Mass Shootings in the United States: Prevalence, Policy, and a Way Forward

• Published date: 01 November 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231164484
• Author: Jaclyn Schildkraut,Lisa B. Geller
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: The Efficacy of Interventions

ANNALS, AAPSS, 704, November 2022 181

DOI: 10.1177/00027162231164484

Mass Shootings

in the United

States:

Prevalence,

Policy, and a

Way Forward

By

JACLYN SCHILDKRAUT

and

LISA B. GELLER

1164484ANN The Annals of the American AcademyMASS SHOOTINGS IN THE U.S.

research-article2023

Mass shootings in the U.S. elicit strong reactions and

often are followed by demands for preventive or ame-

liorative policy action. Often, however, little change is

made to policy, and the cycle of tragedy and passionate

discourse is left to start anew. We assess the efficacy of

a range of specific policies that may help to prevent

mass shootings or mitigate their harms: we review

empirical evidence on their effectiveness and consider

arguments that both proponents and opponents of

these policies bring to bear on the public discourse. We

conclude that extant evidence and policy ideas that are

on the table now can, in fact, point to a productive way

forward: we argue for a proactive, layered approach to

policy implementation that minimizes risks and impacts

and capitalizes on effective interventions that enjoy

broad public support.

Keywords: mass shootings; school shootings; firearm

policies; domestic violence; prevention;

harm mitigation

Since the 1999 attack at Columbine High

School in Jefferson County, Colorado, that

killed twelve students and a teacher and left

twenty-four others injured, mass shootings in

the United States have been a cause for con-

cern among both the public and policy-makers.

The attention devoted to mass shootings, par-

ticularly by the media, often is disproportional

Correspondence: Jaclyn.Schildkraut@rock.suny.edu

Jaclyn Schildkraut is the executive director of the

Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the

Rockefeller Institute of Government. Her research

focuses on school and mass shootings, school safety,

homicide and gun violence trends, and mediatization

effects. Dr. Schildkraut’s work has been published in

more than fifty books and journals.

Lisa B. Geller is a researcher at the Johns Hopkins

Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg

School of Public Health. Her work focuses on research,

advocacy, and implementation of evidence-based gun

violence prevention policies, including extreme risk

protection orders and domestic violence protective

orders.

182 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

to their actual occurrence (Schildkraut, Elsass, and Stafford 2015). Homicides, of

which approximately 80 percent are perpetrated with a firearm (Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention 2022), account for 0.1 percent of all offenses

known to law enforcement, and an even smaller fraction of these cases are mass

shootings (Schildkraut, Elsass, and Meredith 2018). Despite their statistical rar-

ity, however, these events generate widespread concern and often are accompa-

nied by demands to “do something” to prevent the next attack.

In this article, we examine different policies and proposals that have been

offered by stakeholders, including legislators, in the wake of these tragedies as

potential solutions to address the broad issue of mass shootings. We organize the

policy responses into two categories: those that are designed to prevent mass

shootings from occurring and those that serve to mitigate the potential harms if

they do occur (for an overview of policies reviewed, see Table 1). We include

both as there is no one single policy or program that can sufficiently address the

“perfect storm” of factors that converge and result in mass shootings; different

options are necessary to provide a layered approach to minimize the risks and

TABLE 1

Summary of Main Policy Responses

Preventative Response

• Background Checks: Expand back-

ground check requirements to all sellers,

not just federal firearm licensees; improve

reporting of disqualifying records to the

background check system; eliminate the

default proceed option if results not

received in three business days; pair back-

ground checks with firearm purchaser

licensing.

• Protection Orders: Domestic violence

protection orders (DVPOs) are issued by

a court to protect victims and survivors of

domestic abuse. Extreme risk protection

orders (ERPOs) are civil orders modeled

off DVPOs but used solely to address

access to firearms for individuals at risk of

suicide or violence against others.

• Threat Assessment: Identify potential

threats; assess their credibility and

whether the person making the threat has

the means to carry it out; and, if they do,

implement a management plan to moni-

tor and respond to the threatener to

deescalate their behavior and reduce the

risk of harm.

• Emergency Preparedness Practices:

Efforts such as lockdown drills serve as

harm mitigation strategies and are used

to teach people to build distance

between themselves and the threat by

securing behind a locked door, turning

off the lights, moving out of sight, and

remaining silent, strategies that can be

used during mass shootings or threats

inside a location.

• Limits on Assault Weapons and

Magazine Capacities: Assault-style

weapons have been found to be corre-

lated with more lethal shootings, while

bans on them have led to reductions in

these events. Limiting magazine capac-

ity would force perpetrators to reload,

giving people at the scene time to

escape.