key: cord-0075706-1c4v3ul8
authors: Wallace, Lacey N.
title: Jillian Peterson and James Densley: The violence project: how to stop a mass shooting epidemic: Abrams Press, 2021
date: 2022-03-14
journal: Crime Prev Community Saf
DOI: 10.1057/s41300-022-00140-6
sha: 3f8c2890f0ea8bb9cb7bbb8d1597627b180e3860
doc_id: 75706
cord_uid: 1c4v3ul8

nan

the media; and (4) opportunity. Much of this book is based on the authors' firsthand research. The authors are founders of the Violence Project (https:// www. thevi olenc eproj ect. org/), a non-profit organization that maintains a large database of mass shootings, mass shooters, and related characteristics. The Violence Project also provides training and resources aimed towards mass shooting prevention. In addition to quantitative data, the authors and other members of their research team interviewed five living, incarcerated mass shooters and 44 other individuals who were victims, bystanders, relatives, and others with direct connections to mass shootings. The book includes direct quotes from interviews and correspondence with these individuals.

Unlike other texts (Cullen 2009 ), the authors follow the No Notoriety protocol and refrain from ever mentioning a shooter's name in the book. While victims, places, or dates are often noted, the reader will not find the name of any mass shooter. Instead they are referred to as Perpetrator A or Perpetrator B. The intent is to avoid adding to the fame and notoriety of mass shooters. As the authors explain, lost, desperate, and angry individuals look to the media and internet for support and guidance. When details of mass shootings, like death counts and names, are published, these can serve as 'social proof', a script that future mass shooters may follow as they commit their own crimes. Further, some shooters may feel compelled to try to outdo a previous shooter in death counts or media mentions.

While there is a chapter titled 'Monsters', this book goes to great lengths to humanize mass shooters. The book by no means excuses their actions, but instead emphasizes the complexity of each shooter's circumstances. The early chapters detail the social and cultural aspects of US culture that contribute to despair, anger, and resentment. The book mentions, for instance, how we often gauge success and masculinity by income, occupation, and other financial factors. Yet a large subpopulation in the USA has experienced declining job prospects alongside stagnant or declining wages. Meanwhile, social supports for struggling individuals and families are more limited in the USA than in other developed nations. This leaves some individuals, often men, resentful and frustrated. The book also details how a lack of meaningful relationships and personal connections leaves people isolated, a circumstance only exacerbated as a result of COVID-19. The authors note how these emotions and circumstances contribute both to 'deaths of despair' (suicides, overdoses) as well as mass shootings.

Indeed, the book details how mass shootings are often a form of suicide. Few mass shooters have a realistic plan, if any plan at all, for escape following a shooting. At least one perpetrator interviewed for the book stated that they deliberately selected their shooting location because they knew the police would arrive and they would be killed as a result. The book also points out that being angry, hurt, isolated, or resentful makes people vulnerable to radicalization and extremism. Extremist websites and groups can provide a sense of community and belonging that many shooters lack. This sense of belonging and welcome may be more important to the shooter than the ideology itself. Shootings directed at specific racial or religious groups are often less about animosity towards that group than a shooter's general emotions; the shooter could just have easily affiliated with another group or ideology that provided the same feelings of support. Motives, as the authors point out, are more complex than they often appear.

The authors tread carefully when addressing guns and opportunity. As they correctly point out, the USA has far more guns per capita than any other nation in the world. Inconsistency in gun laws and enforcement across states makes obtaining a firearm, even when legally barred from doing so, quite easy. Many firearms used in mass shootings were legally purchased or obtained from family or friends. The book explains that many school shooters follow a common script and seek or use the same types of firearms as previous shootings. Individuals who are angry or desperate turn to the media and internet for guidance. When uncertain how to 'do' a mass shooting, a would-be shooter relies on stories about other mass shootings that have occurred ('social proof'). Although the authors point out that easy availability of guns creates opportunities for violence, they also argue that trauma, media coverage, and other factors play a more crucial role in whether a gun will be used in violence.

Throughout the text, the book makes a useful analogy. Would-be shooters are like balloons filled nearly to bursting. While a crisis can push a person too far and contribute to violence against self or others, all that needs to be done to prevent a mass shooting is release a little air. The book gives many examples to support this argument. One is making guns less accessible. Delaying access might reduce tension just enough to prevent violence. Another is using care and trauma intervention teams to direct a person towards resources that can help them navigate a crisis. Steps like these do not remove all risk factors, but help to reduce the pressure.

If there is one weakness of this text, it is that the authors sometimes place high hopes on policy changes that are unlikely to occur in the near future. One example is an assault weapons ban, much like the 1994 Federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. The authors write that policies like these have broad public support. Yet recent state-level efforts to re-implement an assault weapons ban have failed, even in places with a Democratic majority in the legislature (Evans 2020) . Control and regulation of social media content, another idea posed by the authors, remains a contested and difficult concern to address. As the authors note, there is no onesize-fits-all policy that will prevent mass shootings. Multiple approaches are needed. 'As with Swiss cheese, there are holes-but if you layer the slices, one on top of the other, the holes start to get covered up' (p. 186).

One major advantage of this book over others is that it directly addresses the 'So what can I do?' dilemma. Unlike journal articles and books that focus on state or Federal policy efforts, this book offers a three-part approach to prevention. The book recommends steps we can take as individuals, institutions, and as a society. At the individual level, for example, the authors argue that building relationships and mentoring are important first steps. Institutions can build care and trauma teams, teach media literacy, and develop anonymous reporting programs. As a society, the authors recommend reducing the stigma of mental illness and making treatment more widely available and accessible, among other strategies. This book emphasizes concrete action, with links and descriptions of resources that can help facilitation these actions. In doing so, this book gives the reader a sense that mass shootings are preventable if we are willing to take a few basic steps to get started.

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Gun violence and COVID-19 in 2020: A year of colliding crises

Gun Violence Archive. 2021. Gun violence archive 2021. Gun Violence Archive