Editing School shooting (section)

==Profiling==
{{terrorism}}

The [[United States Secret Service]] published the results from a study regarding 37 school shooting incidents, involving 41 individuals in the United States from December 1974 through May 2000.<ref name=":07">{{cite book|url=https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf|title=The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States|last1=Vossekuil|first1=Bryan|last2=Fein|first2=Robert|last3=Reddy|first3=Marisa|last4=Borum|first4=Randy|last5=Modzeleski|first5=William|date=2004|publisher=United States Secret Service and United States Department of Education|location=Washington, DC|access-date=March 8, 2018}}</ref> In a previous report of 18 school shootings by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), they released a profile that described shooters as middle-class, lonely/alienated, awkward, Caucasian males who had access to guns.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/02/22/587334597/what-decades-of-covering-school-shootings-has-taught-me|title=What Decades Of Covering School Shootings Has Taught Me|work=NPR|access-date=March 19, 2018|language=en}}</ref> 

The most recent report cautioned against the assumption that a perpetrator can be identified by a certain 'type' or profile. The results from the study indicated that perpetrators came from differing backgrounds, making a singular profile difficult when identifying a possible assailant.<ref name=":07" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf |title=The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative |date=May 1, 2002 |publisher=[[U.S. Department of Education]] |access-date=April 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613234342/http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf |archive-date=June 13, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> For example, some perpetrators were children of divorce, lived in foster homes, or came from intact nuclear families. The majority of individuals had rarely or never gotten into trouble at school and had a healthy social life{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}. Some, such as [[Alan Lipman]], have warned about the lack of empirical validity of profiling methods.

===Age===
[[File:Columbine Shooting Security Camera.jpg|thumb|[[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold|Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold (right)]]. The 1999 Columbine High School Massacre is considered one of the most infamous school shootings of all time. ]]
According to [[Adrian Raine|Raine]] (2002), [[Human brain development timeline|immaturity]] is one of many identified factors increasing the likelihood of an individual committing criminal acts of [[violence]] and outbursts of [[aggression]].<ref>Raine, A (2002) – [https://instructure-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/account_13840000000000001/attachments/280145/Issue%202-%20Criminal%20Behavior%20Biological.pdf?response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%22Issue%202-%20Criminal%20Behavior%20Biological.pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27Issue%25202%252D%2520Criminal%2520Behavior%2520Biological.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJFNFXH2V2O7RPCAA%2F20180220%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20180220T005116Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=23f428ae1771a265c3e52655a7f89c172460554591678d83000da681f239993e Biological Basis for Crime in Crime: Public Policies for Crime control (J.Q. Wilson & J. Petersilia) p. 23]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ICS Press 2002 Accessed February 20, 2018</ref> This fact is supported by findings on [[brain development]] occurring as individuals age from birth.

According to the Australian-based Raising children network and Centre for Adolescent Health (and other sources):<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/10/opinion/a-brain-too-young-for-good-judgment.html], [https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/us1005/6.htm] and [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26158695] Accessed February 20, 2018 (1st shown at an earlier date)</ref> the main change occurring in the developing brain during adolescence is the (so-called) ''[[synaptic pruning|pruning]]'' of unused connections in thinking and processing. While this is occurring within the brain, retained connections are strengthened. Synaptic pruning occurs because the [[nervous system]] in humans develops by firstly, the over-producing of parts of the nervous system, [[axons]], [[neurons]], and [[synapses]], to then later in the development of the nervous system, make the superfluous parts redundant, i.e. ''pruning'' (or [[apoptosis]], otherwise known as ''cell death'').<ref>Feinberg, Irwin – [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-synaptic-pruning-important-for-the-developing-brain/ Why synaptic pruning is important for the developing brain] ''[[Scientific American]]'' Accessed February 15, 2018</ref> These changes occur in certain parts of the brain firstly; the [[pre-frontal cortex]], the brain location where [[decision-making]] occurs, is the concluding area for development.

While the pre-frontal cortex is developing, children and teenagers might possibly rely more on the brain part known as the [[amygdala]]; involving thinking that is more emotionally active, including [[aggression]] and [[impulsiveness]]. As a consequence each individual is more likely to want to make riskier choices, and to do so more frequently.<ref>Raising children network, in collaboration with, the Centre for Adolescent Health – [http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/brain_development_teenagers.html Brain development: Teenagers] ''Australian parenting website'' Accessed February 15, 2018</ref>

*Steinberg (2004)<ref>Steinberg, L (2004) – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15251873 Risk taking in adolescence: what changes, and why?] [[Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences]] Accessed February 20, 2018</ref> identified the fact of adolescents ''taking more risks'', typically, than adults;
*Deakin et al. (2004), and Overman et al. (2004) indicate a decline in risk taking from adolescence to adulthood;
*Steinberg (2005), Figner et al. (2009), and Burnett et al. (2010) identified adolescent age individuals as more likely to take risks than young children and adults.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/j.dcn.2014.07.008|pmid = 25176616|pmc = 4324055|title = Who are those "risk-taking adolescents"? Individual differences in developmental neuroimaging research|journal = Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience|volume = 11|pages = 56–64|year = 2015|last1 = Bjork|first1 = James M.|last2 = Pardini|first2 = Dustin A.}}</ref>

===Family dynamics===
One assumption into the catalytic causes of school shootings comes from the "non-traditional" household perspective, which focuses on how family structure and family stability are related to child outcomes.<ref name="Marriage and Child Wellbeing">{{cite journal|title=Marriage and Child Wellbeing|journal=Journal of Marriage and the Family|volume=72|issue=5|pages=1059–1077|date=Oct 2010|pmc = 3091824|last1 = Brown|first1 = S. L.|pmid=21566730|doi=10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00750.x}}</ref> Broadly speaking, proponents of this hypothesis claim that family structures such as single mothers,<ref name="Catholic Perspectives on Parenting">{{cite web|url=http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/children/children.cfm|title=Catholic Perspectives on Parenting|date=Dec 2017}}</ref> same-sex parents, extended family, or cohabitation<ref name="Adolescent Well‐Being in Cohabiting, Married, and Single‐Parent Families">{{cite journal|title=Adolescent Well-Being in Cohabiting, Married, and Single-Parent Families|journal=Journal of Marriage and Family|volume=65|issue=4|pages=876–893|date=Feb 2004|doi=10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00876.x|last1 = Manning|first1 = Wendy D.|last2=Lamb|first2=Kathleen A.}}</ref> are more harmful to the development of a child's mental well-being, than heterosexual, married parents (often equated with the idea of a [[nuclear family]]). This perspective is found to back federal efforts such as the [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act]] (PRWORA) of 1996<ref name="PRWORA">{{cite web|url=https://aspe.hhs.gov/report/personal-responsibility-and-work-opportunity-reconciliation-act-1996|title=PRWORA|date=November 23, 2015}}</ref> and US federal tax incentives.<ref name="Married Individuals Filing Joint Returns">{{cite web|url=https://www.irs.gov/irb/2018-10_IRB#RR-2018-06|title=Internal Revenue Bulletin 2018-10|date=March 5, 2018}}</ref>

However, these assumptions on the detrimental effects of "non-traditional" family structures have repeatedly been shown to be false, with the true issues lying within socio-economic realities.<ref name="Consequences of Growing Up Poor">{{Cite web|url=https://www.russellsage.org/publications/consequences-growing-poor-1|title=Consequences of Growing Up Poor &#124; RSF|website=russellsage.org|access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Growing Up with a Single Parent">{{cite web|url=https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/textver/16.2.a/impact.txt|title=Growing Up with a Single Parent – What Hurts, What Helps|date=1995|access-date=November 18, 2018|archive-date=August 28, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828091907/https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/textver/16.2.a/impact.txt|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Longitudinal research]] has shown the robust, positive effects of higher incomes and higher education levels on child well-being and emotional development, which reflects on the family ''stability'', and not family structure.<ref name="IFS Commentary">{{cite web|url=http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org|title=Cohabitation, marriage, relationship stability and child outcomes: an update|date=July 2011|access-date=December 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225143544/https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/|archive-date=December 25, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Further, proponents of this hypothesis often cite family statistics for those who commit crimes, but leave out how these compare to other populations, including the general population.

For example, a 2009 survey conducted by the [[Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration]] (SAMHSA) revealed that substance abuse amongst children raised by single mothers was higher than children raised by both of their biological parents. However, the percentage of substance abuse amongst children raised by single mothers was not only remarkably low (5.4%), but also only 1.2% higher than children raised by both their parents.<ref name="National Survey on Drug Use and Health">{{cite web|url=https://nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm|title=National Survey on Drug Use and Health|website=nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm|date=2009}}</ref> Those rates are revealed to be even smaller when compared to other demographics of the same time period. According to surveys commissioned by the [[National Institute on Drug Abuse]], between 20 and 30% of teenagers used/abused illicit substances, a much higher rate than single mother households.<ref name="Youth Substance Abuse, NIDA">{{cite web|url=https://drugabuse.com/library/drug-abuse-statistics/|title=Drug Abuse Statistics, NIDA|date=1997–2014}}</ref>

Another example of poorly-cited statistics to further this narrative can be found in children who have lost at least one parent. In the U.S., the rate of parental death before age 16 is 8%. The rate of parental death is disproportionately high for prisoners (30–50%), however, it is also disproportionately high for high-performing scientists (26%) and US presidents (34%). Harvard's Baker Foundation Professor Emerita Dr. Teresa M. Amabile states, "Those kinds of events can crush a child, they can lead to a lot of problems; they can lead to substance abuse, they can lead to various forms of emotional illness. They can also lead to incredible resilience and almost superhuman behaviors, seemingly, if people can come through those experiences intact. I don't know if we—we being the field in general—have discovered what the keys are, what makes the difference for kids."<ref name="Creativity in Context">{{cite web|url=https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6409&facInfo=pub|title=Creativity in Context|date=1996}}</ref>

Understanding that socio-economic factors have greater effects on child development and emotional stability have led many to argue that single-parent and other non-traditional households should be afforded equivalent incentives by the state, as are afforded married households, and that focusing on family structure rather than family stability derails efforts to understand the realities of mass-shooters.

===Parental supervision===
"Studies have found that within offenders' families, there is frequently a lack of supervision, low emotional closeness, and intimacy".<ref name="GWPD_2015">{{cite journal|last1=Gerard|first1=F.J.|last2=Whitefield|first2=K.C.|last3=Porter|first3=L.E.|last4=Browne|first4=K.D.|title=Offender and Offence Characteristics of School Shooting Incidents|journal=Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling|date=2015|volume=13|page=24|doi=10.1002/jip.1439|url=http://shura.shu.ac.uk/12138/3/whitfield%20-%20Characteristics%20of%20school%20shooting%20incidents.pdf}}</ref> In a 2018 publication, Dr. George S. Everly Jr, of [[The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine]] and [[The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]] outlined an accumulation of seven, recurring themes that warrant consideration regarding school shooters.<ref name="Profiling School Shooters">{{cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-disaster-strikes-inside-disaster-psychology/201803/profiling-school-shooters|title=Profiling School Shooters|date=March 2018}}</ref> One factor is that school shooters tended to isolate themselves, and "exhibited an obsessive quality that often led to detailed planning, but ironically they seemed to lack an understanding of the consequences of their behavior and thus may have a history of adverse encounters with law enforcement." A criticism in the media of past shooters was questioning how so much planning could commence without alerting the parents or guardians to their efforts. However, this has proven to be as difficult of a question to answer as anticipating any of the past school shootings.

Data from the [[National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime]] and [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], covering decades of US school shootings, reveals that 68% of shooters obtained weapons from their home or the home of a relative. Since 1999, out of 145 US school shootings committed by children/adolescents, 80% of the guns used were taken from their homes or relative's home.<ref name="The gun’s not in the closet">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/08/01/feature/school-shootings-should-parents-be-charged-for-failing-to-lock-up-guns-used-by-their-kids/|title=The gun's not in the closet|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=Aug 2018}}</ref> The availability of firearms has direct effect on the probability of initiating a school shooting. This has led many to question whether parents should be held criminally negligent for their children's gun-related crimes. By 2018, a total of four parents were convicted of failing to lock up the guns that were used to shoot up US schools by their children.<ref name="The gun’s not in the closet" /> Such incidents may also lead to nationwide discussion on gun laws.<ref>{{cite web|title=Government Vows to Take Action Following Kauhajoki Shootings |url=http://yle.fi/uutiset/govt_promises_action_following_kauhajoki_shootings/6112199 |access-date=September 23, 2008 |work=YLE|date=September 23, 2008 }}</ref>

The [[FBI]] offer a guide for helping to identify potential school shooters, ''The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective''.<ref name="The School Shooter, 1999">{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/stats-services-publications-school-shooter-school-shooter/view|title=The School Shooter|date=1999}}</ref>

[[Daniel Schechter]], Clinical Psychiatrist, wrote that for a baby to develop into a troubled adolescent who then turns lethally violent, a convergence of multiple interacting factors must occur, that is "every bit as complicated...as it is for a tornado to form on a beautiful spring day in Kansas".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=30762|title=Forecasting Aggression: Toward a New Interdisciplinary Understanding of What Makes Some Troubled Youth Turn Violent|website=Dana.org|date=Feb 2011}}</ref> Thus, reinforcing the issue that school shooters do not necessarily come from "bad" parents. No more than they could come from attentive, educated, negligent, single, married, abusive, or loving parents.

===School bullying===
Dorothy Espelage of the [[University of Florida]] observed that 8% of bullying victims become "angry, and aggressively so." She added, "They become very angry, they may act out aggressively online. They may not hit back, but they definitely ruminate."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/bullying-role-school-shootings-818753|title=How We Talk about Bullying After School Shootings Can Be Dangerous|last=Swaak|first=Taylor|website=[[Newsweek]]|date=February 25, 2018}}</ref>

"Bullying is common in schools and seemed to play a role in the lives of many of the school shooters".<ref name="Lanata2003">{{cite journal|last=Lanata |first=John C. |title=Behind the scenes.: A closer look at the school shooters |journal=Sheriff |date=March–April 2003 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=22–26 |url=http://finlandschooleducation.com/vocational-training-is-bright-spot-amid-finland-school-education-system-malaise/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214070338/http://finlandschooleducation.com/vocational-training-is-bright-spot-amid-finland-school-education-system-malaise/ |archive-date=February 14, 2015 }}</ref> A typical bullying interaction consists of three parts, the offender/bully, a victim, and one or more bystanders. This formula of three enables the bully to easily create public humiliation for their victim. Students who are bullied tend to develop behavioral problems, depression, less self-control and poorer social skills, and to do worse in school.<ref>{{cite web|title=Addressing Bullying in Schools|url=http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XZWPEkpvxSY%3D&tabid=1048&mid=2775|publisher=Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention|access-date=January 23, 2014}}</ref> Once humiliated, victims never want to be a victim again and try to regain their image by joining groups. Often, they are rejected by their peers and follow through by restoring justice in what they see as an unjust situation. Their plan for restoration many times results in violence as shown by the school shooters. 75% of school shooters had been bullied or left behind evidence of having been [[Peer victimization|victims of bullying]].{{Citation needed|reason=Source for second half of paragraph and this 75% statistic|date=May 2022}} Other academics however are critical of a bullying-school shootings connection.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mears |first1=Daniel P. |last2=Moon |first2=Melissa M. |last3=Thielo |first3=Angela J. |title=Columbine Revisited: Myths and Realities About the Bullying–School Shootings Connection |journal=Victims & Offenders |date=November 2, 2017 |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=939–955 |doi=10.1080/15564886.2017.1307295 |s2cid=148745392 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15564886.2017.1307295 |issn=1556-4886}}</ref>

The Uvalde shooter who killed 21 people was frequently bullied in 4th grade at Robb Elementary school.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2022 |title=Uvalde killer was mocked as a 'school shooter,' griped about bullying at school before deadly rampage |url=https://nypost.com/2022/07/17/uvalde-killer-salvador-ramos-was-mocked-as-a-school-shooter-griped-about-bullying-at-school-before-deadly-rampage/ |access-date=August 27, 2022 |website=New York Post |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2022 |title=Friends of Uvalde school shooter had hints of his violence ahead of attack |url=https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/uvalde-school-shooting/friends-of-uvalde-school-shooter-had-hints-of-his-violence-ahead-of-attack/ |access-date=August 27, 2022 |website=KXAN Austin |language=en-US |archive-date=August 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827224752/https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/uvalde-school-shooting/friends-of-uvalde-school-shooter-had-hints-of-his-violence-ahead-of-attack/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Mental illness===
[[File:Tam High Vigil for Parkland School Shooting (39401117745).jpg|School shooting vigil, Parkland High School, USA|thumb|right|244x244px]]
The degree to which mental illness contributes to school shootings has been debated.

Although the vast majority of mentally ill individuals are non-violent,<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 1525086 | pmid=16946914 | volume=2 | issue=2 | title=Violence and mental illness: an overview | date=June 2003 | journal=World Psychiatry | pages=121–124 | last1 = Stuart | first1 = H}}</ref> some evidence has suggested that mental illness or mental health symptoms are nearly universal among school shooters. A 2002 report by the [[US Secret Service]] and [[US Department of Education]] found evidence that a majority of school shooters displayed evidence of mental health symptoms, often undiagnosed or untreated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804232200/http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf|url-status=dead|title="Safe School Initiative".|archive-date=August 4, 2009|access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref> Criminologists Fox and DeLateur note that mental illness is only part of the issue, however, and mass shooters tend to externalize their problems, blaming others and are unlikely to seek psychiatric help, even if available.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/12/19/mass_shootings_in_america_northeastern_criminologists_james_alan_fox_monica.html|title=Everything You Think You Know about Mass Murder Is Wrong|first=Justin|last=Peters|date=December 19, 2013|magazine=Slate}}</ref> 

According to an article written on [[Gun violence in the United States|gun violence]] and mental illness, the existence of violence as an outlet for the mentally ill is quite prominent in some instances (Swanson et al., 2015). The article lists from a study that 12% of people with serious mental illness had committed minor or serious violence within the last year, compared to 2% of people without illness committing those same acts.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gold & Simon |title=Gun Violence and Mental Illness. Vol. First edition |url=https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/26/6/1080/2418043 |journal=European Journal of Public Health |date=December 2016 |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=1080 |publisher=American Psychiatric Association Publishing |doi=10.1093/eurpub/ckw192 |access-date=April 5, 2020|doi-access=free |issn = 1101-1262 }} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  (CC BY 3.0)] license.</ref> 

Other scholars have concluded that mass murderers display a common constellation of chronic mental health symptoms, chronic anger or antisocial traits, and a tendency to blame others for problems.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Psychological Profiles of School Shooters: Positive Directions and One Big Wrong Turn|first1=Christopher J.|last1=Ferguson|first2=Mark|last2=Coulson|first3=Jane|last3=Barnett|date=January 1, 2011|journal=Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations|volume=11|issue=2|pages=141–158|doi=10.1080/15332586.2011.581523|s2cid=143967040}}</ref> However, they note that attempting to "profile" school shooters with such a constellation of traits will likely result in many false positives as many individuals with such a profile do not engage in violent behaviors.

McGinty and colleagues conducted a study to find out if people tended to associate the violence of school shootings with mental illness, at the expense of other factors such as the availability of high-capacity magazines.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGinty |first1=Emma E. |last2=Webster |first2=Daniel W. |last3=Barry |first3=Colleen L. |title=Effects of News Media Messages About Mass Shootings on Attitudes Toward Persons With Serious Mental Illness and Public Support for Gun Control Policies. |journal=[[American Journal of Psychiatry]] |volume=170 |issue=5 |pages=494–501 | date=May 2013 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010014 |pmid=23511486 }}</ref> Nearly 2,000 participants read a news piece on a shooting in which the shooter is diagnosed as having a mental illness and who used high capacity magazines. One group read an article that presented only the facts of the case. A different group read an article about the same shooting, but in it the author advocated for gun restrictions for people with mental illness. Another group read about the shooting in an article that suggested the proposal to ban large-capacity magazines, which acted to advocate that shootings could stem from a societal problem rather than an individual problem. The control group did not read anything. Participants were then all asked to fill in a questionnaire asking about their views on gun control and whether they thought there should be restrictions on high-capacity magazines. 

The results of the study showed that 71% of the control group thought that gun restrictions should be applied to people with mental illness, and nearly 80% of participants who read the articles agreed. Despite the fact that the article exposed the readers to both the mental illness of the shooter, and the fact that the shooter used high-capacity magazines, participants advocated more for gun restrictions on people with mental illness rather than bans on high-capacity magazines. 

This suggests that people believe mental illness is the culprit for school shootings in lieu of the accessibility of guns or other environmental factors. The authors expressed concern that proposals to target gun control laws at people with mental illness do not take into account the complex nature of the relationship between serious mental illness and violence, much of which is due to additional factors such as substance abuse. However, the link is unclear since research has shown that violence in mentally ill people occurs more in interpersonal environments.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Jessica|title=Mass Shootings and Mental Health Policy|journal=Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare|date=Mar 2014|volume=41|issue=1|pages=107–121|doi=10.15453/0191-5096.3835 |s2cid=152225779 |url=https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol41/iss1/6 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

It is also mentionable that school size can play a role on the presence of shooter mental health concerns. In a presented study from researchers Baird, Roellke & Zeifman from the Social Science Journal, it is presented that school size and level of attention given to students can precede violent actions, as students who commit mass shootings in larger schools are likely to have transitioned from smaller schools. This adds important nuance to the idea that larger schools are more prone to mass violence by showing that the stress associated with losing the personal support given in a smaller community is a weight on students.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baird, Roellke, & Zeifman |title=Alone and adrift: The association between mass school shootings, school size, and student support |journal=Social Science Journal |date=2017 |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=261–270 |doi=10.1016/j.soscij.2017.01.009 |s2cid=152233412 }}</ref>

A 2016 opinion piece published by [[U.S. News & World Report]] concluded that 22% of mass murders are committed by people who suffer from a serious mental illness, and 78% do not. This study also concluded that many people with mental illnesses do not engage in violence against others and that most violent behavior is due to factors other than mental illness.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Gilligan|first1=James|last2=Lee|first2=Bandy|url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/policy-dose/articles/2018-02-21/after-florida-school-shooting-look-to-the-root-causes-of-gun-violence |title=Look at the Root Causes of Gun Violence|date=February 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224133057/https://www.usnews.com/opinion/policy-dose/articles/2018-02-21/after-florida-school-shooting-look-to-the-root-causes-of-gun-violence |archive-date=February 24, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Injustice collectors ===
In a 2015 [[New Republic, The|''New Republic'']] essay, [[Columbine (book)|''Columbine'']] author Dave Cullen describes a subset of school shooters (and other mass murderers) known as "injustice collectors", or people who "never forget, never forgive, [and] never let go" before they strike out. The essay describes and expands on the work of retired FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole, who has published a peer-reviewed journal article on the subject.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Dangerous Injustice Collector: Behaviors of Someone Who Never Forgets, Never Forgives, Never Lets Go, and Strikes Back!|first=Mary Ellen|last=O'Toole|date=September 1, 2014|journal=Violence and Gender|volume=1|issue=3|pages=97–99|doi=10.1089/vio.2014.1509}}</ref> It also quotes Gary Noesner, who helped create and lead the FBI's hostage negotiation unit, and served as Chief Negotiator for ten years.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Inside the Warped Mind of Vester Flanagan and Other Shooters|url = https://newrepublic.com/article/122669/injustice-collectors-how-understand-vester-flanagans-manifesto|magazine = The New Republic|access-date = September 23, 2015|first = Dave|last = Cullen|date = August 31, 2015}}</ref>

=== Violent media theory ===

==== Video games ====
It has long been debated whether there exists a correlation between school shooting perpetrators and the type of media they consume. A popular profile for school shooters is someone who has been exposed to or enjoys playing violent video games. However, this profile is considered by many researchers to be misguided or erroneous. Ferguson (2009) has argued that a third variable of gender explains the illusory correlation between video game use and the type of people who conduct school shootings. Ferguson explains that the majority of school shooters are young males, who are considerably more aggressive than the rest of the population. A majority of gamers are also young males. Thus, it appears likely that the view that school shooters are often people who play violent video games is more simply explained by the third variable of gender.{{Citation needed|reason=who is Ferguson and where did they say this?|date=May 2022}}

The idea of profiling school shooters by the video games they play comes from the belief that playing violent video games increases a person's aggression level, which in turn, can cause people to perpetrate extreme acts of violence, such as a school shooting. There is little to no data supporting this hypothesis (Ferguson, 2009){{Citation needed|reason=in which paper and where did they say this?|date=May 2022}} but it has become a vivid profile used by the media since the Columbine Massacre in 1999.

A summation of past research on video game violence finds that video games have little to no effect on aggression. (Anderson, 2004; Ferguson, 2007 & Spencer, 2009) Again, this supports the idea that although it is a popular opinion to link school shooters to being violent video gamers; this misconception is often attributable to third variables and has not been supported by research on the connection between aggression and gaming.{{Citation needed|reason=provide sources|date=May 2022}}

==== Literature ====
One of the infamous books, the 1977 novel ''[[Rage (King novel)|Rage]]'' by [[Stephen King]] (written under the pseudonym [[Richard Bachman]]), was linked to five school shootings and hostage situations that took place between 1988 and 1997;<ref>{{cite news |date=April 27, 1988 |title=Hijack Tied to Teen Classroom Siege |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6MFdAAAAIBAJ&pg=3128,4824971 |newspaper=[[Oxnard Press-Courier|The Press-Courier]] |location=Oxnard |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=September 18, 1989 |title=Kentucky Youth Frees 11 Hostages and Surrenders |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7D8133EF93AA2575AC0A96F948260 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=McKee, KY |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Buckley, Jerry |date=October 31, 1993 |title=The Tragedy in Room 108 |work=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=AP |date=August 25, 1997 |title=Loukaitis trial starts today |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=myofAAAAIBAJ&pg=3693,4576912&dq=barry+loukaitis&hl=en |access-date=May 5, 2011 |newspaper=Ellensburg Daily Record |location=Seattle}}</ref> the most recent of these, the [[1997 Heath High School shooting]], was ultimately influential in King's decision to pull the book out of print for good.<ref>{{cite web |author=King, Stephen |date=May 26, 1999 |title=Stephen King's Keynote Address, Vermont Library Conference, VEMA Annual Meeting |url=http://www.horrorking.com/interview7.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050626070625/http://horrorking.com/interview7.html |archive-date=June 26, 2005 |access-date=August 6, 2020 |website=horrorking.com}}</ref>

===Notoriety===
Shooting massacres in English-speaking countries often occur close together in time.<ref name="YukichTowers2015">{{cite journal|last1=Yukich|first1=Joshua|last2=Towers|first2=Sherry|last3=Gomez-Lievano|first3=Andres|last4=Khan|first4=Maryam|last5=Mubayi|first5=Anuj|last6=Castillo-Chavez|first6=Carlos|title=Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=10|issue=7|year=2015|pages=e0117259|issn=1932-6203|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0117259|pmid=26135941|pmc=4489652|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1017259T|doi-access=free}}</ref> In the summer of 1966, two major stories broke: [[Richard Speck]] murdered eight women on a single night in Chicago, and [[Charles Whitman]] [[University of Texas tower shooting|shot and killed 15 people from a clock tower]] at the [[University of Texas]] in Austin. Neither was seeking fame, but with the new television news climate, they received it anyway.{{Citation needed|reason=How is this known?|date=May 2022}} Seeing this, 18-year-old Robert Benjamin Smith bought a gun, and on November 12, 1966, he [[1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty shooting|killed four women and a toddler]] inside the Rose-Mar College of Beauty in Mesa, Arizona. "I wanted to get known, just wanted to get myself a name," explained Smith. He had hoped to kill nearly ten times as many people but had arrived at the beauty college campus too early. Upon his arrest, he was without remorse, saying simply, "I wanted people to know who I was."<ref name="The story of the first copycat mass shooter">{{cite web|url=https://timeline.com/first-copycat-mass-shooter-8c0f08080307|title=The story of the first copycat mass shooter|date=November 7, 2016|access-date=November 21, 2018|archive-date=April 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425050555/https://timeline.com/first-copycat-mass-shooter-8c0f08080307|url-status=dead}}</ref> Towers, et al. (2015), found a small, but significant temporary increase in the probability of a second school shooting within 2 weeks after a known school shooting, which was only slightly smaller than the probability of repeats after mass killings involving firearms. {{Citation needed|reason=Who is Towers, where did they say this?|date=May 2022}}

However, much more work is needed with greater scope on investigations, to understand whether this is a real phenomenon or not. Some attribute this to [[Copycat crime|copycat]] behavior,<ref>Mullen, Paul quoted in Hannon K 1997, "Copycats to Blame for Massacres Says Expert", Courier Mail, March 4, 1997.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cantor | last2 = Mullen | last3 = Alpers | year = 2000 | title = Mass homicide: the civil massacre | journal = J Am Acad Psychiatry Law | volume = 28 | issue = 1| pages = 55–63 | pmid = 10774842}}</ref> which can be correlated with the level of media exposure.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Phillips | first1 = D. P. | year = 1980 | title = Airplane accidents, murder, and the mass media: Towards a theory of imitation and suggestion | journal = Social Forces | volume = 58 | issue = 4| pages = 1001–1024 | doi=10.1093/sf/58.4.1001}}</ref><ref>Cialdini, Robert 2001. ''Influence: Science and Practice'' 4th Ed. Allyn and Bacon, pp. 121–130.</ref> In these copycat shootings, oftentimes the perpetrators see a past school shooter as an idol, so they want to carry out an even more destructive, murderous shooting in hopes of gaining recognition or respect.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robertz|first1=Frank|title=Deadly Dreams: What Motivates School Shootings?|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/deadly-dreams/|website=Scientificamerican.com|publisher=Scientific American|date=2007|doi=10.1038/scientificamericanmind0807-52|volume=18|pages=52–59}}</ref> Some mass murderers study media reports of previous killers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.claytoncramer.com/JMME2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807130151/http://www.claytoncramer.com/JMME2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2007|title=Term Paper Proposal|date=1993|publisher=Journal of Mass Media Ethics}}</ref>

Recent premeditative writings were presented according to court documents and showed [[Kamiak High School#Joshua O'Connor|Joshua O'Connor]] wrote that he wanted the "death count to be as high as possible so that the shooting would be infamous". O'Connor was arrested before he was able to carry out his plan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Student Suspected in Washington State School Shooting Plot |date=February 14, 2018 |publisher=Associated Press |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2018-02-14/everett-man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-school-shooting-plan}}</ref> Infamy and notoriety, "a desire to be remembered" has been reported as the leading reason for planned shootings by most perpetrators who were taken alive either pre or post shooting.{{Citation needed|reason=Reported by who?|date=May 2022}}