Mass shooting
A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers kill or injure multiple individuals simultaneously using a firearm. There is no widely accepted definition of "mass shooting" and different organizations tracking such incidents use different definitions. Definitions of mass shootings exclude warfare and sometimes exclude instances of gang violence, armed robberies, familicides and terrorism. The perpetrator of an ongoing mass shooting may be referred to as an active shooter.
In the United States, the country with the most mass shootings, the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012 defines mass killings as three or more killings in a single incident.[1] A Congressional Research Service report from 2013 specifies four or more killings on indiscriminate victims while excluding violence committed as a means to an end, such as robbery or terrorism.[2] Media outlets such as CNN and some crime violence research groups such as the Gun Violence Archive define mass shootings as involving "four or more shot (injured or killed) in a single incident, at the same general time and location, not including the shooter".[3] Mother Jones magazine defines mass shootings as indiscriminate rampages killing three or more individuals excluding the perpetrator, gang violence, and armed robbery.[4][5] An Australian study from 2006 specifies five individuals killed.[6]
Mass shootings in the US, defined as 4 or more gunfire victims in a single incident, were running in 2024 at one every 16 hours; in the second half of May 2024 they have occurred on average every 12 hours.[7]
The motive for mass shootings (that occur in public locations) is usually that they are committed by deeply disgruntled individuals who are seeking revenge for failures in school, career, romance, or life in general[8] or who are seeking fame or attention[9] with at least 16 mass shooters since the Columbine massacre citing fame or notoriety as a motive.[10] Fame seekers average more than double the body counts, and many articulated a desire to surpass "past records".[10]
There are a variety of definitions of a mass shooting:[11][12]
There are also different definitions of the term mass killing:
The lack of a single definition can lead to alarmism in the news media, with some reports conflating categories of different crimes.[24][25][26]
An act of mass shooting is typically defined as terrorist when it "appears to have been intended" to intimidate or to coerce people;[27] although a mass shooting is not necessarily an act of terrorism solely by itself.[2]
Victims and survivors[edit]
After mass shootings, some survivors have written about their experiences and their experiences have been covered by journalists. A survivor of the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting wrote about his reaction to other mass shooting incidents.[70] The father of a victim in a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, wrote about witnessing other mass shootings after the loss of his son.[71] The survivors of the 2011 Norway attacks recounted their experience to GQ magazine.[72] In addition, one paper studied Swedish police officers' reactions to a mass shooting.[73]
It is common for mass shooting survivors to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder[74][75] and survivors guilt.[76]
In 2019, Sydney Aiello and Calvin Desir, both survivors of the Parkland high school shooting, committed suicide as a result of survivors guilt. Meadow Pollack was killed in the shooting and was friends with Aiello.[77]
Responses[edit]
Media[edit]
Some people have considered whether media attention revolving around the perpetrators of mass shootings is a factor in sparking further incidents.[108] In response to this, some in law enforcement have decided against naming mass shooting suspects in media-related events to avoid giving them notoriety.[109]
The effects of messages used in the coverage of mass shootings have been studied. Researchers studied the role the coverage plays in shaping attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for gun control policies.[110]
In 2015, a paper written by a physicist and statistician, Sherry Towers, along with four colleagues was published, which proved that there is indeed mass shooting contagion using mathematical modeling.[111] However, in 2017, Towers said in an interview that she prefers self-regulation to censorship to address this issue, just like years ago major news outlets successfully prevent copycat suicide.[112]
In 2016, the American Psychological Association published a press release, claiming that mass shooting contagion does exist and that news media and social media enthusiasts should withhold the name(s) and face(s) of the victimizer(s) when reporting a mass shooting to deny the fame the shooter(s) want to curb contagion.[113]
Some news media have weighed in on the gun control debate. After the 2015 San Bernardino attack, the New York Daily News' front-page headline "God isn't fixing this" was accompanied by "images of tweets from leading Republicans who shared their 'thoughts' and 'prayers' for the shooting victims."[114][115] Since the 2014 Isla Vista killings, satirical news website The Onion has repeatedly republished the story "No Way to Prevent This", Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens with minor edits after major mass shootings, to satirise the popular consensus that there is a lack of political power in the United States to prevent mass shootings.[116]