Mass shootings are everywhere – eleven a week in mid-May 2022, a 10% increase from the previous year. I make a concerted effort to avoid news media; no thank you to the anxiety. But I see these tragedies – Buffalo, Uvalde, and America’s Independence Day from fireworks to gunshots.
The victims of these acts and their stories are everywhere. It’s tragic. And it’s impacting all of us.
A few weeks ago, I was at a big event, and people were everywhere enjoying the day. I caught my mind going to mass shootings and how people target gatherings like this. As I accepted that and chose to enjoy the event anyway, I passed a kid in the crowd, and we made eye contact. That thought was new for me, a fear of an attack on the event, but was that child living with it constantly?
What is going on?
Safety is a primary concern everywhere. Many states require seatbelts, we’ve eliminated dangerous animals, and folks lock up their houses. We’re the safest we’ve ever been – imagine the medieval countryside roamed by bandits, a hunter-gatherer society sharing woods with tigers, or native lands in continual tribal warfare. But a new hazard has risen within us.
I disagree with labeling something as a buzzword and leaving it at that. If we categorize something as terrorism or a mass shooting and leave it at that, we stop before understanding what happened. That person did it because they’re a terrorist and belong to the group we’ve labeled terrorists. Then we know that hate and terrorism exist and shake our heads.
So let’s dig deeper. Not a mass shooting, but the best-known terror attack happened on 9/11. Yes, Osama Bin Laden wanted to hurt the U.S. But the primary folks who executed the attacks, the Hamburg Cell, became radicalized against the West because they were discriminated against, alienated, and isolated. They’d intended to fight in Chechnya and were turned against the West by their experience.
While this is different from local mass shooters, those underlying causes of what creates a killer provide evidence of why people pursue that end.
So let’s shift to mass shooters. Jillian Peterson and James Densley compiled what sets the stage for a mass shooter: childhood trauma creates a foundation, and the person becomes hopeless, isolated, self-loathing, and rejected by peers. Then, the person begins to act erratically. This crisis point is associated with suicide; sometimes, shooters have previous suicide attempts.
Then something insidious happens; self-hate turns against a group. The individual blames others for what has happened to them. That group may be religious, demographic, or institutional. For example, a person gets bullied in school, then blames that bullying for who they’ve become, and that school becomes a target.
Most mass shooters view the act as suicide but turn it into a murder-suicide to express how a group caused this to happen.
So, could we prevent mass killings the way we prevent suicide? Here are the risk factors for suicide:
- Previous suicide attempt(s)
- A history of suicide in the family
- Substance misuse
- Mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder)
- Access to lethal means (e.g., keeping firearms in the home)
- Losses and other events (for example, the breakup of a relationship or a death, academic failures, legal difficulties, financial difficulties, bullying)
- History of trauma or abuse
- Chronic physical illness, including chronic pain
- Exposure to the suicidal behavior of others
And here are the best prevention measures:
- Contacts with providers (e.g., follow-up phone call from health care professional)
- Effective mental health care; easy access to a variety of clinical interventions
- Strong connections to individuals, family, community and social institutions
- Problem-solving and conflict resolution skills
As with terror, isolation and trauma set the stage for violent acts. In almost every case, young shooters call someone, such as a behavioral health clinic, for help before acting. But too often, they don’t receive the support they need.
People, such as mass shooters, violently act because they’re isolated and don’t have a support system to help them.
I’m grateful to my support system for picking me up when I struggle. I published my eulogy, what I’d say if I died. I valued thinking through what I’d want when my life ends. And it’s about death and is a weighted piece. After I published it, one of my friends reached out to check on me. I’m emotional thinking about the love and care in that simple call.
Beyond that, I’ve gone to a counselor for years. It’s a great space to help me recognize what’s happening and how to deal with it.
That support system enables me to be the best version of myself and avoid problems spiraling because I have to deal with them alone.
Too many people don’t have that, and we must provide that support to them. These people are victims before they become killers, and we can address that before they create more victims.
