Shooter Shooting Signs

A tragic incident that stands out took place in April of 2007, at Virginia Tech University. Student Seung Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and injured 17 others before he committed suicide. Seung Hui Cho had a history of mental illness and was prohibited to own a firearm, but he still managed to acquire two weapons. Another example takes place in Tucson, AZ at a grocery store while a congressional sponsored event took place. Jared Loughner shot and killed 6 people and injured 13

An active shooter is defined as, “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area; in most cases, active shooters use firearms(s) and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims”. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2008) Most often active shooters events will end quickly, “active shooters will continue to move throughout building or area until stopped by law enforcement, suicide, or other intervention. (Deputy Les Wiemers, n.d.)

School shootings seemed like a new phenomenon, but they occurred for the majority of American history. The first school shooting occurred On July 26, 1764, when a Lenape Indian shot and killed nine children and the school master of the Greencastle, Pennsylvania school (Galvin): as noted in Appendix A. Since 1764, the number of school shootings rose exponentially. In the 1990’s,

Most of the recent shootings seem to be contagious as their shooters’ plans and motives are almost all quite alike. These shooters have set a “stereotypical shooter” profile. They are typically male, white, and around the age of 20. Of all the mass shootings, only one was done by a woman (Mass Shootings in the U.S.). They are usually quite smart, part of a middle class family, and are normally quiet, lonely, and introverted. They are almost always socially awkward and have few-no friends. Yet, no one expects them to kill others as they are quiet. These shooters keep everything to themselves which may be one of the reasons why they are full of hatred. Often, they consider suicide, yet they refuse to talk to any sort of counselor. They are almost always constantly on a computer, frequently playing violent video games. Their shooting plan is almost always pre-meditated far in advance. They plan to make their shooting “great” and to ‘gain fame’ for their mass shooting. After the shooting, most commonly, they kill themselves.

The key facts from kids that do the shooting is a lot of times from being bullied at school or make fun of that will keep there anger all bottled up inside until one day the anger explodes and the worst scenario happens and that is a school shooting. Parents should also talk to their child to let them know not to be scared to report things that might seem out of the ordinary. Kids should always report to authority or a teacher

One of the many misuses of firearms are the mass shootings that seems to becoming a normal tragedy in the United States schools. Mass shootings that occur usually have a motive or some kind of emotional tie to why these types of murderous actions took place. Phillip Cook and Kristin Goss explains emotional ties of the killers and what drives them to murder:

School shootings have altered American history greatly over the past two decades. From 1997 to 2007, there have been more than 40 school shootings, resulting in over 70 deaths and many more injuries. School shoot-outs have been increasing in number dramatically in the past 20 years. There are no boundaries as to how old the child would be, or how many people they may kill or injure. At Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29th, 2000, there was a 6 year old boy who shot and killed another 6 year old girl at the Buell Elementary School with a .32 caliber pistol. And although many shootings have occurred at High Schools or Middle Schools, having more guns on those campuses would not be a good environment for children to grow up in.

Mass shootings in the U.S have many different causes as to why they occur. USA Today mentions that breakups, estrangements and family related problems make up the majority of mass killings. Although, many seem to blame gun violence and mental illnesses. Mass shootings can also involve a failed security system such as mistakes in the mental health system and gun control. (USA Today, 2013.) People question whether or not people with mental illness should be allowed to obtain a gun, while others argue that guns can provide safety when used correctly.

So how could someone commit a mass shooting? Many psychologists have given their own thoughts as to why someone would fulfil such a deadly personal mission. For the most part, it would appear that many school shooters do what they do for their moment in the spotlight. In this day and age of modern technology, there's no doubt the killer's face will soon be on everybody's social media feeds and on the front of newspapers all over the globe. Others, however, may commit a mass shooting to make themselves seem powerful. This is common when the shooter has been a victim of bullying or abuse, as being the one with control over everybody else gives them a certain rush of adrenaline and feeling of dominance they may have never had had before.

A literature review of gun violence prevention is being undergone as part of this submittal. This research is important because gun violence has been a plague in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other places, for much of the recent century or two. This violence takes on two major forms. The first is general gun violence that is perpetrated as part of gang violence, robberies, burglaries, crimes of passion or spite and so forth. The other major form, which is both quite uncommon but very poignant and affecting when it happens, are school and other mass shootings like Columbine and the very recent Sandy Hook. There have been a decent amount of other school shootings and work shootings, but those are far and away the most notorious. Both were effected by very mentally ill teenagers or young adults that decide to go out in a bloody and perverted blaze of glory before they took their own life.

One major cause of Gun Violence is hatred, which can lead to many different outcomes. These outcomes can either have a good affect on some or a negative. For example, Getting caught and now having a criminal record. Some may learn from this and never commit another crime. The rest on the other hand can be more raged when released from jail. This will cause them to escalate down the same path as before. These people are causing the same problems to society as before. Therefore they are a living threat to everyone around them.

Like any math equation, to be able to find a solution, we must first understand the problem. We must use this same concept into this public health issue. Research and reports are beginning to provide patterns for understanding the individual’s motive to kill and the characteristics of the different schools where shootings occur (Wike and Fraser 2009). According to Wike and Fraser, making sense of the senseless, holds the key for designing prevention programs. An individual’s drive to commit such crimes can extend from factors such as bullying, their mental health, their environment, and lack of support.

After every shooting, whether it be a news head or a teacher at your own school, someone brings up the "signs" that people should have seen beforehand or the ones they should look for now. If we take a look back at these shooters, they all fall into a similar category, "practically none are old...many are just boys." However, suspecting someone of bringing an actual gun into school and using it seems like a heavy accusation. There seems to be a fine line between someone acting odd and actually being mentally unstable. Therefore, people tend to ignore the "signs" until they are smacking them in the face in the form of a trigger. King poignantly describes this stereotype of school shooters; he even goes as far as to describe the reaction of those in the community, stating "they all agree that he was pretty weird, but no one expected him to do something like this." How can you expect a person to be insane enough to fatally wound those around them? Once the public becomes aware of the shooter's identity, they begin the search "for a photo where he will look like your worst nightmare." No one wants to assume the worst about others or reveal their dark side. We do not want to think about the small possibility that one of our classmates, who may seem a little off, might just flip a switch and a whip a gun out.

Emotional wellness issues have been frequently shown another big cause of these shootings. Most school shooters were mentally sick or demonstrated side effects of psychological wellness issues. An opportunity for mental and psychiatric help could help stop these shootings. According to newyorker.com, ¨, from 2011 and 2013, more people believe that mass shootings result from a failure of the mental-health system than from easy access to guns. Eighty per cent of the population believes that mental illness is at least partially to

We don’t need to be that vigilant in order to know that gun-related violence and massacres have infiltrated our society. There have been many cases of public mass shootings that have occurred, with some of them happening in schools. 2015 will now be known as the year of mass shootings in the United States, and this is also the reason why the discussion for new gun control laws has heighten in the media.