Let’s Change The Way We Talk About Mass Shootings: NJ Experts

NEW JERSEY — It’s time to change the way we talk about mass shootings in America, a pair of gun violence researchers in New Jersey say.

Tuesday’s shocking school shooting in Uvalde, Texas has renewed a fiery discussion across the nation, including New Jersey. Read More: Texas School Shooting: Gunman Killed 19 Kids, 2 Teachers In Same Class

But according to Michael Anestis and Thurman Barnes of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center based at Rutgers University, people need to start thinking and talking about mass shootings differently.

Here are some of the ways the discussion needs to change, Anestis and Barnes say.

FOCUS ON THE VICTIMS, NOT THE KILLER

People need to lift up the story of the victims – not provide notoriety and fame for the killer, Anestis and Barnes said.

“Although research on mass shootings is limited, one line of thinking is that some perpetrators of these public massacres are drawn to the potential of notoriety and fame, so we need to deny them that perceived reward,” said Anestis, executive director of the center.

“In the meantime, focusing on the victims allows the public to truly understand the impact that these events are having and can make it more difficult for individuals to provide dismissive responses aimed at justifying maintaining the status quo,” Anestis told Patch.

The number of children shot and killed at Robb Elementary School has climbed to 19, authorities said. Two adults were also killed; the 18-year-old gunman was shot dead by law enforcement.

• Read More: Texas School Shooting: What We Know About Uvalde Victims

DON’T BLAME MENTAL ILLNESS

“Plenty of research contradicts the notion that mental illness is the primary factor in gun violence,” Anestis said.

According to Anestis:

“For instance, one longitudinal study (Lu & Temple, 2019) found that mental health diagnoses were not prospectively associated with threatening others with firearms whereas firearm access was associated with a more than 18-fold increase in risk. Swanson, McGinty, Fazel, and Mays (2015) estimated that specific psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia and mood disorders contribute as little as 4% to the risk for interpersonal violence. Steadman and colleagues (2015) found that only 2% of patients discharged from inpatient psychiatric care subsequently committed an act of gun violence and Skeem and colleagues (2016) reported that psychiatric symptoms never preceded the act for 80% of those who did go on to commit an act of gun violence. Bauman and Teasedale (2018) compared a massive sample of psychiatric patients and community members and found that patients were no more likely to engage in violence than were community members – but they were four times more likely to report suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Some researchers have noted that perpetrators of mass shootings often exhibit signs of mental illness prior to the act (e.g. Lankford, 2015), but showing symptoms does not equate to those symptoms being the driving force behind that action and others have argued that those estimates are heavily inflated (Knoll & Annas, 2016).”

Anestis shared the following citations to support his claim:

• Lu, Y., & Temple, J.R. (2019). Dangerous weapons or dangerous people? The temporal associations between gun violence and mental health. Preventive Medicine, 121, 1-6.
• Swanson, J.W., McGinty, E.E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V.M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: Bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of Epidemiology, 25, 366-376.
• Steadman, H.J., Monaghan, J., Pinals, D., Vesselinov, R., & Clark Robbins, P. (2015). Gun violence and victimization of strangers by persons with a mental illness: Data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study. Psychiatric Services, 66, 1238-1241.
• Skeem, J., Kennelly, P., Monoahan, J., Peterson, J,. & Applebaum, P. (2016). Psychosis uncommonly and inconsistently precedes violence among high-risk individuals. Clinical Psychological Science, 4, 40-49.
• Bauman, M.L., & Teasdale, B. (2018). Severe mental illness and firearm access: Is violence really the danger? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 56, 44-49.
• Lankford, A. (2015). Mass shooters in the United States, 1966-2010: Differences between attackers who live and die. Justice Quarterly, 32, 360-379.
• Knoll, J.L. IV, & Annas, G.D. (2016). Mass shootings and mental illness. In L.H. Gold & R.I. Simons (Eds.) Gun violence and mental illness (pp.81-104). Arlington, VA, US: American Psychiatric Association.

UNDERSTAND THE ‘TRUE SCOPE’ OF GUN VIOLENCE

Anestis and Barnes said that mass shootings “deserve every bit of attention we give them.” But at the same time, the nation needs to remember that tragedies such as the Uvalde school shooting reportedly represent around 1 percent of all gun violence.

“The true scope and nature of American gun violence can be seen in data provided annually by the CDC in their WISQARS database,” Anestis said. “Each year, nearly two-thirds of American gun deaths are suicide deaths, meaning that firearm suicide kills more people than homicide by all methods and that firearm suicide itself would be a top 15 cause of death in the U.S.”

Homicides that occur during mass shootings are no less tragic than any other, but they represent the exception – not the norm, Anestis said.

“Most ‘day-to-day’ gun violence occurs outside of the headlines, with Black and Brown communities – and particularly young Black men – bearing an unfathomably disproportionate share of the burden,” Anestis said, noting that the CDC recently released a report on a surge in firearm homicides during the pandemic and its “horrific” impact on communities of color.

• Read More: Newark Mayor Calls For 'Common Sense Gun Control' After Texas Shooting

DISCUSS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

“We don't have a magic answer for mass shootings, but we have some solutions that could make a difference,” Anestis and Barnes said. “We need to actively pursue those.”

According to Anestis, possible solutions include:

• Comprehensive background checks that include localized information and Extreme Risk Protection Orders
• Safe firearm storage can lower the odds of somebody accessing someone else's firearm to commit a mass shooting - a particularly helpful tool in the case of adolescents at risk of committing violence
• Study and evaluate the effectiveness of limiting access to high-capacity magazines and legislating tools that can modify firearms to increase their firing rate

“Where there are more firearms, there is more gun violence,” Anestis underscored. “There is no one single answer, but many steps could help us reduce risk.”

• Read More: NJ Invests Record $10M To Help Nonprofits Fight Gun Violence
• Read More: Crisis At Home? Map Shows Where You Can Store A Gun In New Jersey

GUARDS IN SCHOOLS, BACKGROUND CHECKS

Anestis offered an opinion on two other hot-button aspects of the debate: armed guards in schools and universal background checks.

GUARDS IN SCHOOLS – “I would not discount the value a school resource officer can provide in a lot of areas, but the evidence does not support that having armed guards prevents mass shootings. In Uvalde, in Dayton, and in several other similar situations, heroic armed guards were present, and the shooting still took place. Our solutions need to involve better detecting and addressing risk for violence while kids are still in school, working to limit access to firearms that can fire ammunition at a rapid rate from a high capacity magazine, and encouraging safe storage – and storage away from homes when somebody at home is in distress – of firearms. We need policies like Extreme Risk Protection Orders that can equip a community to reduce risk when they recognize that an individual is an imminent threat to themselves or others.”

UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS – “Universal background checks, particularly when paired with a licensing system, have been shown to be a useful tool in the effort to prevent gun violence. Extreme risk protection orders and mandatory waiting periods have also shown promise, along with Child Access Prevention laws and other laws that address safe firearm storage. No single form of legislation can eliminate risk, but each of these laws addresses different communities of individuals at different points in time, ranging from the point of purchase to the days preceding an attack. Importantly, none of these policies specifically implicate individuals with mental illness, as mental illness has not been shown to be a primary driver of gun violence and policies that only address those with mental illnesses have been shown to be less effective than population-level approaches.”

• Read More: After Texas School Shooting, Police More Visible At America's Schools
• Read More: More Police To Patrol NJ Schools After Texas Shooting, AG Says

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