"Forensic psychologist Jillian Peterson, cofounder of The Violence Project, a think tank dedicated to reducing violence, said mass shooters are typically younger men, channeling their pain and anger through acts of violence and aggression. For many mass shooters, Peterson said, their path to violence begins with early childhood trauma. They often … [Read more...]
What drives mass shooters? Grievance, despair, and anger are more likely triggers than mental illness, experts say.
Mass shootings cannot, need not be the nation’s default
"Densley and Peterson point out that, in the aggregate, perpetrators are angry with the world and in search of a reason and a way to manifest it. "Hate comes late along this pathway," the professors write. Perpetrators' understanding of their cause is typically "shallow and contradictory" and "simply convenient."" In this article, the authors … [Read more...]
What causes gun violence and how can we stop it?
Listen Here "Close to 290 people have been killed or wounded by gunshots in Minneapolis in the first half of 2021. That’s about double the number of people hit by bullets in the first six months of each of the previous four years. Homicides jumped from 22 to 40 in that same period. The deaths of two children hit the Twin Cities especially … [Read more...]
Gun Violence Prevention: What a Study of Mass Shootings Tells Us About How to Prevent Them
The Violence Project's co-founders Jillian Peterson and James Densley spoke with the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy. Listen to their discussion on YouTube here. YouTube Description: Mass shootings are very rare, but they receive a lot of media attention and have enormous social costs. Guest host … [Read more...]
No More Normal: Gun Violence Part 1
As of Friday, May 14, there have been nearly 16,000 deaths due to guns so far this year in the United States, according to data from Gun Violence Archive. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic, protests about racial equity, and the general election dominated our attention, but that doesn’t mean that other serious matters like gun violence disappeared. … [Read more...]