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Research summary Policy summary Situational crime prevention (SCP) is an environmental crime control perspective with enormous practical and policy relevance due to its practitioner‐friendly theoretical approach. This study examines whether SCP interventions reduce incident casualty outcomes in active shooter incidents. We used an inductive, open‐source data set of 555 active shooter and mass public shooting sites to study the applicability of SCP to active shooter and mass public violence. Our findings suggest a harm mitigation role for SCP: active shooter sites with stronger holistic SCP had fewer casualties. We assessed perpetrator motivation to test displacement, a core critique of SCP, and found that the harm mitigation potential of SCP persists even in the presence of a highly motivated offender.SCP could be a practical and effective method to decrease casualties in the event of an active shooting, which is a highly motivated crime type that is difficult to predict and prevent. Public locations may select a range of appropriate SCP techniques based on individual resources and needs. The totality and interactions of these techniques may contribute to public safety in general, with diffuse benefits. This policy solution is highly oriented toward practice and real‐life application, and may be used to supplement existing preventative measures like threat assessment and gun legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, fears of the 'great replacement', popularised by Renaud Camus, warning against a supposed Islamist take-over of France, have motivated White supremacist violence and resulted in mass shootings in Europe, New Zealand and the US. The author shows how this conspiracy theory can be traced back to medieval theological doctrines used to justify the conquest of Muslim lands in Al-Andalus and later refined to warrant the European subjugation of the Indigenous nations of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Through papal authority, the 'Doctrine of Discovery' bestowed a God-given right on Christian nations to take and control lands, wiping out or confining Indigenous people, to then repopulate countries at will − itself the real racial reversal of settler colonialism. The theological argument is now thoroughly secularised in law in the US. 'A great replacement', incorporating the Doctrine of Discovery coupled with eugenicist ideas, can be found in the works of Lothrop Stoddard, and echoes are found even today in utterances from US politicians and on Fox News. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carrot culture stands out on the world stage due to its nutritional characteristics and economic importance, an aspect that demands the constant development of research aiming greater productivity. Thus, this study proposed an experimental plan, determining the estimates of plot size, sample size, and number of repetitions, with the purpose of increasing the precision and reliability of the results of the experiments with the carrot crop. Six uniformity trials were conducted, using three cultivars in two growing seasons (Season: 2019 and 2021). Each plant was considered a basic experimental unit and in each BEU, the variables shoot height, root length, shoot fresh mass, root fresh mass, and root diameter were measured. The size of the plot, sample, and the number of repetitions was estimated by the method of maximum curvature of the coefficient of variation. The results recommend that for experiments with the carrot crop, plots with twelve plants should be used. For a sampling of carrot plants in the plot, samples of eleven plants must be used in the direction of the row, considering a semi-amplitude of the confidence interval (D%) equal to 20% of the mean, with a confidence level of 95%. For a minimum significant difference in the Tukey test expressed as a percentage of the 50% mean, plots of twelve plants per crop row, with eight replicates, are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The frequency and severity of abiotic stress events, especially drought, are increasing due to climate change. The plant root is the most important organ for water uptake and the first to be affected by water limitation. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to include root traits in studies on drought stress tolerance. However, phenotyping under field conditions remains a challenging task. In this study, plants were grown in a hydroponic system with polyethylene glycol as an osmotic stressor and in sand pots to examine the root system of eleven spring barley genotypes. The root anatomy of two genotypes with different response to drought was investigated microscopically. Results: Root diameter increased significantly (p < 0.05) under polyethylene glycol treatment by 54% but decreased significantly (p < 0.05) by 12% under drought stress in sand pots. Polyethylene glycol treatment increased root tip diameter (51%) and reduced diameter of the elongation zone (14%) compared to the control. Under drought stress, shoot mass of plants grown in sand pots showed a higher correlation (r = 0.30) with the shoot mass under field condition than polyethylene glycol treated plants (r = -0.22). Conclusion: These results indicate that barley roots take up polyethylene glycol by the root tip and polyethylene glycol prevents further water uptake. Polyethylene glycol-triggered osmotic stress is therefore unsuitable for investigating root morphology traits in barley. Root architecture of roots grown in sand pots is more comparable to roots grown under field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on mass murderers to date has focused on perpetrators of male sex, while research on perpetrators of female sex has been relegated to case reports and series. We aimed to more fully examine the phenomenon of female‐perpetrated mass murder. We analyzed 1715 worldwide incidents of personal‐cause mass murder from 1900 to 2019, identifying 105 (6%) events perpetrated by females. We defined mass murder as any event involving at least three fatalities, not including the perpetrator, using any method. We identified cases of mass murder from English‐language databases of mass murder or murder in print or online. There were no significant differences in age and race between female and male perpetrators. Relative to males, female perpetrators were significantly less likely to employ firearms in their mass murders, using them in less than half of cases, compared to over 70% for males. The prevalence of psychotic signs and symptoms among female mass murderers was more than double that among males (25.7% vs. 12.5%, p < 0.01), while the rate of nonpsychotic psychiatric or neurological conditions was also much greater among female perpetrators (29.5% vs. 17.1%, p < 0.01). Over half of female perpetrators took or attempted to take their own lives. More than three‐quarters of mass murders by females involved at least one family member as a victim. This study underscores sex‐specific differences in the perpetration of mass murder and the need for further research to understand how insights about such dynamics might lead to the development of more effective and informed intervention policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of New Warrior culture in the post-Vietnam era has largely been unexplored by sociology of culture. While recent research on the NRA has explored significant aspects of gun culture such as advertising, narratives, as well as ratings of gun empowerment etc., less work has investigated how the NRA facilitated changes not only in gun culture but in the "systems of social relations" between gun owners and the government but also in "systems of meaning" in how gun owners understand their guns. This paper argues that the NRA's use of Native American warrior narratives, combined with other New Warrior narratives, maps onto Swidler's unsettled time. Merging classic warrior narratives based in service to the nation alongside extensive use of Native American warriors, the NRA leveraged warrior narratives as a way of facilitating the transformation of warrior identity from one who defends the nation to one that is prepared to fight their government. In this way, the NRA was able to communicate antigovernment narratives without openly embracing the conspiratorial antigovernment ideals espoused by some factions of the militia movement by changing warrior cultural narratives from defending the nation to fighting against its government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rise of mass shootings and far-right extremism in America since the 1960s, exploring the shared elements of victimization and guns that underlie both phenomena. It delves into the historical context of mass shootings, far-right insurrectionism, and the role of the Second Amendment in justifying violence. The text highlights the interconnectedness of white victimhood, extremist ideologies, and the proliferation of firearms in shaping contemporary acts of violence, emphasizing the need to understand these issues within a broader historical framework. [Extracted from the article]

In today's world, terrorist attacks pose a constant threat, whether through bombings like those in Sarafovo 2012, Ankara 2015, Madrid 2005, mass shootings as seen in Moscow 2024 and the USA, or vehiclerelated incidents like Barcelona and Cambrils 2016. Terrorists aim to inflict maximum harm, making prompt and effective response from medical teams crucial in stabilizing and reducing disability among casualties. Beyond medical expertise, strong organization and cohesion among emergency teams are imperative to prevent chaos when handling multiple casualties. This article delves into the preparedness and awareness of medical professionals in the Burgas region for managing mass disasters, accidents, and terrorist acts. A survey of 157 doctors and nurses across three medical institutions revealed that 70.70% work in surgical departments and 29.29% in therapeutic departments. Alarmingly, 66.24% of respondents lacked awareness of specific action plans for their professional duties and their roles in a mass casualty situation, leading to potential organizational crises and delays in life-saving interventions. However, there's a positive outlook as 78.98% of medics expressed willingness to take initiative and 85.98% were ready to provide medical care regardless of their working hours. Analysis of these findings underscores the need for comprehensive action plans at all administrative levels, including ward managers, head nurses, doctors, nurses, and orderlies. Additional training and documentation of duties and competencies will ensure efficient organization during emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "leafing intensity premium" hypothesis proposes that leaf size results from natural selection acting on different leafing intensities, i.e., the number of leaves per unit shoot volume or mass. The scaling relationships among various above-ground functional traits in the context of this hypothesis are important for understanding plant growth and ecology. Yet, they have not been sufficiently studied. In this study, we selected four bamboo species of the genus Indocalamus Nakai and measured the total leaf fresh mass per culm, total non-leaf above-ground fresh mass, total number of leaves per culm, and above-ground culm height of 90 culms from each species. These data were used to calculate leafing intensity (i.e., the total number of leaves per culm divided by the total non-leaf above-ground fresh mass) and mean leaf fresh mass per culm (i.e., the total leaf fresh mass per culm divided by the total number of leaves per culm). Reduced major axis regression protocols were then used to determine the scaling relationships among the various above-ground functional traits and leafing intensity. Among the four species, three exhibited an isometric (one-to-one) relationship between the total leaf fresh mass per culm and the total non-leaf above-ground fresh mass, whereas one species (Indocalamus pumilus) exhibited an allometric (not one-to-one) relationship. A negative isometric relationship was found between the mean leaf fresh mass per culm and the leafing intensity for one species (Indocalamus pedalis), whereas three negative allometric relationships between mean leaf fresh mass per culm and leafing intensity were observed for the other three species and the pooled data. An exploration of the alternative definitions of "leafing intensity" showed that the total number of leaves per culm divided by the above-ground culm height is superior because it facilitates the non-destructive calculation of leafing intensity for Indocalamus species. These results not only confirm the leafing intensity premium hypothesis for bamboo species but also highlight the interconnected scaling relationships among different functional traits, thereby contributing to our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary significance of leaf size variation and biomass investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThere has been a noticeable rise in the number of mass shootings occurring in the US over the last decade with these attacks often being committed by a lone actor. This article aims to explore this, focusing on the time suspension between when the lone actor acquires their firearm and when they commit their attack. The cases involved all occurred in the US and all perpetrators obtained their firearms legally. The results found that, on average, lone actors obtained their firearms 54 days before they committed their mass shooting. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media have become essential for crisis communication. While past research has focused on their role in corporate communication, studies largely ignored how public organizations use social media. Among these, the police are a particularly relevant case due to their responsibilities in society. Using a sequential mixed-methods design that combines qualitative interviews with an automated content analysis, this study analyzes how the German police use social media during community (e.g. mass shootings) and organizational -level crises (e.g. misdemeanors within the police). The results demonstrate that Twitter and Facebook are the primary platforms for crisis communication, with their unique affordances shaping the communicative styles of the police. We also find police communication strategies to differ between the two crisis types. During community-level crises, the main goal of the police is to provide information in a largely unidirectional manner, while communication during organizational-level crises is more dialogue-oriented to prevent reputational damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We applied the path to intended violence (PTIV) [Calhoun, F. S., & Weston, S. W. (2003). Contemporary threat management: A practical guide for identifying, assessing, and managing individuals of violent intent. Specialized Training Services] model and the Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol (TRAP-18; [Meloy, J. R. (2017). The TRAP-18 manual version 1.0. Washington, DC: Global Institute of Forensic Research]) to study the case of a lone-actor jihadist who carried out a fatal shooting at a joint Army-Navy recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 1 June 2009. The PTIV model examines incidents using six progressive stages: grievance; violent ideation; researching and planning; preparation; probing and breaching; and attack [Calhoun, F. S., & Weston, S. W. (2003). Contemporary threat management: A practical guide for identifying, assessing, and managing individuals of violent intent. Specialized Training Services]. The TRAP-18 is a structured professional judgment tool and comprises 18 behavior-based warning signs for terror incidents. The findings from the retroactive application of the TRAP-18, in this case, show that in the week before the attack, the perpetrator exhibited 5 of the 8 proximal warning behaviors and 5 of the 10 distal warning behaviors. The retroactive application of the TRAP-18 and PTIV to cases of targeted violence assists with identifying a timeline of behaviors, which in turn provides insight into the pathway to violence and warning signs that someone may be a threat of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work by Allison and Klein examining violence and homicide introduced the concept of strained masculinity, a theoretical integration of general strain theory and hegemonic masculinity. Using qualitative data collection (n = 63), the current study considers strained masculinity themes in the context of mass shootings and the gender gap. Findings demonstrated support for the prevalence of Allison and Klein's themes in mass shootings. The men who committed mass shootings in our sample responded to challenges to their masculinity (62%), pursued hegemonic masculinity through "sport" (33%), and pursued hegemonic masculinity through controlling space (27%). In addition, qualitative analysis revealed overlaps in strained masculinity themes for mass shooting cases, demonstrating the complexity of this type of violence. There were six outlier cases identified that did not display strained masculinity, rather the perpetrators in these cases suffered from psychological or emotional troubles before opening fire. Overall, findings indicate that the integration of traditional criminology theories and gender theories is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the principal props of British imperialism in South Asia was the British Imperial Army in India. Logistics was important for supplying and transporting the army at the distant theatres to annex new territories and cow down the rebels. The First Anglo–Burma War occurred between the British-Indian Empire and the ruler of Ava in Burma. This conflict, which lasted from 5 March 1824 to 24 February 1826, was an amphibious war. The primary aim of this article is to study the logistics of the British Imperial Army in India, and the secondary objective is to throw some light on the Burmese logistics. An attempt is made in this essay to show the interconnections between ecology, logistics and military organisations of the British-Indian state and Ava. The First Anglo–Burma War can be located at the interface of preindustrial and industrial wars. The animal and human resources of Bengal and Madras presidencies, utilisation of certain indigenous ‘technologies’ (like country boats, rafts, etc.) and technological superiority in gunpowder weapons (both on land and at sea, like gunboats, corned powder, cast iron guns, etc.) enabled the East India Company (EIC) to muddle through and emerge victorious, albeit at a high financial and manpower cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand public reactions to statements about racial discrimination made by elected officials of color on Twitter. We argue that statements about race made by elected officials of color will be overlooked in most political contexts. However, during events when race is made a salient issue, the public will look to elected officials of the afflicted group for guidance and, through this, the public will be more likely to interact with these leaders on Twitter. In this way, periods of crises create a window of opportunity when statements against racism made by elected officials of color receive greater public attention. To assess this hypothesis, we use the case study of Asian American members of Congress and their discussion of anti-Asian racism on Twitter. We examine the pattern of Twitter interactions to their posts in 2021. We find that Asian American members of Congress receive more social media attention (likes and retweets) relative to other members of Congress when condemning anti-Asian violence, but only in the immediate wake of the March 2021 mass shooting of Asian Americans in Atlanta, Georgia. This study offers important new insight into when elected officials of color can draw public attention to the communities that they descriptively represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As space becomes increasingly congested, states operating in close proximity to other states is an inevitability. Strategically valuable space will become more crowded, and naturally, states will try to find creative solutions to fit more satellites into a constrained volume of space. As the commercial market begins to eclipse the defense market in the global space economy, there is a current impetus to normalize operating in close proximity to other satellites, also known as Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) activities. Normalizing RPO activities helps each state better understand intentions and ultimately avoid miscalculations that would escalate tensions or, worse--start a shooting war in space. As more states become space powers, all of humanity will have to wrestle with this problem. It stands to reason that the United States is best situated to lead the international community in the development of standards of conduct while conducting RPO activities and demonstrating to the world that not only can RPO activities be done, but they can be done safely and responsibly. This first step will improve space sustainability by enabling RPO-enabled commercial ventures to remove debris and extend satellite mission life. For the first time in history, the preponderance of the space market is predominately commercial. Now is the time to leverage a louder private equity voice to define safe and responsible space behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the ‘enchanted’ materiality of state militarism by offering an anthropological analysis of ‘gun culture’ within the reservist ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Through primarily ethnographic observations of one reserve combat unit over the span of a decade, we will argue that the ways in which firearms are handled by individual soldiers symbolically mirrors much broader strategic and political tensions between two competing forms of organizational logic. On the one hand, there is what can be described as an enchanted allure with the tools of violence. This may include personal excitement around the expectation of combat, learned experience, and a curiosity regarding the weapons of war. On the other hand, there is a broader institutional and professionalizing tendency towards disciplining these individualistic modalities by distancing soldiers from both the tools and the results of battle itself. Ultimately, we argue that while the IDF may seek to harness individual enchanted engagements with firearms to further militaristic goals, on the ground, this process occurs amidst a stark clash of institutional logics and a good deal of ambivalence around the nature of warfare and uncertainty about the ethos of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian nationalism and race are both important predictors of firearm policy preferences in the United States, and a growing body of research argues that ideas about gun control tend to be racially coded. Building on these findings, we use data from the 2021 General Social Survey to examine how race and ethnicity moderate the association between Christian nationalism and firearm policy preferences – specifically requiring a police permit to purchase a gun. Analyses show strong, racially divergent associations between Christian nationalism and opposition to requiring gun permits. Christian nationalism is associated with higher opposition to requiring gun permits for non-Hispanic White Americans, but lower opposition for non-Hispanic Black Americans. Moreover, accounting for biblical literalism attenuates the association for White Americans but amplifies the association for Black Americans. These findings support the conceptualization of Christian nationalism as a racialized ideology, i.e. one which has different meanings and effects across ethno-racial identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work investigates whether the assumed religious background of a perpetrator in a carried out (Study 1) and attempted mass shooting (Study 2) influences attribution of the crime to mental health problems or terrorist motives as well as to evaluation of appropriate punishment. In two experimental studies (n = 113 and n = 340) participants were confronted with a scenario depicting an (attempted) mass shooting that was either carried out by a perpetrator with a German or an Arabic/Muslim name. Results indicate that compared to a perpetrator with a German name, a shooting carried out by a perpetrator with an Arabic/Muslim name led to increased attributions to a terrorist motive and fewer attributions to mental health problems. Moreover, in Study 2, this attribution pattern was accompanied by increased punitiveness. The findings are discussed against the background of previous work showing comparable results as well as practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass violence incidents (MVIs) involving firearms, commonly referred to as "mass shootings" have become increasingly frequent in the United States. These shootings often result in immediate casualties and have far-reaching psychological impacts on survivors, witnesses, and the broader community. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of depression within affected communities. Population-based cross-sectional study. Data were collected from six communities affected by MVIs involving firearms that occurred between 2015 and 2020. Participants were randomly selected through address-based sampling, and depression was assessed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) diagnostic-level major depressive episode (MDE). Overall, the MDE prevalence was 17·2% since the MVI, 15·4% in the past year, and 8·2% in the past month. Significant risk factors for MDE since MVIs include high exposure to the incident (adjusted relative risk [aRR] = 1·32, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 19–1·60), being aged 18–29 years (aRR = 2·52, 95% CI: 1·61–3·95), being a woman (aRR = 1·58, 95% CI: 1·27–1·96), having low social support (aRR = 1·80, 95% CI: 1·46–2·22), and experiencing past sexual or physical trauma (aRR = 2·20, 1·52–3·19). Our study reveals a high burden of depression within communities affected by MVIs involving firearm use. Persons with high exposure to the MVIs and certain demographic groups had greater risks for MDE. These findings highlight the long-term mental health burden in communities affected by MVIs and underscore the necessity of providing mental health services in its aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined public comments on Twitter in the wake of three mass shootings in the United States during the summer of 2022. A total of 1,500 tweets were assessed (N = 1,500) for sentiment, risks presented, attribution of blame, and outrage. A sample of 500 tweets was taken following the Buffalo, New York, supermarket shooting; a sample of 500 tweets was taken following the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting; and a sample of 500 tweets was taken following the Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July parade shooting. Results show that risk, blame, and outrage differed significantly between the three situations in a variety of ways. These differences and possible reasons for them are further discussed. This study provides valuable insight on social media conversations about mass shootings – a timely subject that continues to plague the country and lead to polarizing opinions and divisiveness. The study also serves a practical function, as the findings can be presented to government organizations and social media organizations alike as critical insight into public perceptions, it can assist in identifying problematic speech online, and it can inform the development of social media guidelines in maintaining civil discord. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cowpea is a food crop representing an important source of proteins and income, mainly for people living in the north and northeast of Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the growth performance of two cowpea cultivars under four different ionic concentrations of the growth solution. Thus, a pot experiment was performed using the sand culture technique and set up in a completely randomized design with a 2 x 4 factorial scheme, using four replications and one plant per plot. After the period of growth, the parameters such as length of the shoot, stem diameter, number of leaves, number of secondary branches, number of pods, fresh weight of the stem, stem dry mass, leaf dry mass, shoot dry mass, and root/shoot ratio were obtained. The results pointed out that there was a significant interaction effect on parameters like stem diameter, leaf dry mass, shoot dry mass, and number of leaves. Both cultivars were strongly responsive to changes in ionic concentration, indicating a greater biomass production at ionic concentrations of 90% and 120%. A greater growth performance for BRS Rouxinol than BRS Itaim was observed, while the second cultivar indicated a high tolerance as exposed to the highest ionic concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the theories of networked gatekeeping and affective publics, this study compares how news media and social media users shaped the discourse surrounding the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings. We investigate both the substantive (topics) and affective (emotions) dimensions of news articles and tweets, showcasing how institutional media and the public engage in the social construction of mass shootings involving people of underserved communities. To do so, we built two datasets: 964 news articles and 265,951 tweets. The findings from the computer-assisted content analysis reveal that Twitter users focused more on humanizing the victims and contextualizing the Atlanta spa shootings within the broader framework of anti-Asian racism, in contrast to the news outlets. Twitter users expressed significantly greater anger and fear than what is reflected in the news articles. This study also demonstrates that the news stories failed to acknowledge the intersecting identities of the victims. The findings contribute to our understanding of how journalists and individuals shape agendas and convey their affective reactions through news and social media. We suggest actions that can be taken to create a more inclusive and culturally responsive media environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illicit arms trafficking in Ukraine has been a significant issue since the Cold War, with leftover Soviet stockpiles providing lucrative smuggling routes. With over US$100 billion in aid being provided by the West, a sizeable portion being in the form of small arms and guided infantry weapons such as MANPADS and ATGMs (Masters & Merrow 2023), and accompanying ammunition, Action Plans have been developed conducive to limiting eventual diversion of military aid into the illicit market. What this paper seeks to analyse, is the United States’ ‘Plan to Counter Illicit Diversion of Certain Advanced Conventional Weapons in Eastern Europe’. The plan highlights steps towards limiting illicit arms trafficking such as increased traceability, provision of end-use-monitoring (EUM) capacities and training, intelligence sharing, and capacity building for border management. This paper argues that the current iteration of the United States’ effort to limit arms trafficking, though still in its infancy, has provided some benefit in Ukraine’s efforts to combat the illicit diversion of arms, and could limit the presence of US-made weapons in the illicit arms market, as has been the case thus far. However, this paper does argue that, given the context of lacking institutional accountability, the role of corruption, an inconsistent and incoherent legal framework for gun ownership, as well as lacking coordination with US partners, the Action Plan will unlikely help reform the structural conditions that established Ukraine as a lucrative arms market before the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectiveMethodResultsConclusion\nHIGHLIGHTSThe rate of worldwide mass shootings increased almost 400% over the last 40 years. About 30% are followed by the perpetrator’s fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt.We examined the rate of fatal and nonfatal attempts among 528 mass shooters over the last 40 years and their relationship to detected mental illness to better understand this specific context of suicide. We collected information on U.S.-based, personal-cause mass murders that involved one or more firearms, from online sources.A greater proportion of mass shooters from 2000 to 2019 took or attempted to take their own lives (40.5%) compared with those from 1980 to 1999 (23.2%, p < 0.001). More than double the proportion of perpetrators who made a fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt had a history of non-psychotic psychiatric/neurologic symptoms (38.9%), compared with perpetrators who did not make a fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt (18.1%; p < 0.001). Among mass shooters who made fatal or nonfatal suicide attempts, 77 of 175 (44%) did not have any recorded psychiatric, neurologic, or substance use condition. Of the 98 mass shooters who made fatal or non-fatal suicide attempts and had a psychiatric, substance use, or neurologic condition, 41 had depressive disorders.It is possible that a lack of information about the perpetrators’ mental health or suicidal ideation led to an underestimation of their prevalence. These data suggest that suicide associated with mass shootings may represent a specific context for suicide, and approaches such as psychological autopsy can help to ascertain when psychiatric illness mediates the relationship between mass shootings and suicide.We examined 528 mass shootings.A greater proportion of mass shooters from 2000-2019 made a fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt (123/304, 40.5%) compared with mass shooters from 1980-1999 (52/224, 23.2%), χ2 = 17.3, p<.001.More than double the proportion of perpetrators who made a fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt had a history of non-psychotic psychiatric/neurologic symptoms (38.9%), compared with those who did not (18.1%; p < 0.001).Among mass shooters who made a fatal or nonfatal suicide attempt, 77 of 175 (44%) did not have any recorded psychiatric, neurologic, or substance use condition. However, it is possible that a lack of information about the perpetrators’ mental health or suicidal ideation led to an underestimation of their prevalence.These results suggest that perpetrators may have considered suicide a potential outcome of such an event, and/or that the perpetrators’ high levels of aggression and anger, accompanied by an impaired capacity for restraint, resulted in homicide followed by suicidal behavior.Psychological autopsies can clarify the role of psychiatric illness and more extreme aggressive traits in homicide-suicide instances of mass shootings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The United States has one of the highest rates of gun violence and mass shootings. Timely medical attention in such events is critical. The objective of this study was to assess geographic disparities in mass shootings and access to trauma centers. Methods: Data for all Level I and II trauma centers were extracted from the American College of Surgeons and the Trauma Center Association of America registries. Mass shooting event data (4+ individuals shot at a single event) were taken from the Gun Violence Archive between 2014 and 2018. Results: A total of 564 trauma centers and 1672 mass shootings were included. Ratios of the number of mass shootings vs trauma centers per state ranged from 0 to 11.0 mass shootings per trauma center. States with the greatest disparity (highest ratio) included Louisiana and New Mexico. Conclusion: States in the southern regions of the US experience the greatest disparity due to a high burden of mass shootings with less access to trauma centers. Interventions are needed to increase access to trauma care and reduce mass shootings in these medically underserved areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. news media has been under pressure to avoid reporting the names of the perpetrators of mass shootings. This research shows a connection between the number of people killed in a mass shooting and the number of times the news media report the perpetrators' name. It shows that from 2012 to 2021 the news media heeded the call to limit the number of times the name of a mass shooter was reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective communication increases support for policy measures. This article argues that a narrative that portrays a policy's target group as a hero is most effective in generating support for the given policy. The research builds on the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to test the influence of an audience‐as‐hero narrative on the opinion about a new campfire regulation among visitors to a national park in Russia. A survey experiment with 314 visitors to the national park compares the influence of a narrative portraying the regulation's target group as a hero (a park visitor) on policy opinion and a narrative portraying another hero (a firefighter). Results show that the audience‐as‐hero narrative has more influence on policy support than a nonnarrative message and also more than a narrative portraying another hero. This indicates that audience‐as‐hero narratives are particularly effective in generating support for policies. Related Articles: Crow, Deserai A., Lydia A. Lawhon, John Berggren, Juhi Huda, Elizabeth Koebele, and Adrianne Kroepsch. 2017. "A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of Wildfire Policy Discussions in Two Colorado Communities." Politics & Policy 45(4): 626–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12207. Shanahan, Elizabeth A., Mark K. McBeth, and Paul L. Hathaway. 2011. "Narrative Policy Framework: The Influence of Media Policy Narrative on Public Opinion." Politics & Policy 39(3): 373–400. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2011.00295.x/abstract. Smith‐Walter, Aaron, Holly L. Peterson, Michael D. Jones, and Ashley Nicole Reynolds Marshall. 2016. "Gun Stories: How Evidence Shapes Firearm Policy in the United States." Politics & Policy 44: 1053–88. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12187/full. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the general historical context of the mass shootings in the fall of 1939 in the pre-war Gdańsk Pomerania, Poland, and introduces the very term "Pomeranian Crime of 1939." The executions in the Szpęgawski Forest, where between 2,413 and 7,000 people lost their lives, illustrate of the process itself. The results of archaeological research carried out at the site of the mass killings in the Szpęgawski Forest in 2023 is used as a case study. Archaeological research is shedding new light on the crime and its cover-up through analyses of the material evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass shootings (incidents with four or more people shot in a single event, not including the shooter) are becoming more frequent in the United States, posing a significant threat to public health and safety in the country. In the current study, we intended to analyze the impact of state-level prevalence of gun ownership on mass shootings—both the frequency and severity of these events. We applied the negative binomial generalized linear mixed model to investigate the association between gun ownership rate, as measured by a proxy (i.e., the proportion of suicides committed with firearms to total suicides), and population-adjusted rates of mass shooting incidents and fatalities at the state level from 2013 to 2022. Gun ownership was found to be significantly associated with the rate of mass shooting fatalities. Specifically, our model indicated that for every 1-SD increase—that is, for every 12.5% increase—in gun ownership, the rate of mass shooting fatalities increased by 34% (p value < 0.001). However, no significant association was found between gun ownership and rate of mass shooting incidents. These findings suggest that restricting gun ownership (and therefore reducing availability to guns) may not decrease the number of mass shooting events, but it may save lives when these events occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of high-profile mass shootings in schools, policymakers have explored options designed to mitigate harms to students, faculty, staff, and visitors during similar tragedies. Among the most controversial measures introduced has been armed teacher policies, which currently are authorized in some form in more than half of U.S. states despite no evidence about their effectiveness in such situations. Public support for arming teachers is divided, though the perceptions of law enforcement, who would be tasked with responding to the shooting and could potentially encounter armed teachers, has been largely overlooked. This study helps to address this gap through a qualitative evaluation of feedback provided by officers as part of a broader survey. Ten subthemes were identified in the responses and were grouped into three broader categories: the value of armed teachers, training (both broadly and related to specific requirements), and other considerations. Broader implications for policymakers stemming from these perceptions also are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the span of ten days, the United States experienced two of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. The first mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, claimed the lives of ten people and left three more injured--mostly elderly shoppers. The second mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, took the lives of nineteen students and two of their teachers. Another fifteen mass shootings occurred in that same ten-day span in which another ten people died, and sixty-nine others were wounded. There were also 1,300 firearm deaths from homicides and suicides in the same span of time. Policy initiatives that could potentially reduce mass shootings and other firearm violence include universal background checks, assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans, and extreme risk protection orders. This Article examines these measures from two vantage points. First, if these policies were adopted, would they be effective in reducing mass shootings? Aspirational claims of likely beneficial impacts are less meaningful than insights derived from a track record of policy performance. A detailed examination of the empirical evidence on experience with these policies suggests that the efforts offer substantial promise but differ in their likely efficacy. For example, the performance of extreme risk protection orders indicates that these laws are more effective at reducing suicides than homicides. Universal background checks and bans of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines offer greater potential along other dimensions of gun violence. Second, even if it is possible to identify potentially effective policies, would these policies have sufficient public support to make them politically viable? This Article reports on new survey evidence indicating that there is widespread support among the public at large for each of these measures. Perhaps surprisingly, there is support for these policies even within subgroups of the population that some might expect to be opposed to gun controls, such as people who voted for Donald Trump or who personally own guns. Current political opposition to reform efforts stems from a minority of the populace. Notwithstanding the general public support for gun controls, many elected officials oppose these efforts even in light of jarring instances of gun violence and the sobering statistics they generate. The political response to the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde did, however, provide some evidence of progress. Shortly after these mass shootings, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act--the first major gun control legislation enacted in the past thirty years. This Act includes some beneficial provisions, such as offering support to states enacting extreme risk protection order laws, but it does not diminish the need for the more sweeping measures analyzed here. This Article documents the public support for and evidence of efficacy of policy options that can serve as the basis for future legal reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In any healthy democracy, myriad policy issues compete for the public's attention. Most remain on the periphery of politics, either because they achieve salience only in narrow communities of interest or because they grab headlines only for brief periods of time. But sometimes issues become what we term "durable attention items"—they capture public attention and sustain it over many years. Why? We focus on one such newly durable issue—gun control in the United States. Using an original dataset of roughly 4,500 letters to the editor over a 40-year period, we demonstrate that this once-episodic issue, long dominated by a narrow constituency of pro-gun advocates, has become a mainstay of mass politics. We show that the gun issue's growing agenda status is due entirely to pro-regulation people mobilized by a combination of contextual factors, namely regularized mass shootings and efforts to relax gun policy, working in tandem with partisan polarization. Besides offering novel evidence of a fundamental shift in American gun politics, the study contributes to our theoretical understanding of how episodic issues come to command consistent political engagement over the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been a large number of masscasualty incidents in recent years, including climate change-related disasters, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, transportation accidents and a global pandemic. Communities, families and friends have suffered grief and loss, while nations continue to bear the scars of trauma. Disasters caused by acts with criminality, although necessarily managed by the police for the investigative aspect, must be planned for, and responded to with victim-centred practices by the police, local government and other relevant community stakeholders for the duration of the response and recovery. Inconsistency and confusion over terminology and language in emergency management can lead to a lack of understanding about which stakeholders or agencies should be engaged in, and responsible for different aspects of the planning, preparedness, mitigation and response to a community disaster — regardless of what type of disaster it is, and irrespective of the disaster being caused by a person or persons with ill-intent. This paper discusses how a wholeof- community and victim-centred approach to criminal act disaster response should be applied to support those persons most adversely affected by the incident. It also promotes the application of victim-centred practices to ensure that the needs of victims are regarded ethically, and with compassion following any disaster caused by an act of criminality. The term 'mass victimisation incident' will be introduced and applied through a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of collective trauma and tragedy, artists may be called upon as "second responders" to facilitate healing and grief for a community. In this article, we explain the artists-as-second-responders discourse, including the messaging of artists feeling useful, art as diversion, and art as healing. Then, using an example of student-artists compelled to make sure "the show must go on" at Michigan State University in the days after a mass school shooting, we critique the second-responder discourse by arguing that such messaging may cause more harm to artists and facilitate problematic escapism. We also challenge the "call to serve" and offer recommendations for how, on days after, institutions can respond in more traumainformed and supportive ways. In doing so, we argue that, in fact, the show must not always go on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although several mass killings by incels have received much attention, the overall phenomenon of sexually frustrated offenders seems even larger. This study drew from a recently developed sexual frustration theory to closely examine public mass shooters in the United States from 1966 to 2021 (n = 178). Results showed that some sexually frustrated perpetrators just wanted sex, while others lusted after unavailable partners or had illegal urges that were difficult to satisfy. Quantitative analyses indicated that compared to other mass shooters, sexually frustrated perpetrators were more frequently young, male, unmarried, childless, and unemployed. They were also more likely to be misogynistic, sex offenders, and fame-seekers, and their attacks killed significantly more female victims. Concerted efforts to reduce toxic masculinity and provide better guidance to young men could help reduce this threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass public shootings have drawn considerable attention from the public, policymakers, and researchers, yet despite what is known about these events, assessments to date have failed to consider their timing as a function of the locations where they occur. Using data on 401 U.S. mass public shootings occurring between 1966 and 2020, we examine these events' temporal patterns. The findings suggest that the occurrence of mass public shootings may not be as random as once assumed but instead mirror the routine activities of the perpetrators, their victims, and the shootings' locations. Considerations for prevention and response policies also are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guns are highly visible in the news, in politics, and in American culture more broadly. While most Americans support some gun control, a significant and vocal minority of Americans are firmly opposed. Drawing on work from the recently developing sociology of modern gun culture, we propose an intersectional threat model—wherein perceived threats to multiple privileged identities provoke a distinct response—for understanding the positions Americans take on gun policies. Using data from a 2018 national survey conducted by the American National Election Survey, we find a robust role for perceived threats along gender, race, and citizenship lines in opposition to background checks for private sales and an assault weapons ban as well as support for arming teachers. Interactions reveal multiplicative effects: that gender threats matter more when racial and immigrant threats are also felt. We discuss implications for the prospect of policy and for understanding the pro-gun alt-right movement and other potential applications of intersectional threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the notion of defensive gun ownership using the Dualistic Model of Passion. We hypothesized that an obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion for guns would be associated with a belief in a dangerous world (BDW). We expected this relationship to intensify in threatening contexts, leading to a more expansive view on defensive gun ownership. We tested this hypothesis across three threat contexts: a gun‐control message (Study 1, N = 342), a live shooting simulation (Study 2, N = 398), and the aftermath of the Christchurch mass shootings (Study 3, N = 314). In the experimental Study 1, exposure to a gun‐control message increased the intention to purchase guns among those with an obsessive passion (OP) for guns. Study 2 revealed that BDW mediated the relationship between OP and assertive modes of protection, the desire to purchase high‐stopping‐power guns, and anti‐Black racial bias in a shooting task. Study 3 showed that knowledge of the Christchurch attack intensified the link between OP and BDW, leading to increased support for gun access, a willingness to act as a citizen‐protector, and prejudice against Muslims. Comprehending these dynamics can assist policymakers in crafting messaging campaigns for firearm regulation and public safety measures that are more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]