School shooting

A school shooting is an armed attack at an educational institution, such as a high school, middle school, elementary school, or a university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties.[1][2] The phenomenon is mostly widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings,[3][4] outnumbering the other major industrialized nations combined by a factor of 57 (2009-18).[5] Especially in the United States, school shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies, gun rights and gun control.

According to studies, factors behind school shooting include easy access to firearms, family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, and mental illness among many other psychological issues.[6] Among the topmost motives of attackers were: bullying/persecution/threatened (75%) and revenge (61%), while 54% reported having multiple reasons. The remaining motives included an attempt to solve a problem (34%), suicide or depression (27%), and seeking attention or recognition (24%).[7]

  1. ^ Vossekuil, Bryan; et al. (2004). The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Secret Service. p. 4.
  2. ^ "Mass Shootings Are Contagious". Live Science. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Foxman, Simone; King, Ritchie (December 14, 2012). "How school killings in the US stack up against 36 other countries put together". Quartz. Atlantic Media. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  4. ^ Wolfe-Wylie, William (December 14, 2012). "Interactive: School shootings around the world since 1996". Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  5. ^ Rose, Chip Grabow,Lisa (May 21, 2018). "The US has had 57 times as many school shootings as six other major industrialized nations combined". CNN.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Gold & Simon (December 2016). "Gun Violence and Mental Illness. Vol. First edition". European Journal of Public Health. 26 (6). American Psychiatric Association Publishing: 1080. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw192. ISSN 1101-1262. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) license.
  7. ^ School Shooter: A Quick Reference Guide. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes (U.S.). January 1969.