It happens again. You’re scrolling through your phone, maybe waiting for coffee or sitting on the train, and that specific notification pops up. Another one. Honestly, the way we talk about mass shootings in us has become this weird, ritualized cycle of shock followed by immediate, bitter arguing over what the word "mass" even means.
Defining the problem is a mess. If you look at the FBI's data, they have a very specific, narrow lens. They look at "active shooter incidents." Then you have the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which a lot of news outlets use because they're fast. But the GVA defines a mass shooting as any incident where four or more people are shot, not including the shooter, regardless of whether they die. This is why you’ll see one headline saying there have been 600 shootings in a year while another source says 30. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating. It makes people tune out because they feel like the numbers are being manipulated.
The reality? Both can be true. We are dealing with two different types of violence that get lumped into the same bucket. There are the high-profile, "public square" attacks—the schools, the grocery stores, the music festivals—and then there are the daily instances of community violence, often tied to crime or domestic disputes, that technically hit the "four or more" threshold. When we talk about mass shootings in us, we’re often talking about two different tragedies at the exact same time.
The Psychological Toll of the "Anywhere" Fear
Why does this feel so much heavier now? It’s the randomness.
Back in the day, or at least in our collective memory of the "back in the day," violence felt like it had a geography. You stayed out of "bad neighborhoods." But the modern era of American mass violence has erased those borders. You’ve got the 2022 shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo. The 2023 tragedy at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas. A bowling alley in Maine. These are "soft targets." They are places where people are just... living.
Dr. Jillian Peterson and Dr. James Densley, the researchers behind The Violence Project, have spent years studying the life histories of shooters. Their database, funded by the National Institute of Justice, shows something striking: mass shooters almost always have a "crisis point." It isn't just "evil" or "mental illness" as a vague catch-all. It’s a specific, identifiable descent. They found that nearly all perpetrators of public mass shootings were in a state of suicidal crisis before their attack.
Basically, the shooting is intended to be a final act. A horrific, public suicide where they take others with them.
What the Data Actually Says About Motivations
If you dig into the profiles, you start to see patterns that don't fit the typical political talking points. It’s not always what you think.
- Trauma is a constant. A huge percentage of these shooters experienced severe childhood trauma or exposure to violence early on.
- The "Script." There is a literal script that shooters follow. They study past attackers. They look at the body counts of the Columbine shooters or the Las Vegas shooter like they’re high scores.
- The Grip of Social Media. Most modern shooters use the internet to find a community that validates their rage. It's an echo chamber of grievances.
The Violence Project's data suggests that many shooters are "leaking" their plans. They tell someone. They post a cryptic message. In about 80% of cases, at least one other person had some prior knowledge that the shooter was planning something. That is a massive window for intervention that we're currently missing because people are either too scared to speak up or don't know who to call.
The Weaponry Debate and the Legislative Logjam
You can't talk about mass shootings in us without talking about the hardware. This is where the conversation usually dies.
The AR-15 style rifle has become the symbol of this entire conflict. It’s lightweight. It has very little recoil. It’s incredibly easy to use, even for someone with no military training. When people talk about "assault weapons," they're often talking about these semi-automatic rifles that can be modified with high-capacity magazines.
Does the type of gun matter?
Statistically, handguns are used in the vast majority of all gun violence. But when it comes to high-casualty mass shootings, the presence of a semi-automatic rifle with a large magazine is the common denominator that drives the death toll up. It allows a shooter to fire more rounds in less time without reloading. In the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the perpetrator used "bump stocks" to make his rifles fire almost like fully automatic weapons, killing 60 people and wounding hundreds in minutes.
While the federal "ban" on bump stocks has been a legal see-saw in the courts—eventually being struck down by the Supreme Court in 2024 because of how the law was written—it highlights the gap between technology and legislation.
Red Flag Laws: The Middle Ground?
Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), or "Red Flag Laws," are kinda the only area where you see a glimmer of bipartisan agreement. These laws allow family members or police to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from someone who is a danger to themselves or others.
Nineteen states and D.C. have some version of this. Does it work? A study from UC Davis looked at California’s law and found it was used effectively in several cases to prevent potential mass shootings. But the implementation is spotty. If the police don't know the law exists, or if the "leakage" isn't reported, the paper law doesn't do much.
The "Media Contagion" Effect
We have to talk about us. The media. The viewers.
There is a very real phenomenon called "contagion." When a major shooting gets 24/7 wall-to-wall coverage, it increases the likelihood of another shooting happening within the next two weeks. It’s like a viral infection. The "No Notoriety" movement, started by parents who lost children in the Aurora theater shooting, has been pushing newsrooms to stop showing the shooter's face and stop saying their name.
The idea is simple: stop making them famous.
If the goal of the shooter is to be "remembered" or to have their manifesto read by millions, then every time a news station broadcasts their biography, they are giving the shooter exactly what they wanted. It creates a blueprint for the next person sitting in their basement feeling invisible and angry.
Schools: The Hardening vs. Softening Debate
Walk into any American elementary school today and it looks different than it did twenty years ago. You’ve got bullet-resistant glass. You’ve got "SROs" (School Resource Officers). You’ve got kids as young as five doing "active shooter drills" where they have to hide in closets and stay quiet.
It’s heartbreaking. It’s also controversial.
Some experts, like those at the National Association of School Psychologists, worry that we are traumatizing a whole generation of kids for an event that is still, statistically, very rare for any individual child to experience. On the other side, parents say, "If there's even a 0.01% chance, I want my kid behind a locked steel door."
The "hardening" of schools is a billion-dollar industry. We spend massive amounts on security tech, but we often neglect the "soft" side—the counselors, the social workers, and the mental health programs that could catch a kid before they bring a gun to school.
The Myth of the "Lone Wolf"
We love the "lone wolf" narrative because it makes the problem seem unsolvable and random. Like a lightning strike. But almost no shooter is truly a lone wolf. They are products of their environment, their online communities, and a series of systemic failures.
Take the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. There were dozens of "red flags." The FBI had been warned. Local police had been to the shooter’s house multiple times. The school knew he was a threat. The system didn't just break; it sat there and watched it happen.
Why Mass Shootings in US Persistence Matters to the Rest of the World
The United States is an outlier. We know this. Other countries have mental health issues. Other countries have violent video games. Other countries have broken families. But they don't have mass shootings at this frequency.
The difference is the sheer volume of firearms in circulation—roughly 400 million. That's more guns than people.
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When you have that much "lethality" available, a temporary crisis—a job loss, a breakup, a psychotic break—can become a massacre in seconds. In countries like Australia or the UK, those same people might still have a crisis, but they don't have the same tools to act on it on such a scale.
What Actually Needs to Change (Beyond the Tweets)
Honestly, if we keep waiting for a massive federal law to fix everything, we’re going to be waiting a long time. The Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision made it even harder for states to pass restrictive gun laws. So, where does that leave us?
It leaves us with community-level intervention.
- Support Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs. These are boots-on-the-ground groups that work in cities to interrupt the cycle of retaliation. They treat violence like a disease. They go to the hospitals after a shooting to talk to the victims' friends so they don't go out and start the next shooting.
- Universal Background Checks. This is the "low-hanging fruit." Most Americans, including most gun owners, agree that you should have a background check whether you buy a gun at a store, online, or at a gun show. Closing the "private sale" loophole is a logical step that doesn't infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.
- Secure Storage. A shocking number of school shooters get their guns from home. They aren't buying them; they're taking them from their parents' nightstands or unlocked closets. Simple "safe storage" laws and education can save lives.
- Listen to the "Leakage." If you see something online or hear a friend talking about "going out in a blaze of glory," take it seriously. Every single time.
The problem of mass shootings in us is dense. It’s a mix of constitutional law, public health, psychology, and a culture that is increasingly isolated and polarized. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and anyone telling you there is is probably trying to sell you something or get your vote.
But we can't just accept this as the "price of freedom." That’s a cop-out.
By focusing on the specific profiles of shooters, tightening the ways people in crisis get access to high-capacity weapons, and actually funding the social infrastructure to catch people before they fall, we can start to move the needle. It’s not about taking away everyone’s guns or ignoring the Bill of Rights; it’s about recognizing that we have a specific, lethal problem that requires a specific, multi-layered response.
Next Steps for Action:
- Check your local laws: Find out if your state has a Red Flag law (ERPO) and learn the process for filing one if you ever encounter someone in crisis.
- Support "No Notoriety": Encourage local media outlets to follow the protocols of not naming or showing shooters to reduce the contagion effect.
- Demand CVI Funding: Contact local representatives to prioritize funding for Community Violence Intervention programs which are often underfunded compared to traditional policing.
- Practice Secure Storage: If you own firearms, ensure they are stored in a biometric or high-quality safe, separate from ammunition, especially if there are minors or young adults in the home.