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Trigger Points

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Trigger Points

Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America

Dey Street,

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Mass shootings grab headlines, but there’s hope. Authorities have quietly preempted tragedies for decades.

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9

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Recommendation

Having reported on gun violence for more than a decade, Mark Follman chronicles behind-the-scenes research and efforts by law enforcement officials and mental health experts who are trying to make sense of senseless, violent acts and prevent them. They are striving, with some success, to prevent mass shootings and assassinations. Often, commentators and the media position gun control as a Second Amendment issue or sensationalize tragic events, giving shooters the spotlight they seek. But intervention in a potential shooter’s life at a critical, early moment can save lives. As Follman reports, you can find some hope in the steps experts are taking to ameliorate a seemingly hopeless situation.

Summary

Mass shootings are not only a gun control problem.

The “mass shootings era” in the United States began in the 1960s and has been building ever since. Until 2012, few researchers had explored the commonalities in mass shootings. In part that was due to the National Rifle Association exercising its clout during President Bill Clinton’s administration to keep federal dollars from being spent on research into gun violence. When researchers eventually established a database, they looked back at 30 years of cases in which a single assailant had killed at least four victims. 

As researchers accrued data, they realized that nearly all the shooters examined in the study had manifested warning signs before their attacks. This contradicted the pervasive media fiction that mass killers’ actions were a total surprise to those who knew them.

The researchers also learned that the FBI has a low-profile threat assessment team that cooperates with local authorities and has successfully mitigated scores of potential shootings.

As gun massacres increased, “behavioral threat assessment” has burgeoned...

About the Author

Longtime journalist Mark Follman is the national affairs editor at Mother Jones.

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