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I think that we should have been looking for commonalities since the first round of school shootings rather then having short lived gun debates flare after each new shooting. I think that taking the time to really look for commonalities and then start talking about ideas for change makes sense. To me, that would not be considered a knee jerk reaction.
I think that school security could learn a lot from Planned Parenthood's security model. As many know, they were the targets of violence in the past and they responded by tightening up security. I don't think that schools need to reinvent the wheel, they could learn from other organizations who have dealt with similar threats of violence.
There was school security at the Lone Star campus where there was a shooting today. It didn't stop a shooting from taking place between apparently two armed students.
There was school security at the Lone Star campus where there was a shooting today. It didn't stop a shooting from taking place between apparently two armed students.
A college campus is much different from an elementary or even high school campus. What was the reason for today's shooting? Anyone know?
Obviously we won't be able to stop all mass killings no matter what we do. Even if we ban all guns we will not put a stop to random violence. we can minimize it though and trying to get to the root of the problem seems like a good place to start.
A college campus is much different from an elementary or even high school campus. What was the reason for today's shooting? Anyone know?
Obviously we won't be able to stop all mass killings no matter what we do. Even if we ban all guns we will not put a stop to random violence. we can minimize it though and trying to get to the root of the problem seems like a good place to start.
The roots of the problem of much violence are known---for example, gang-related violence in the inner cities, which is far more frequent than school shootings, has its roots in poverty, lack of opportunity, social structure, and the drug trade. Unfortunately most of those issues are not easily "fixed."
You can't always tackle a problem at it's roots. The roots of drunk driving are deep-seated addictions, as well as social convention. But to reduce drunk driving we can't put everyone into rehab, we work on enforcement of drunk driving laws to keep drunk drivers off the road.
There has been a TON of research on gun violence and prevention. We know a lot about what works and what doesn't. Now is the time for taking action on reducing gun violence, not more analysis and discussion.
The roots of the problem of much violence is known---for example, gang-related violence in the inner cities, which is far more frequent than school shootings, has its roots in poverty, lack of opportunity, social structure, and the drug trade. Unfortunately most of those issues are not easily "fixed."
You can't always tackle a problem at it's roots. The roots of drunk driving are deep-seated addictions, as well as social convention. But to reduce drunk driving we can't put everyone into rehab, we work on enforcement of drunk driving laws to keep drunk drivers off the road.
There has been a TON of research on gun violence and prevention. We know a lot about what works and what doesn't. Now is the time for taking action on reducing gun violence, not more analysis and discussion.
Then why are mass shootings on the rise? Why have we seen a sudden and drastic increase in random mass shootings?
Then why are mass shootings on the rise? Why have we seen a sudden and drastic increase in random mass shootings?
I don't know. But I do know that researchers have identified shared features of mass school shootings.
Such as these factors identified by researchers at the University of Kansas medical school, who analyzed several years of school mass shooting data:
1) Previous warning communications: In contrast to most violent crimes, school homicides have consistently involved some warning communications by the child planning to commit a violent act, often to other children or classmates.
2.. Easy availability of guns. In two-thirds of the cases the attackers took the guns from their own home or that of relative. More than 1/2 the children had familiarity with the use of guns. --- Why should we be surprised that easily available guns play a role in mass shootings? Yet the NRA and pro-gun crowd would have us believe that is not the case. A kid can be angry and violent, but without a gun it is not likely he is going to be able to perpetrate a mass school murder.
3. two/thirds of the perpetrators had been bullied. I would be very surprised to learn that Adam Lanza was also not a victim of bullying at some point in his life.
4.. in at least half the cases, an adult had expressed concern about the child and risk of violence but those concerns did not lead to action
5.. many of these shooters came from families low in emotional closeness. These children had been allowed an unusual amount of privacy, and their parents often knew little about their lives and activities.
All of these factors provide areas for action. The following article discusses "threat assessment" for school shootings in some detail.
The roots of the problem of much violence are known---for example, gang-related violence in the inner cities, which is far more frequent than school shootings, has its roots in poverty, lack of opportunity, social structure, and the drug trade. Unfortunately most of those issues are not easily "fixed."
You can't always tackle a problem at it's roots. The roots of drunk driving are deep-seated addictions, as well as social convention. But to reduce drunk driving we can't put everyone into rehab, we work on enforcement of drunk driving laws to keep drunk drivers off the road.
There has been a TON of research on gun violence and prevention. We know a lot about what works and what doesn't. Now is the time for taking action on reducing gun violence, not more analysis and discussion.
Agreed. Public health is beginning to realize this. Education, et al is not always the solution. Sometimes enforcement is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorthy
Then why are mass shootings on the rise? Why have we seen a sudden and drastic increase in random mass shootings?
I don't know. But I do know that researchers have identified shared features of mass school shootings.
Such as these factors identified by researchers at the University of Kansas medical school, who analyzed several years of school mass shooting data:
1) Previous warning communications: In contrast to most violent crimes, school homicides have consistently involved some warning communications by the child planning to commit a violent act, often to other children or classmates.
2.. Easy availability of guns. In two-thirds of the cases the attackers took the guns from their own home or that of relative. More than 1/2 the children had familiarity with the use of guns.
3. two/thirds of the perpetrators had been bullied
4.. in at least half the cases, an adult had expressed concern about the child and risk of violence but those concerns did not lead to action
5.. many of these shooters came from families low in emotional closeness. These children had been allowed an unusual amount of privacy, and their parents often knew little about their lives and activities.
All of these factors provide areas for action. The following article discusses "threat assessment" for school shootings in some detail.
That is all very valuable information. We also need to know what types of psychiatric medications these people were on because there could be links. It'd be helpful to know what these people liked to do in their spare time. There are rumors that Lanza spent hours playing violent video games. If this is true, it's worth looking into. The recent mass shooting differ from the school shootings because the shooters were not students and some of the targets did not take place in schools.
Spree killings are on the rise. Mass shootings are not. That is true and is another reason to question why we are considering infringing on constitutional rights based on a perception that mass killings and gun violence in general are on the rise.
That is all very valuable information. We also need to know what types of psychiatric medications these people were on because there could be links. It'd be helpful to know what these people liked to do in their spare time. There are rumors that Lanza spent hours playing violent video games. If this is true, it's worth looking into. The recent mass shooting differ from the school shootings because the shooters were not students and some of the targets did not take place in schools.
The thing is though that millions of people are on those psychiatric medications and the vast majority do not become mass murderers. That's why I don't believe that investigating what if any drugs these shooters were on is a fruitful avenue of investigation. And what if you find that the Aurora shooter for example was on Prozac. Are you going to make all the millions of people on Prozac stop taking it?
Same argument really for the video games. Video games are probably the #1 past time of adolescent boys and many young men. Again, very few of them become mass shooters. And in terms of prevention, do you stop hundreds of millions of young men from playing violent video games just because a handful of them end up becoming mass shooters? I see the video game connection as a straw man.
Other countries have young men on psychiatric medications, other countries have young men who play violent video games. But other countries don't have a gun in nearly every home.
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