Marketing Scoops: Gun Culture a Key Factor In School Shooter Backgrounds

A comprehensive analysis of all known U.S. school shootings reveals that most shooters grew up in social environments where guns were a central part of family bonding and identity. These cultural meanings of affection, fun, and belonging made firearms easily accessible to the shooters often without barriers at home. In many cases, parents purchased the firearms used or stored them in places their children could reach……..Continue reading….

By: Hanna Abdallah

Source: NeuroscienceNews

Critics:

A number of ideas have been proposed on how to lessen the incidence of gun-related violence. Some propose keeping a gun at home to keep one safer. Studies show that guns in the home is associated with an increased risk of violent death in the home. According to the Huffington Post, FBI data shows that gun-related violence is linked to gun ownership and is not a function or byproduct of crime.

They stated that the FBI data indicates that less than 10% of gun fatalities would be eliminated if they stopped of all violent crime, and therefore gun violence is caused by too many guns. Mother Jones reports that “[a] Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun” and that “[h]is odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater” when armed.

Others propose arming civilians to counter mass shootings. FBI research shows that between 2000 and 2013, “In 5 incidents (3.1%), the shooting ended after armed individuals who were not law enforcement personnel exchanged gunfire with the shooters.” Another proposal is to expand self defense laws for cases where a person is being aggressed upon, although “those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides” (that is, shootings where self-defense cannot be claimed).

While the CDC has been studying on possible methods of preventing gun violence, they have not come to many conclusions on good gun violence prevention. Psychiatry is another method seen to help with gun control, It can be used to see the possibility that someone may commit these violent acts. However, it is not a foolproof prevention method that stops gun violence. It is a method that can prevent huge danger warnings from getting access to firearms, but those who have mental illnesses that are not as dangerous, but the people are dangerous, can slip by undetected.

According to U.S. criminologist Gary Kleck, studies that try to link gun ownership to victimology often fail to account for the presence of guns owned by other people. Research by economists John Lott of the U.S. and John Whitley of Australia indicates that safe-storage laws do not appear to affect juvenile accidental gun-related deaths or suicides. In contrast, a 2004 study led by Daniel Webster found that such laws were associated with slight reductions in suicide rates among children.

The same study criticized Lott and Whitley’s study on the subject for inappropriately using a Tobit model. A committee of the U.S. National Research Council said ecological studies on violence and firearms ownership provide contradictory evidence. The committee wrote: “[Existing] research studies and data include a wealth of descriptive information on homicide, suicide, and firearms, but, because of the limitations of existing data and methods, do not credibly demonstrate a causal relationship between the ownership of firearms and the causes or prevention of criminal violence or suicide.”

Children exposed to gun-related violence, whether they are victims, perpetrators, or witnesses, can experience negative psychological effects over the short and long terms. Psychological trauma also is common among children who are exposed to high levels of violence in their communities or through the media. Psychologist James Garbarino, who studies children in the U.S. and internationally, found that individuals who experience violence are prone to mental and other health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep deprivation.

These problems increase for those who experience violence as children. It is conceivable that over a longer period, physical and emotional sequelae of mass shootings may lead to an array of symptoms and disability among affected individuals and communities who will likely experience lifelong consequences by carrying long-term memories of devastation, violence, injuries, and deaths. Gun violence is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males.

Although mass shootings have been covered extensively in the media, mass shootings in the US account for a small fraction of gun-related deaths^[123] and the frequency of these events steadily declined between 1994 and 2007, rising between 2007 and 2013. Legislation at the federal, state, and local levels has attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchases by youths and other “at-risk” populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing gun buyback programs, law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs.

Despite widespread concern about the impacts of gun violence on public health, Congress has prohibited the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting research that advocates in favor of gun control.^[126] The CDC has interpreted this ban to extend to all research on gun violence prevention, and so has not funded any research on this subject since 1996.

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America’s gun culture vs. the world”.

Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013″.

Global Study on Homicide 2011″.

Countries with the Highest Rates of Firearm Related Deaths”.

Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010″. “

Gun Violence: Comparing The U.S. With Other Countries”.

The Epidemiology of Firearm Violence in the Twenty-First Century United States”.

Gun Violence: The Real Costs.

Mapped: The countries with the most guns (no prizes for guessing #1)”.

Half of all violent deaths involve small arms and light weapons”.