-12-07T17:57:46Z2022-12-07T17:57:46ZTo resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499364/original/file-20221206-11770-sz9tym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=381%2C911%2C6685%2C3411&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two fatal shooting incidents at Toronto high schools, 15 years apart, show just how little has been done to address the root cause of violence in schools. Here people protest gun violence in Toronto in March 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Singer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most recent <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-school-shooting-1.6635808">shooting involving a Toronto high school student this October</a> highlighted a rising problem with gun violence in North American schools. In Canada’s largest city, it raised alarms about how <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-youth-gun-violence-1.6353947">the crisis is getting worse and skewing younger</a>. </p>
<p>The recent tragedy is reminiscent of other high-profile shootings within Toronto high schools. In 2007, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/he-was-my-heart-says-mother-of-toronto-shooting-victim-1.669954">15-year-old high school student Jordan Manners</a> was fatally shot at school. In the years since Manners’s death, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mother-blames-culture-of-silence-in-son-s-shooting-death-1.740936">numerous recommendations</a> on gun violence came out of reports and committees. However, little has been done to improve the danger of gun violence for Toronto teens.</p>
<p>To make things better, policy conversations about gun violence need to shift. They need to expand beyond the person behind the gun and gun regulation and move towards <a href="https://organizingengagement.org/models/trauma-informed-community-building-model/">trauma-informed community programming</a> that dismantles systemic barriers and inequities.</p>
<h2>Risk factors that lead young people to violence</h2>
<p>Many studies indicate that problems like poverty and unemployment <a href="https://youthrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/rootsofyouthviolence-vol1.pdf">are major risk factors</a> that increase the likelihood of an individual gravitating towards gun violence.</p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ststclsnpsht-yth/ssyr-eng.pdf">only one in five children who need mental health services receive them</a>. A <a href="https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/guidance-report-2018/">2018 report by People for Education</a> found that in Ontario there was on average only one in-school guidance counsellor for every 396 students. Trauma and a lack of attention to it also <a href="https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf">leads to having intergenerational impacts</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Last year, there were 277 firearm homicides in Canada</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf">recent report</a> by The Centre for Research & Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (CRIB), racialized Ontarians account for 75 per cent of Canadian gun homicide victims; 44 per cent of those victims belong to African, Caribbean or other Black communities.</p>
<p>If we do not improve standards of living and create genuine opportunities in communities, the cycle of poverty, violence and crime will continue.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing violence trends in TDSB schools." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485172/original/file-20220918-34710-321qhw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rates of violence in TDSB schools have increased in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(TDSB)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disrupting the school to prison pipeline</h2>
<p>Education is one of the most effective protective factors in aiding reintegration and mitigating recidivism after release from prison. </p>
<p>There needs to be an ideological shift about the purpose of prisons. They should not be places that punish people by incarcerating them, but spaces that promote their rehabilitation.</p>
<p>As outlined in the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>, education is a human right that should be upheld for everyone. That right extends to individuals who are incarcerated.</p>
<p>To see where we are with this, the <a href="https://ccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CCLET_Laidlaw_Report_Final_Digital.pdf">Canadian Civil Liberties Association</a> conducted 50 interviews with youth (ages 12-17), staff and teachers at detention facilities and justice system professionals to explore education for youth in detention and the barriers they face.</p>
<p>They found that “facilities were treating youth as security threats to be managed, rather than students deserving of rehabilitation through educational opportunities”.</p>
<p>It costs the Correctional Service of Canada <a href="http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">an average of $111,202 per year to incarcerate one man (and twice as much to incarcerate one woman), with only $2950 of that money spent on education per prisoner</a>. </p>
<p>There is a lack of capacity within incarceration institutions to meet educational demands. And there is a lack of partnerships with school boards and post-secondary institutions <a href="https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/092/005007-2014-eng.pdf">to offer education in prisons</a>.</p>
<p>That lack of access to education is highly problematic given that the <a href="https://www.prisonfreepress.org/Facts.htm#:%7E:text=65%25%20of%20people%20entering%20prisons,of%20literacy%20the%20prisoner%20achieves.">majority of people incarcerated do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent</a>.</p>
<h2>Harm reduction</h2>
<p>A lack of mentorship and culturally relevant, responsive and sustaining education leads to many minoritized identities being pushed out of schools due to the content, policies, and teaching of schools not being reflective of their identities, histories or lived experiences.</p>
<p>For example, 80 per cent of school suspensions in Toronto are given to male students. <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Boardroom/Agenda-Minutes/Type/A?Folder=Agenda/20210623&Filename=CaringandSafeSchoolsAnnualReport201920204134.pdf">Indigenous, Black, Middle Eastern and mixed-race students are over-represented in the suspensions and expulsions relative to their overall representation within the TDSB student population</a>. </p>
<p>To counter this, there needs to be culturally relevant and responsive curriculum content and teaching to support learners and their families in relation to larger unmet needs at the community level.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign that reads: Toronto District school board in front of a brown building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499381/original/file-20221206-20-is41t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racialized students at Toronto schools are over-represented when it comes to suspensions and expulsions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Police and prevention</h2>
<p>If Canada is going to become the egalitarian role model it aims to be on the world stage, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-investigation-racial-bias-in-canadian-prison-risk-assessments/">over-policing of racialized communities</a> across the country must end. </p>
<p>Instead, more resources and emphasis on community-based intervention and prevention projects must be adopted such as <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/15/why-we-need-to-focus-on-gun-violence-as-a-public-health-crisis.html">Toronto’s TO Wards Peace and Public Safety Canada’s Peace Core New Narrative</a>. </p>
<p>Both initiatives propose a <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-139315.pdf">public health approach rooted in supporting access to opportunities across different sectors</a>. The projects were spearheaded via collaboration between different levels of government, community agencies and non-profits including <a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)</a> in Jane and Finch and <a href="https://www.think2.org/">Think 2wice</a> in Rexdale in Toronto. These are projects I am also involved in. In fact, I started as a youth counsellor at YAAACE when I was 17. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-156834.pdf">TO Wards Peace (TWP)</a> is a community-centric interruption model that features frontline “violence disruption workers.” These folks have lived experience and deep community connections which strengthens their capacity to build rapport with communities. In this way, they may be able to intervene peacefully and constructively, even in seriously violent or escalating situations. </p>
<p>At YAAACE, another initiative features <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyZC0-Bw_DU">“Community Resource Engagement Workers” supporting those impacted by the justice system</a> (people who have been released from incarceration or are incarcerated) to use their strengths in pursuing healthy lifestyle choices and building life skills. This involves access to programming and connecting people with needed social support services in a timely manner. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2022/06/government-taking-action-on-gun-violence-in-toronto-through-new-funding-for-gang-prevention-initiatives.html">recent pledge by the Canadian government</a> to fund community programs such as those mentioned above is a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>Canada needs to start putting the “human” back into the way it treats, responds to and serves marginalized communities. </p>
<p><em>Evie Mae Stevenson, a 3rd year undergraduate student who worked at YAAACE, helped write this article.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>To resolve growing violence in schools, policy conversations about gun violence need to include community programs that dismantle systemic barriers and inequities.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941452022-12-07T17:57:44Z2022-12-07T17:57:44ZHow can we slow down youth gun violence? — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499363/original/file-20221206-3888-uw7zw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C50%2C5526%2C3650&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fifteen years after Jordan Manners was killed in a Toronto school, Canada's largest city is still struggling to curb youth violence. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3ccb12ac-6927-4844-ae7d-3c0c82945809?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p>It was 15 years ago: police officers flooded C. W. Jefferys Collegiate in northwest Toronto. Outside, hundreds of anxious parents stood waiting for answers. The news that police delivered — as we now know — was tragic. </p>
<p>Fifteen-year-old Jordan Manners had been killed. It was the first time anyone had been fatally shot inside a Toronto school. Jordan’s death stunned his community and the nation. And for many, it punctured the illusion of safety in Canadian schools.</p>
<p>Since then, we’ve seen a slew of reports and funds directed at anti-violence projects in Toronto. But youth violence in Canada’s largest city hasn’t let up. </p>
<p>In fact, it’s getting worse.</p>
<p>This year, on Valentine’s Day, a student was fatally shot inside a Toronto high school and in October, another shooting happened outside a school. </p>
<p>In the Toronto District School Board, <a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">the number of physical assaults</a> has risen by 174 per cent between 2014 and 2019 and the number of incidents involving a weapon has risen by 60 per cent.</p>
<p>Why is gun violence increasing? And can we slow it down? </p>
<p>Devon Jones has spent the past 15 years tackling these very questions. He is a teacher and well-recognized youth worker in the Jane and Finch community — where Jordan Manners was killed. It has been described as Toronto’s most dangerous area to be a kid.</p>
<p>Jones has seen many students who have lost their lives to violence over the years, including Manners. But he has also saved many lives through programs offered by YAAACE — an organization he founded in 2007 that focuses on basketball and academics. He’s a busy man, who had just rushed from dealing with a youth emergency before talking to us from school.</p>
<p>One of the former volunteers of Jones’s organization is Ardavan Eizadirad. Eizadirad is now the executive director of YAAACE. He is also an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University who has written about the root causes of gun violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/https-theconversationcom-how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-194145">Join us on <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> as we speak to Jones and Eizadirad about the rising rates of gun violence in Canada and the role community organizations play in the solution.</p>
<h2>Follow and Listen</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<h2>Articles in the Conversation</h2>
<p><strong>Read</strong> the companion article to this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>: </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/to-resolve-youth-violence-canada-must-move-beyond-policing-and-prison-190825"><strong><em>To resolve youth violence, Canada must move beyond policing and prison</em></strong></a></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-shouldnt-be-smug-about-gun-violence-its-a-growing-problem-here-too-184210">Canada shouldn't be smug about gun violence — it's a growing problem here, too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-violence-can-be-reduced-with-a-strategy-focused-on-deterrence-187682">Gun violence can be reduced with a strategy focused on deterrence</a></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-once-sold-the-idea-that-guns-turned-boys-into-men-121296">Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/thugs-is-a-race-code-word-that-fuels-anti-black-racism-100312">‘Thugs’ is a race-code word that fuels anti-Black racism</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/toronto-mass-shooting-how-the-city-is-coping-a-month-later-100813">Toronto mass shooting: How the city is coping a month later</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/calls-for-stronger-handgun-laws-in-canada-have-deep-roots-101051">Calls for stronger handgun laws in Canada have deep roots</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-canadian-gun-bill-will-create-u-s-style-patchwork-of-firearms-laws-156480">Proposed Canadian gun bill will create U.S.-style patchwork of firearms laws</a></em></strong></p>
<h2>Sources</h2>
<p><a href="https://thelocal.to/two-school-shootings-15-years-apart/">Two School Shootings, 15 Years Apart</a></p>
<p><a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/student-fatally-shot-inside-toronto-high-school-1.5780952">Student fatally shot inside Toronto high school
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-school-shooting-1.6635808">Shooting outside Toronto high school leaves 1 dead, 1 teen injured
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2021.1879097">Prevalence and Impact of Harassment and Violence against Educators in Canada</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/05/27/the-death-of-jordan-manners-tore-apart-his-school-how-cw-jefferys-was-resurrected.html">The death of Jordan Manners tore apart his school. How C.W. Jefferys was resurrected. the Toronto Star by Andrea Gordon</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/12/04/news/how-american-gun-deaths-and-gun-laws-compare-canadas">How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada’s
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE)
</a></p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is produced in partnership with the Journalism Innovation Lab at the University of British Columbia and with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Youth violence hasn’t let up in Toronto. In fact, it’s getting worse. Community members say it’s a major problem that needs a more holistic solution.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientDannielle Piper, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1952732022-12-05T13:26:14Z2022-12-05T13:26:14ZA judge in Texas is using a recent Supreme Court ruling to allow domestic abusers to keep their guns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498785/original/file-20221204-16605-8lpn7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3008%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking guns from abusers saves lives.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/gun-royalty-free-image/1007622020?phrase=gun%20law&adppopup=true">Kameleon007 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a large part of the history of the United States, <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781635570977">domestic abuse was tolerated</a> under the nation’s legal system. There were few laws <a href="https://doi.org//10.1353/eam.2007.0008">criminalizing</a> <a href="https://doi.org//10.1086/449151">domestic violence</a>, and enforcement of the existing laws was rare. </p>
<p>It was only in the <a href="https://jaapl.org/content/38/3/376">past few decades</a> that laws criminalizing domestic violence came to be widespread and enforced. But now, the U.S. is in danger of backtracking on that legal framework precisely because of the <a href="https://doi.org//10.1086/449151">nation’s historical legacy</a> of turning a blind eye to domestic violence.</p>
<p>On Nov. 10, 2022, a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1177458/gov.uscourts.txwd.1177458.55.0.pdf">judge in the Western District of Texas</a> struck down the federal law that prohibits access to guns for people subject to domestic violence protection orders. He did this based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-843">NYSRPA v. Bruen</a>, which held that, to be constitutional, a firearm restriction must be analogous to laws that were in existence when the country was founded. In other words, disarming domestic abusers violates the Second Amendment because those types of laws didn’t exist at the founding of the country.</p>
<p>In a separate, but related, case, the 5th U.S. Circuit of Court of Appeals on Feb 1. sided with the Texas judge, ruling that the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/02/politics/domestic-violence-guns-fifth-circuit/index.html">federal ban was unconstitutional</a>. The Justice Department has indicated that it will appeal.</p>
<p>We <a href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/zeoli-april.html">study the link between gun laws</a> <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/240/shannon-frattaroli">and domestic violence in the U.S.</a> and know that backtracking on laws that prevent the perpetrators of domestic violence from getting their hands on guns will put lives at risk – the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20363814/">research </a>has proved this time and time again. </p>
<h2>Putting lives in danger</h2>
<p>At present, <a href="http://disarmdv.org/">federal law</a> prohibits persons subject to final – rather than temporary – domestic violence protection orders from purchasing or possessing firearms. In addition, 39 states and the District of Columbia have similar prohibitions on their statutes, with many expanding the restrictions to include individuals under temporary, or ex parte, orders prior to a full hearing.</p>
<p>Ruling that these laws are unconstitutional will put mainly women and children in danger. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31245255/">More than 50%</a> of women who are murdered are killed by intimate partners, and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-14080-005">most of those homicides</a> are committed with guns. A 2003 study found that when an abusive man has access to a gun, it <a href="https://doi.org//10.2105/ajph.93.7.1089">increases the risk</a> of intimate partner homicide by 400%.</p>
<p>Women constitute the <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-10.xls">majority of victims</a> of intimate partner homicide, and almost <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28630118/">one-third of children under the age of 13</a> who are murdered with a gun are killed in the context of domestic violence. </p>
<p>Moreover, <a href="https://injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-021-00330-0">68% of mass shooters</a> have a history of domestic violence or killed an intimate partner in the mass shooting.</p>
<p>Enforcement of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20088664/">gun restrictions is spotty</a>, with further research needed as to how systematically they are ordered and whether restricted individuals relinquish firearms they already possess. Nonetheless, research shows that firearm restrictions on domestic violence protection orders save lives. <a href="https://doi.org//10.1093/aje/kwy174">Multiple studies</a> conclude that these laws are associated with an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X06287307">8%-10% reduction</a> in intimate partner homicide.</p>
<p>Specifically, there are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30383263/">statistically significant reductions</a> in intimate partner homicide when the firearm restriction covers both dating partners and those subjected to temporary orders. This decrease is seen in total intimate partner homicide, not just intimate partner homicide committed with guns, nullifying the argument that abusers will use other weapons to kill.</p>
<p>Moreover, these laws have broad support across the country – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7859883/">more than 80%</a> of respondents to two national polls in 2017 and 2019 said they favor them.</p>
<p>Americans – whether male or female, gun owner or non-gun owner – tend to agree that domestic abusers should not be able to purchase or possess firearms while they are subject to a domestic violence protection order. Most seem to realize that such reasonable restrictions serve the greater good of keeping families and communities safe. </p>
<h2>A disregard for data</h2>
<p>The ruling in Texas was based on an originalist legal argument rather than the data. Under the judge’s interpretation of the Bruen decision, because colonial law – written before a time when women could vote, let alone be protected in law from violent spouses – didn’t restrict domestic abusers’ gun rights, then it simply isn’t constitutional to do so now. In effect, the ruling, should it stand, would mean the U.S. is unable to escape the nation’s <a href="https://doi.org//10.1086/449151">historic legal disregard for domestic violence</a>.</p>
<p>It also disregards the harm that allowing domestic abusers to keep hold of guns does. Multiple studies demonstrate that domestic violence firearm restriction laws are <a href="https://doi.org//10.1136/ip.2009.024620">effective </a>and <a href="http://doi.org//10.1093/aje/kwy174">save</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X06287307">lives</a>.</p>
<p>That research shows that, should the Texas ruling stand, people who suffer abuse at the hands of an intimate partner are at greater risk of that abuse being deadly. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-geller">Lisa Geller</a>, director of state affairs at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, contributed to this article.</em></p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Feb. 3, 2022 to include the ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that removing guns from violent abusers saves lives. But laws doing just that are at risk of being ruled unconstitutional, following a landmark Supreme Court guns case.April M. Zeoli, Associate Professor of Public Health, University of MichiganShannon Frattaroli, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.