Mass Shootings

El gobierno de Estados Unidos ha emprendido un asedio cruel contra inmigrantes. El ICE es el principal aparato de fuerza, excesiva, regularmente sin el debido proceso y capaz de agredir también a ciudadanos de ese país. La indignación pública y la oposición política son crecientes contra el gobierno de Donald Trump.

The number of deaths from car accidents and from the unlawful use of guns can be described by logistic growth curves. The annual rates of both have traced completed logistic trajectories following which they have been self-regulated for many decades at what seems to be a homeostatic equilibrium level through legislative actions. Exception constitutes the number of deaths from mass shootings, which has been so far tracing an exponential trajectory. Despite the fact that mass-shooting deaths represent only 0.1 % of all gun deaths today, they are poised to continue growing exponentially until they become the major cause of gun deaths, short of unprecedented action by society.

Thank you too to Steve Kunert who generously directed me to sources I needed to start this thesis. Thank you also to Ronda Clemenhagen, who is not only a good friend, but offered technical support at a vital time. Rebekah Schweitzer and Michael Sugihara deserve special thanks for being my writing/library pals. I am also grateful to Eva Payne who offered both proofreading and her perspective. I am also grateful for my many friends, including Clair Warnicke (thanks for always sharing your love of media and deep fried goodness), Linda Miller, Paul

Thank you too to Steve Kunert who generously directed me to sources I needed to start this thesis. Thank you also to Ronda Clemenhagen, who is not only a good friend, but offered technical support at a vital time. Rebekah Schweitzer and Michael Sugihara deserve special thanks for being my writing/library pals. I am also grateful to Eva Payne who offered both proofreading and her perspective. I am also grateful for my many friends, including Clair Warnicke (thanks for always sharing your love of media and deep fried goodness), Linda Miller, Paul

This paper reconstructs the shifting and often contradictory accounts surrounding the discovery of Tyler Robinson's rifle following the killing of Charlie Kirk. Drawing on official statements, press conferences, leaked communications, local reporting, and circulating rumours, it highlights substantial inconsistencies in the timeline, location, and circumstances of the weapon's recovery. Early descriptions place the rifle in a "wooded area," later rumours suggest a chicken coop, and still later commentary introduces a police encounter that was never reflected in contemporaneous documents. The text messages attributed to Robinson-central to the prosecution's narrative-are shown to contain internal contradictions, implausible situational details, and retrofitted explanations that appear to accommodate emerging reporting rather than precede it. Testimony from residents, the absence of early mention of key evidence, and the evolving statements of officials such as Beau Mason further complicate the official account. Taken together, these discrepancies raise significant questions about the integrity of the rifle-recovery narrative and suggest that the evidentiary framework surrounding Robinson's alleged actions warrants far closer scrutiny.

artistic avenues, such as movie posters and magazine covers. Fortune magazine asked Ware to create a cover for their 500 issue. He obliged by drawing a satirical image of the wealthy exploiting the U.S. to gain their fortunes. Ultimately, Fortune rejected Ware's cover. Unlike Fortune, The New Yorker commissions and accepts Ware's art, which critiques social issues in the U.S. Evident from his comics, Ware's work is rife with anxiety, and those worries translate to his New Yorker magazine covers, which explore subjects such as techno-culture and school shootings. According to Ware, The New Yorker's covers remain one of the few vital ways for artists to speak truth to power within the mainstream media news cycle. He states, "The one thing that magazine designers and editors just don't get now is that one of the real powers of a New Yorker cover in and of itself is that there is no type on it. It is an image. Moreover, it has a power to itself that allows the artist to make the image" (Slauter 195). Ware's covers do not speak in patronizing tones, but rather, they prompt readers to consider what is happening in the foreground and the background of his pictures (among other design decisions) to reflect on the presented issues. Françoise Mouly, the art editor of The New Yorker (whom Ware claims gave him his "first break" as an artist [Healy 220]), states that The New Yorker is "the only magazine that gives the artist his signed image on the cover…. It allows the audience to recognize that it's a…part of an artist's body of work. That's important" (Slauter 195).

The authors use simple bilinear regression to assess changes in the geographical movement (latitude and longitude) of mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2017.  The path taken by the location of the ninety-five mass shootings over the 36-year period has shifted south.  An analysis of differences by census region and blue/red state distinctions within each census region reveals disproportionately many mass shootings in Midwestern states between 2000 and 2008, and disproportionately many in red Southern states over the past three-plus decades.  

In the spring of 2018, student protesters around the United States took to the streets and campuses of their schools to call for tighter gun control laws following the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, FL. The highly visible nonviolent protest movement, known as the March for Our Lives (MFOL), was carried out by young people still in middle or high school and was fraught with risks that included disagreement with parents, teachers, and school administrators, detention or other penalties on their school record, and threats of violent harassment from counter protesters. MFOL protesters in and around southeastern Pennsylvania were interviewed in the fall of 2020 and the results were analyzed using a structural and narrative analysis to determine how they perceived themselves, the MFOL movement, and counter-protesters. All of the participants spoke of their experiences, perspectives, and relationships within the movement, as well as relationships with t...

El presente estudio examina los tiroteos masivos en que se encuen-tra  presente  el  “efecto  de  imitación”,  con  la  excepción  de  los  llevados  a  cabo  en  Estados  Unidos,  durante  el  periodo  1999-2022.  Dicho  fenómeno  concurre  cuando los autores de un tiroteo masivo copian el modus operandi de ataques anteriores, los cuales se proyectan como modelo. La muestra del estudio inclu-ye  21  casos  de  imitación,  ejecutados  en  9  países.  El  estudio  revela  que  estos  crímenes son perpetrados por hombres, con edades inferiores a los 34 años, de forma predominante en entornos escolares y los autores suelen concluir con el suicidio. Los resultados empíricos también revelan que en los países en los que estos casos son más frecuentes, también se fijan modelos de referencia para tiradores posteriores. En conclusión, el escaso número de comportamientos de imitación no impide que estos sucesos sean objeto de estudio, especialmente en una época en la que internet y los medios de comunicación contribuyen a su constante globalización.

Contra los discursos xenófobos y racistas del titular del gobierno estadounidense, es necesario producir ejercicios de visibilización que, con información veraz y fundada, den cuenta de que los migrantes irregulares no son criminales. Al contrario: en tanto activos sujetos políticos, los migrantes producen significativas contribuciones económicas, sociales, culturales y políticas, tanto en los países de destino, como en los de origen.

Criticar las narrativas gubernamentales de odio es urgente para contener la proliferación de los prejuicios antiinmigrantes en sectores de la población estadounidense que antes eran ajenos y refractarios a estos discursos. La sociedad, o más precisamente, ciertas secciones de ella no pueden ni deben aliarse con poderes estatales que basan sus discursos y acciones políticas en las mentiras y la violencia.

Las y los migrantes, frente a este hostil y complejo escenario de criminalización y constante agresión, recurren a sus redes, estrategias y prácticas de ayuda y apoyo mutuo para continuar con sus proyectos y anhelos. Ellas y ellos siguen resistiendo en el día a día, con esfuerzo y trabajo, y también con mucha dignidad. En esta lucha cotidiana no están solos: : abogados, defensores de derechos humanos, agrupaciones e iglesias de diversos credos, colectivos y organizaciones sociales, albergues, refugios, activistas, entre otros muchos aliados, los acompañan y caminan junto a ellos.

This comprehensive research explores effective counseling strategies for victims of crime, focusing on trauma-informed practices, evidence-based therapeutic interventions, and tailored approaches for diverse populations. It examines the psychological, emotional, and social impacts of crime, highlighting best practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and narrative therapy. Specific strategies for children, adolescents, victims of sexual violence, and marginalized populations are discussed. The study addresses challenges such as access to services, stigma, and resource constraints, while proposing future directions, including leveraging technology, integrating restorative practices, and expanding trauma-informed training. This work aims to advance victim support systems globally through innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The National Council for Behavioral Health (National Council) is the largest organization of mental health and addictions treatment programs in the United States, serving 10 million adults, children and families with mental health and substance use disorders. In this capacity, it performs important organizational, educational and advocacy functions and serves as a unifying voice for its 3,000 member organizations. The National Council is committed to all Americans having access to comprehensive, high-quality, affordable care that provides every opportunity for recovery. In 2015, the National Council Board of Directors commissioned the Medical Director Institute (MDI) to advise National Council members on best clinical practices and to address major priorities in care for mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The MDI develops policies and initiatives that serve member behavioral health organizations and their constituent clinicians and the governmental agencies and payers that support them. The MDI is composed of medical directors of organizations who have been recognized for their outstanding leadership in shaping psychiatric and addictions service delivery and draws from every region of the country. One of the ways the MDI fulfills its charge is by developing technical documents that highlight challenges at the forefront of mental health and addictions care, providing guidance and identifying practical solutions to overcome those challenges. Topics of prior scholarly reports and white papers include "The Psychiatric Shortage -Causes and Solutions" and "Medication Matters -Causes and Solutions to Medication Non-Adherence." This report addresses the problem of mass violence in the United States and, specifically, the extent to which mental illness is or is not contributing to this social pathology. The report was done because mass shootings are increasing in frequency and severity, and they have captured the national attention. The goal of this paper is to examine existing data and expertise on mass violence, provide an analysis about its causes and impacts and make recommendations to inform policy and practice for a wide range of stakeholders. These include the federal Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; provider organizations; professional trade organizations for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other behavioral health professionals; consumer and family advocacy groups; state mental health authorities; policymakers in the behavioral health arena; educators; judges; law enforcement officers; and workplace representatives.

Reactions to gun violence and potential policies regarding gun control are often reactions to fear with schools being the focal point of gun control dialogue. From elementary schools to college campuses, the concealed carry debate exists. Should we allow staff, faculty, and at the college-level, students to carry concealed guns? Students at a private college in Florida were surveyed in regards to their attitudes towards concealed carry and campus safety. We tested a number of hypotheses related to how much time students spend being exposed to media, student perceptions of safety, and their attitudes toward concealed weapons on campus. Results show low levels of support for armed campus safety and concealed weapons for faculty among our student sample. Students were even less comfortable with other students being armed on campus. In support of previous research, conservative students were more likely to believe the media spends too much time covering gun violence. While our results s...

Research suggests that mass shootings can increase mental health stigma, reinforce stereotypes that people with mental illness are violent, and influence public policy. This article examines mental health policy initiatives resulting from the mass shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado within the context of existing research about mental illness, suicide, substance abuse and gun violence. Previous legislation that restricts access to firearms among persons with mental illness is reviewed. The article suggests that gun control legislation that focuses on persons with mental illness is not supported by research, may create barriers to treatment, and may have limited efficacy in promoting public safety.

This article explores Chris Ware’s depiction of gun violence in the U.S. by analyzing Ware’s triptych of school shooting New Yorker covers: “Back to School” (September 17th, 2012), “Threshold” (January 7th, 2013), and “Lockdown” (October 17th, 2022). Although Ware did not produce this triptych intentionally as the latter covers are direct responses to school shootings whereas “Back to School” initially was not, I argue that Ware’s New Yorker covers can be read alongside his graphic novels. Furthermore, the covers can be analyzed against each other to convey a critical message about gun control and school safety.

This article compares experiences of surveillance technologies in low-income public housing and affluent gated communities in Phoenix, Arizona. Contrary to the popular discourse of surveillance as ensuring protection from external threats, in practice, both groups feel subjected to undesired individual scrutiny and policing of their behaviors. Nonetheless, key differences exist. First, residents in gated communities possess relative mobility and minimal personal risk compared to those in public housing. Second, in public housing, the underlying logics behind surveillance are toward the enforcement of state laws, whereas in gated communities, they are toward the enforcement of conformity in appearance and behavior. The article argues that the dissonance between popular discourse and discourse of practice about surveillance technologies is representative of deeper social instabilities engendered by neoliberal forms of governance.

Mass shootings, like other extreme events, have long garnered public curiosity and, in turn, significant media coverage. The media framing, or topic focus, of mass shooting events typically evolves over time from details of the actual shooting to discussions of potential policy changes (e.g., gun control, mental health). Such media coverage has been historically provided through traditional media sources such as print, television, and radio, but the advent of online social networks (OSNs) has introduced a new platform for accessing, producing, and distributing information about such extreme events. The ease and convenience of OSN usage for information within society’s larger growing reliance upon digital technologies introduces potential unforeseen risks. Social bots, or automated software agents, are one such risk, as they can serve to amplify or distort potential narratives associated with extreme events such as mass shootings. In this paper, we seek to determine the prevalence an...

Mass shootings in the US often disturb and shock the international community. Due to their cruelty and the handling of the media, they are perceived as the main problem of armed violence in the country, however, this is far from the case, armed violence in the US is a complex and multifactorial problem, mass shootings They are only a small percentage of it, on the other hand, domestic violence and gang violence are even more common problems of gun violence, which perhaps should be more relevant. Demystifying the stereotypical discourses surrounding armed
violence in that country is necessary to understand the reality of this phenomenon, as well as its true background and why it is relevant for the entire society.

Fox News Channel is a mass media that has ideological ties to the United States Republican Party. Fox & Friends is claimed to be the highest rating cable news program in the US since 2001. In 2019, Fox & Friends reported Christchurch Shooting. The Christchurch incident is the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand history. FNC constructed reality potentially influenced the public's understanding of Christchurch shooting. This research examines and explores FNC constructed reality by analyzing how the perpetrators, motives, and impacts are framed. Based on research findings, FNC constructed reality denied the Christchurch shooting as an act of terror. It also tried to influence public understanding that the perpetrator has no ideological connection with Donald Trump. When compared with the Utrecht shooting, FNC chose to use word terror in describing the event, even before the Dutch government gave an official statement regarding the incident. FNC constructed reality shows bias and favoritism towards perpetrators of a certain race, which contradicts the company's slogan that claims to produce fair and balanced coverages. Thus, to carry out the journalistic functions in a democratic country, FNC must educate the public about the realities, instead of spreading biased and discriminatory reporting.

This thesis examines the concept of real-life mass shootings and its depiction in American fictional cinema. The issue of mass shootings is a highly controversial subject of discussion, both within the public and political sphere, as it necessarily touches upon rigid perceptions of civil liberties-specifically those of the Second Amendment-which further permeates the field of fictional cinema. As opposed to assessing the issue of mass shootings as a product of a prevailing culture of guns, it is to a significant extent reduced to political leverage, a rhetorical weapon aimed to legitimize prevailing attitudes on a political battlefield on which opponents and supporters of one's individual right to bear arms meet head to head. Moreover, it may be argued that there is a general reluctance to acknowledge the issue of mass shootings as a national concern, particularly when the foundation on which contemporary society is built will have to be scrutinized and examined from different angle. Certain traditional conceptions of the US as a nation may further distort the pathway towards efficiently and constructively deal with a widespread concern that is fundamentally American in nature; the prevailing mentality surrounding the issue of mass shootings thus leaves the idea of progress deadlocked. All things considered, newfound perspectives are necessary, and fictional cinema may prove to be of significant rhetorical value within this context, which constitutes the main argument of the thesis. As of today, the issue remains largely unseen on screen, particularly within the commercial sector, as Hollywood operates within relatively rigid traditional boundaries of expression, both in terms of ideological and financial structures-particularly when mass shootings are to be examined. Yet, attempts have been made within the independent sector. Certain filmmakers are unwilling to allow the acclamation of the second amendment of the Constitution fall in disfavor of the first; some step carefully around the elephant in the room, while others are willing to face it head on. In order to illuminate the sociopolitical value of fictional film and the ways in which aspects of the ongoing debate of mass shootings may be critically examined, Gus Van Sant's Elephant, Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin and Tim Sutton's Dark Night are analyzed. While Ramsay examines the concept of scrutiny and prejudice, Van Sant targets the distortedness of the discourse of mass shootings, and Sutton frames the issue of mass shootings as an inevitable downfall of the cultural status quo, in which guns are assigned the leading role. Foreword At the age of fourteen, I encountered Gus Van Sant's Elephant for the first time. Fascinated by its alternative perspective on the otherwise disturbing subject of mass shootings, watching it became a matter of routine. Still, at this day-perhaps even more so now-it never seizes to amaze for its ability to come across as simple and complex at the same time, to synthesize the ordinary and the sensational, for its ability to challenge its audience and stimulate reflection overall. It is still, in my opinion, a pace changer for the ways in which fictional cinema can address sociopolitical controversies and offer important insights in ways other artistic outlets cannot. Luckily, certain filmmakers acknowledge the value of such sentiments and rekindle the cinematic rhetoric offered by Van Sant. I believe it was my brother who brought (the) Elephant into our household (living room). Thank you for that. On that note, I would like to thank the rest of my family as well for showing a keen interest in my thesis matter, and for their relentless support overall. Second, my academic entourage, a wonderful group of people with whom I have shared this experience-thank you for all the offtopic digressions. They were absolutely imperative. Third, Martin Frogner-I am tremendously appreciative of you taking your time to proofread my thesis. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Asbjørn Grønstad, for constructive feedback, reflective conversations and invaluable guidance throughout.

Issues pertaining to trauma, especially mass trauma and complex humanitarian emergencies, are explored through the lens of ethical counseling guidelines. In mass trauma, particular attention must be paid to the experiences of both survivors and counselors to enhance understanding of ethical best practices and to emphasize the importance of contextual factors in framing effective responses to trauma and humanitarian crises. Recommendations regarding ethical guidelines for counseling practice, clinical involvement, and training are offered.

In generating meaningful empirical research, one problem is the existence of a few observations with extreme values, often referred to as outliers. Including extreme values in data is apt to produce misleading results. In his textbook Econometric Analysis, William Greene writes: Even in the absence of multicollinearity or other data problems, it is worthwhile to examine one's data closely for two reasons. First, the identification of outliers in the data is useful, particularly in relatively small cross sections in which the identity and perhaps even the ultimate source of the data point may be known. Second, it may be possible to ascertain which, if any, particular observations are especially influential in the results obtained. As such, the identification of these data points may call for further study. (Greene 2002, 60) In financial misconduct research, a leading dataset of more than 1,100 observations is often used, and in that dataset, Enron, WorldCom, Cendant, Colonial Bancgroup, and a dozen or so more are especially influential observations. Researchers deal with the extreme-value problem in different ways. Some drop outliers from the data, while others cap extreme values at a certain level. If researchers decide simply to keep the observations as they are, they need to alert readers to them, clearly and early in their analysis. Also, they should report how the extreme values drive any of their results. In literature on corporate governance,

Campus mass shootings have become a pressing policy and public health matter. Twitter is a platform used for processing events among interested community members. Examining the responses of invested community members to a mass shooting on a college campus provides evidence for how this type of violence affects the immediate community and the larger public. These responses may reflect either content (e.g. context-specific) or emotions (e.g. humor). Aims Using Twitter data, we analyzed the emotional responses as well as the nature of non-affective short-term reactions, in response to the April 2019 shooting at UNC Charlotte. Methods Drawn from a pool of tweets between 4/30/19-5/7/19, we analyzed 16,749 tweets using keywords related to the mass shooting (e.g. “shooting,” “gun violence,” “UNC Charlotte”). A coding team manually coded the tweets using content and sentiment analyses. Results Overall, 7,148 (42.67%) tweets contained negative emotions (e.g. anger, sadness, disgust, anxiety)...

In recent years, major media organizations have wondered if their coverage of mass shooters actually increases the risk of future attacks, and have asked how their reporting could be improved. In response, 149 experts have called for media to stop publishing the names and photos of mass killers (except during ongoing searches for escaped suspects), but continue reporting the other details of these crimes as needed. Here, we review some of the most important scientific findings on (a) the nature of media coverage of mass killers, (b) its consequences, and (c) solutions that could help make this coverage safer, and summarize how new studies published in this special issue of American Behavioral Scientist add to this valuable knowledge base.