Why does school shooting occur

About two years ago my colleagues and I co-founded the Institute for Violence Prevention and Applied Criminology in Berlin in part to design guidelines for preventing violence in schools.

Since then, our work with violent adolescents and adults has helped us understand some of the motivations of young shooters and identify several warning signals that can help predict school rampages. Many of our insights have come from analyzing the violent fantasies of adolescent shooters. These imaginings take root in a desperate mind that yearns for recognition.

Often these young assassins are inspired by examples set by previous shooters. The fantasies typically intensify over a number of years before they are acted on. With time, the mental images become more detailed, and they often become buttressed by a distorted sense of what is just or moral, such as the need to avenge a perceived offense or the belief in a divine right to decide the fate of others.

Early on, troubled teenagers typically keep these fantasies secret, but they increasingly begin to leak their thoughts and plans to friends, chat rooms and even media outlets. Recognizing the signs of such deadly thoughts, as opposed to harmless daydreaming, can enable parents, teachers, social workers and other trusted adults to head off trouble before it begins.

We have recently developed strategies for identifying youths at risk, for helping to prevent them from descending into a destructive fantasy world and for reacting expediently in the event of an imminent or actual shooting [ see box on page 57 ].

Seeds of Violence Fantasies and dreams often stimulate productive human activity. They also drive the healthy psychological development of children and adolescents, making possible prospective, or "wishful," thinking and creativity.

So it is normal for an adolescent boy to escape into reveries about lovemaking with his girlfriend during an acutely boring class in school. Of course, dreams and daydreams sometimes have a dark and violent cast to them. Almost everyone has imagined vengeful scenarios, even murderous ones, after particularly frustrating experiences, according to research by psychologist David Buss of the University of Texas at Austin.

Such fantasies can defuse tension and thus might be considered a type of psychological hygiene. As Austrian psychoanalyst Theodor Reik put it: "A thought murder a day keeps the psychiatrist away. But what is cleansing to a healthy mind may overwhelm a less balanced psyche. Signs of psychic trouble include being excessively introverted and lacking strong social attachments.

Cho's peers described him as "quiet" and as someone who would not respond when others greeted him. Violent offenders are also often pessimistic about their future and have low self-esteem; many have been harassed, bullied or rejected by classmates; suspended from school; or pressured by teachers.

Cho was reportedly teased and picked on in middle school for being shy and for his unusual way of speaking. Adolescents who saw or otherwise experienced violence at a young age are very susceptible to intense brutal fantasies, points out clinical psychologist Al Carlisle, who practices in Price, Utah, and has long studied serial killers and young violent criminals. Such experiences, Carlisle says, foster a belief that violence is the only way to gain recognition and respect.

Thus, the media attention showered on previous school shooters such as the Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold often appeals greatly to would-be copycats, because the publicity may pass for esteem in their minds.

Castillo and Bosse had stated several times that they idolized Harris and Klebold. Cho called them martyrs. On Internet fan pages Harris is compared to a god, and at a recent auction Klebold's old car fetched a price way over book value, almost as if it were a religious relic.

Evolving Apparitions Once inspired, a disturbed adolescent may slowly tumble into an increasingly elaborate fantasy world. FBI interviews with imprisoned multiple murderers have shown that the most ominous violent fantasies gradually consume ever more psychic space. In the beginning, they may be a harmless way to pass idle hours, but later they mutate into an obsession. Eventually a dangerously violent vision dominates a youth's thoughts and cries out for action. An unbalanced adolescent often embellishes his daydreams with details of the venue and manner of the imagined massacre--in some cases, amassing ideas from violent or violence-promoting movies, games and Web sites.

Schools are a natural target because adolescents experience the worst slights in school. Two months before his rampage in Germany, Bosse wrote in his diary, "Imagine that you're standing in your old school and that your trench coat conceals all of your tools of righteousness, and then you throw the first Molotov cocktail, the first bomb.

You are sending the most hated place in the world to Hell! As fantasies become increasingly important to a disturbed youth, he begins to neglect his real relationships to focus on the mechanics of the deed he has dreamed about. Then a serious frustration, such as the breakup of one of his last friendships, may redouble his efforts to sketch out his killing. Would-be school shooters seem to advance ineluctably toward their idols.

Copycats often wear similar clothing and choose the same weapons as those of their heroes. Among other copycat actions, Castillo wore a trench coat just as the Columbine shooters did.

He also mimicked their weaponry, going so far as to name his shotgun Arlene, the same name Harris gave his shotgun. Another solution? Take reports seriously. Not sure where to start? Here are five things you can do to help prevent school shootings in your community:. We can do this. Together, we can prevent gun violence in our schools. With some effort and some education, we can create a brighter, safer future for our students.

Can School Shootings Be Prevented? The reality is, we CAN prevent school shootings. What are the Warning Signs for School Attackers? This could mean a teacher or their peers. While it is often impossible to determine whether or not someone is dealing with mental illness, it is still something to be aware of. How School Shootings Affect Survivors Beyond the physical danger of a school shooting, many parents and educators are deeply concerned with the psychological effects on their students and faculty.

Are Students Willing to Report a Threat? Here are five things you can do to help prevent school shootings in your community: Advocate and push for more counseling at schools. On average, there are around students assigned to each school counselor.

Having better access to counselors can greatly reduce the risk of gun violence among our students. Encourage help for and normalize mental health issues. Talk about it at home. If you have a gun in your home, make sure it is inaccessible. Mass shootings also are imposing an unknown amount of trauma on a generation of students and communities. It is unfathomable that our leaders have not taken the steps necessary to intervene and help those with patterns of violent behavior and to block their easy access to guns.

The analysis also demonstrates that other incidents of gun violence are occurring in our schools with distressing frequency. These include gun homicides and non-fatal gun assaults, unintentional discharges resulting in gunshot wounds or death, and, to a slightly lesser extent, self-harm and suicide deaths using a firearm.

All of these incidents of gun violence, regardless of their intent or victim count, compromise the safety of our schools—safety that directly impacts learning outcomes and the emotional and social development of our students.

Cornell and Matthew J. A growing body of research shows that the lingering trauma from exposure to gun violence affects everything from the ability to maintain attention 7 Patrick T. Sharkey et al. To address all incidents of gun violence at schools and their detrimental effects, a broader platform of solutions is required. Gun Homicides, Non-Fatal Assaults, and Mass Shootings The majority of incidents of gun violence in elementary, middle, and high schools—55 percent—are homicides, non-fatal assaults, and mass shootings.

Everytown identified only three mass shootings—incidents where a shooter killed four or more people—in an elementary, middle, or high school between and Far more common were incidents involving specific individuals, arguments that escalated, acts of domestic violence, parking lot altercations, and robberies where the school was an unfortunate backdrop. While mass shootings in schools are rare, 11 This aligns with research from other organizations that have developed comparable databases of incidents in schools.

According to the CHDS database, 10 mass shootings that resulted in the deaths of four or more people not including the shooter occurred on school grounds. The CHDS database also includes more than 1, other incidents of school gun violence that occurred over the same time period.

Center for Homeland Defense and Security. K—12 School Shooting Database. And the statistics do not begin to capture the collective impact these shootings have on the schools in which they occur, their communities, and all students and parents.

Over the last seven years, there were homicides and non-fatal assaults with a firearm, including three mass shootings, that took place on the grounds of elementary, middle, and high schools.

These incidents resulted in at least victims: 88 deaths and shot and wounded. Thirty-five percent of those deaths and 15 percent of those shot and wounded occurred during mass shootings.

At least of the victims of gun homicides and non-fatal assaults were students at the time, and 37 percent of those students were shot during mass shootings. Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youths ages 5 to 18, and research from the School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System found that less than 2 percent of these homicides occur on school grounds, on the way to or from school, or at or on the way to or from a school-sponsored event.

Unintentional Shootings Approximately 21 percent of gunfire incidents that occurred on the grounds of elementary, middle, and high schools were unintentional, including those resulting in gunshot wounds or death and incidents in which no one was shot. These 64 incidents resulted in at least one death and 39 people wounded. At least 25 of those victims were students at the time.

Suicide Deaths and Attempts Ten percent of elementary, middle, and high school gunfire incidents involved suicide deaths and attempts where the shooter had no intention of harming other people. These 31 incidents resulted in 27 deaths and four people wounded. Legal Interventions and Uncategorized Incidents The remaining incidents of gunfire on the grounds of elementary, middle, and high schools—14 percent—were legal interventions or other incidents in which the intention of the shooter falls outside of the categories listed here.

Incidents involving legal intervention are those in which the shooter or potential shooter was shot or shot at by a law enforcement officer. Uncategorized incidents include, but are not limited to, those in which a firearm was discharged into the air, those in which a gun was discharged but harm was caused to others through other means, and those in which a gun was discharged with intent to damage buildings or other property.

These 43 incidents resulted in 11 deaths and six people wounded. Understanding incidents of gun violence in schools is integral to effectively creating a comprehensive plan to address their threat and effects.

Everytown for Gun Safety. Overall, 58 percent were associated with the school—they were either current or former students, staff, faculty, or school resource officers. Of the shooters involved in gun homicides and non-fatal assaults, 39 percent were current or former students.

Of the three shooters involved in mass shooting incidents, all percent were current or former students. Of the 62 shooters involved in unintentional discharges, 55 percent were current or former students. Finally, of the 30 shooters involved in self-harm injuries and suicide deaths, 90 percent were current or former students. Everytown limited analysis to incidents that took place in K schools and defined school-aged as under the age of Similarly, an analysis by researchers who received funding from the National Institute of Justice found that in the six mass school shootings Columbine High School, Red Lake Senior High School, West Nickel Mines School, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and Santa Fe High School and 39 attempted mass school shootings 20 Defined as incidents where a person came to a school heavily armed and fired indiscriminately at numerous people in the US between April and May , the majority of shooters 70 percent were white males, and nearly all 91 percent were current or former students at the school.

This data suggests that school-based interventions, like threat assessment programs, comprehensive counseling, and student support programs, can be effective tools for addressing school gun violence. And school safety drills with students may be ineffective because the preparedness protocols and procedures are being shared with the very individuals most likely to perpetrate a school shooting. Peterson J. The Conversation. Evidence suggests that most school shooters obtain their guns from family, relatives, or friends rather than purchasing them legally or illegally.

Everytown was able to identify the gun source in 45 percent of the incidents that involved shooters under 18 years old a total of shooters. Everytown was able to identify the age of of the primary shooters. Of the remaining shooters, either the shooter was not identified in the media or police reports, or demographic information was unavailable.

Most of these shooters— 74 percent—obtained the gun s from their home or the homes of relatives or friends. This finding is consistent with other studies showing that 73 to 80 percent of school shooters under age 18 acquired the gun s they used from their home or the homes of relatives or friends.

The study analyzed 41 incidents of targeted school violence from through finding that of the 25 incidents that involved firearms, 76 percent of shooters acquired the gun s used in the incidents from their home or that of a relative. This report also included a summary of a previous analysis of 37 incidents of targeted school violence from through June finding that of the 36 incidents that involved firearms, 73 percent of shooters acquired the gun s used in the incidents from their home or that of a relative.

Alathari, L. National Threat Assessment Center. Washington Post. The US Secret Service with partners have undertaken two significant studies of targeted school violence that encompassed incidents from through June in one study and incidents from through in another.

In both periods, approximately three-quarters of school shooters acquired the firearm from the home of a parent or close relative 73 percent in the first study and 76 percent in the second study.

This data suggests that secure storage laws and raising awareness about secure storage responsibilities can be effective tools in addressing the source of guns used in school gun violence.

There Are Often Warning Signs Particularly with school violence incidents, there are often warning signs.

These warning signs, if appropriately identified, can offer an opportunity for intervention. The Secret Service and the US Department of Education studied all targeted school violence incidents during two different time periods and found overwhelming evidence about warning signs.

From through June , in 93 percent of cases there were behavioral warning signs that caused others to be concerned. A follow-up study on incidents from through found that percent of the perpetrators showed concerning behaviors, and 77 percent of the time at least one person, most often a peer, knew about their plan. In addition, improvements to school climate that foster trust between students and adults are needed to ensure that students are willing to report warning signs.

Gun Violence in American Schools Has a Disproportionate Impact on Students of Color 29 Everytown also analyzed racial disparities in gunfire on college and university campuses and found similar results. Not only are students of color, especially Black students, disproportionately impacted by gun violence on campus, but Historically Black Colleges and Universities HBCUs experience a particularly high number of incidents compared to other higher education institutions: 31 of the more than HBCUs nationwide experienced incidents of gunfire on school grounds between and and some campuses experienced multiple incidents.

While perpetrators of mass shootings in schools have tended to be white, and the popular narrative around school shootings has focused on predominantly white schools, the larger context of gunfire on school grounds presents a very different picture.

Among the shooting incidents at K schools where the racial demographic information of the student body was known, 64 percent occurred in majority-minority schools. The burden of gun violence has a particularly outsized impact on Black students. Of those, 25 were identified as Black, 57 as white, 23 as Hispanic or Latino, 3 as Asian-Pacific Islander, and 4 as other. The analysis includes in the count of these victims both people shot and wounded and deaths resulting from homicides, non-fatal assaults, unintentional shootings, and suicides and incidents of self-harm where no one else was hurt.

This suggests that creating safe and equitable schools and supporting community-oriented intervention programs in communities with high rates of gun violence can help address these broader trends. In order to effectively address violence in our schools, it must first be acknowledged that it is, in fact, a gun violence problem.

Few have effectively and thoroughly addressed the issue common in all school shootings: easy access to guns by those at risk of committing harm. Everytown, AFT, and NEA firmly believe that any effective school safety plan must involve a proactive effort to enact meaningful gun violence prevention policies that enable intervention before a prospective shooter can get his or her hands on a gun.

These gun violence prevention solutions work hand in hand with school-based intervention policies to create safe climates, provide sufficient counseling and mental health services, and intervene before a student becomes a shooter.

As with most active shooter incidents in schools, there were warning signs prior to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, the shooter legally bought the gun he used. He had never been convicted of a crime, and his mental health history did not legally prohibit him from buying or having guns.

These laws create a legal process by which law enforcement, family members, and, in some states, educators can petition a court to prevent a person from having access to firearms when there is evidence that they are at serious risk of harming themselves or others.

Extreme Risk laws are a critical intervention tool that can be used to prevent violent situations. When family, educators, or law enforcement are made aware that a student or another person is a risk to themselves or others, and that the person has access to guns, they can use a court process and ask a judge for a civil restraining order.

These extreme risk protection orders, sometimes known as red flag orders or gun violence restraining orders, can be issued only after a specific legal determination is made that a person poses a serious threat to themselves or others.

Once an order is issued, a person is required to relinquish any guns they have and is prohibited from buying new guns. This prohibition is temporary, generally lasting one year. Given that most active shooters show warning signs, Extreme Risk laws are a critical tool for intervening before a violent student acts on their threats. In cases where a student poses a threat, these orders can be used to prevent a student from buying a firearm even if otherwise they would legally be allowed to do so.

These orders can also be used with minors, who may not be legally allowed to buy or have guns, but may still have access to them at home. Extreme risk protection orders can prevent this access and put family members on notice that they need to store firearms securely. There is strong evidence that these laws can prevent acts of violence before they happen. Wintemute et al.

Extreme Risk laws can also be used to help address firearm suicide in schools. Because Extreme Risk laws are a proven tool, and because they are drafted with strong due process protections, they enjoy strong bipartisan support. In all, 17 states and DC now have Extreme Risk laws on the books. For states that have already enacted Extreme Risk laws, public awareness is a key component for successful implementation.

Everytown, AFT, and NEA recommend that these states train law enforcement on the availability and effective use of these laws. States and community members should also initiate public awareness campaigns to make the public aware of the option to get an extreme risk protection order.

School officials also need to know that this is a tool available to them as part of a comprehensive intervention with a student who is at serious risk to themselves or others.

Overall, these laws are a common-sense method for acting on the warning signs commonly found in active shooter incidents, and they can be an effective tool for reducing firearm suicide.

In Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18, , a student walked into Santa Fe High School and shot and killed 10 students and staff members and wounded 13 others. He had taken the firearms he used in the shooting from his father, who had failed to store them securely.

This is unsurprising, as nearly 5. In addition, policymakers should promote public awareness programs that can encourage secure storage and induce behavior change.

These laws require that people store firearms securely when they are not in their possession in order to prevent unauthorized access. Under these laws, generally, when a person accesses a firearm and does harm with it, the person who failed to securely store the firearm is liable. A common form of secure storage laws, child access prevention laws, are more narrowly tailored, and they hold individuals liable only when minors access firearms that are not securely stored.

Twenty states and DC currently have some form of secure storage law. Code Section Code Section 5. Effective March Studies show that these laws can have a positive impact on preventing gun violence, particularly unintentional shootings and firearm suicide.

One study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition were associated with a 78 percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children and teenagers than those that locked neither. Grossman et al. Another study estimated that if half of households with children that contain at least one unlocked gun switched to locking all of their guns, one-third of youth gun suicides and unintentional deaths could be prevented, saving an estimated lives in a single year.

Given what is known about the source of guns in school gun violence, evidence suggests these laws can help prevent underage shooters from accessing unsecured guns in homes and prevent mass shootings and other violent incidents.

Enforcement and public awareness are essential components in making sure that these laws work to create a culture of secure gun storage. To facilitate effective enforcement, state legislatures need to make sure their laws are precisely written to cover access by anyone under Local officials also need to ensure that they are enforcing these laws in appropriate situations.

In addition to enacting secure storage laws, policymakers should encourage a culture of secure gun storage by increasing awareness of secure storage practices. This program focuses on fostering conversations about secure storage among parents and children to help facilitate behavior change and address the hundreds of unintentional shootings committed and experienced by children every year.

State legislatures, non-profit organizations, and local officials should also work together to develop and fund programs that increase awareness of the need to store firearms securely in order to prevent unauthorized access. Schools should distribute information to parents about the importance of secure storage, as is being done by school officials in Los Angeles, Denver, and throughout Tennessee. Passing secure storage laws, enforcing them, and encouraging secure storage practices will help reduce gun violence in schools and directly intervene to address the most common source of firearms used in school gun violence incidents.

Despite research that suggests most active shooters are school-age and have a connection to the school, and data that show that toyear-olds commit gun homicides at a rate four times higher than adults 21 and older do, 51 Everytown for Gun Safety analysis; Uniform Crime Reporting Program: Supplementary Homicide Reports SHR , People aged 18 to 20 made up 4 percent of the US population and represented 18 percent of all offenders in gun homicides.

Adults aged 21 and over made up 73 percent of the population and 74 percent of all offenders in gun homicides. Analysis includes all offenders in single and multiple offender incidents. Everytown, AFT, and NEA believe states and the federal government should raise the minimum age to purchase or possess handguns and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns to 21 in order to prevent school-age shooters from easily obtaining firearms.

Under federal law, to purchase a handgun from a licensed gun dealer, a person must be Yet, to purchase that same handgun in an unlicensed sale, or to purchase a rifle or shotgun from a licensed dealer, a person only has to be Only a few states have acted to close these gaps.

Minimum age laws can work in tandem with secure storage and Extreme Risk laws to restrict access to firearms.

These deficiencies in the law leave an easy path for active shooters to obtain firearms. Because he was under 21, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter could not have gone into a gun store and bought a handgun, but he was able to legally buy the AR assault-style rifle he used in the shooting.