Most school shootings aren’t mass killings, study finds, and they’re often driven by community violence | CNN
www.cnn.com
Many Americans think of school shootings as mass casualty events involving an adolescent with an assault-style weapon. But a new study says that most recent school shootings orchestrated by teenagers do not fit that image — and they are often related to community violence.

Many Americans think of school shootings as mass casualty events involving an adolescent with an assault-style weapon. But a new study says that most recent school shootings orchestrated by teenagers do not fit that image — and they are often related to community violence.

The study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, analyzed 253 school shootings carried out by 262 adolescents in the US between 1990 and 2016.

It found that these adolescents were responsible for only a handful of mass casualty shootings, defined as those involving four or more gunshot fatalities. About half of the shootings analyzed — 119 — involved at least one death. Among the events, seven killed four or more people.

A majority of the shootings analyzed also involved handguns rather than assault rifles or shotguns, and they were often the result of “interpersonal disputes,” according to the researchers from University of South Carolina and University of Florida.

      • farcaster@lemmy.world
        12·
        1 year ago

        I know. It’s still way better than the US. Because guns are a bigger factor than wealth disparity, mental health care, social homogeneity, or anything else which is typically pointed to by people who value their access to guns more than other’s lives.

    • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Are you asserting that school shootings are caused by wealth inequality? Do you have any data to back that up? 

      • farcaster@lemmy.world
        11·
        1 year ago

        No the person I’m replying to is.

        While it may be a factor, I’m pointing out America is by no means unique in having these problems, such as wealth inequality. In fact all the problems so often touted as the cause for gun violence are not unique to America. The main exception is the incredible proliferation of guns and the lax regulations surrounding them.

        But many Americans love their guns, as long as they don’t have to pay the price in blood for it, they’ll continue blaming other factors…