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submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Many Americans think of school shootings as mass casualty events involving an adolescent with an assault-style weapon. But a new study says that most recent school shootings orchestrated by teenagers do not fit that image — and they are often related to community violence.

The study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, analyzed 253 school shootings carried out by 262 adolescents in the US between 1990 and 2016.

It found that these adolescents were responsible for only a handful of mass casualty shootings, defined as those involving four or more gunshot fatalities. About half of the shootings analyzed — 119 — involved at least one death. Among the events, seven killed four or more people.

A majority of the shootings analyzed also involved handguns rather than assault rifles or shotguns, and they were often the result of “interpersonal disputes,” according to the researchers from University of South Carolina and University of Florida.

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[-] MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago

"take away the guns" would solve for both

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But that doesn’t remove the impetus for violence. Preventing school violence requires more than simply removing the weapons for violence.

[-] nonailsleft@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Sure, but there's still a difference between school violence with guns and school violence with fists

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Typically, the opportunity to get a gun. But the violence that motivates either is typically the same. That’s why school violence prevention is, itself, typically the same, regardless of how it may end.

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"My son got beat up in school today"

"My son got shot and killed in school today"

It's the guns. It's always been the guns. And that's why this country is uniquely dealing with this problem. It's not hard to see it, unless you don't want to.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Stopping violence before either of those things happens is the point. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather neither of those happen. 

Taking the nihilist and defeatist attitude that one of those must happen, and therefore we must settle for it with half-measures meant only to prevent the other is bullshit. 

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Restricting access to guns is specifically achievable (see also: most of the rest of the world) and would save many lives.

In tandem, sure let's work on preventing violence in general. I'm all in favor, but achieving this semi-utopian goal seems far more challenging.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nobody said it wouldn’t be difficult, but it’s better than putting up with a bullied child— or a dead one.

Schools should be safe spaces for children to learn, not battlefields to navigate.

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Then restrict gun ownership. It's the most rational action which can be taken to stop American classrooms being stained by blood.

But... I know I am just venting. I know this isn't going to happen. Millions of Americans are demonstrably fine with other people losing their little girl or boy, their small bodies torn apart by bullets, just so they can have a gun for whatever reason. It's just the way it is, sadly.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Obviously, gun ownership should be restricted. What I’m saying, is that should be one part of a multifaceted approach  to address the many types of school violence. But my point here is that regulating gun ownership does not address the root cause of school violence, only a symptom. 

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

Obviously, gun ownership should be restricted.

Judging by the downvote brigade whenever somebody argues for gun control, which also plagues Reddit, it seems not so obvious to many.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Might not be what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Perhaps. I think it's pretty obvious no matter how it's phrased, or who posts it, comments critical of unrestricted gun ownership typically get downvoted without a lot of replies. At least you are engaging and we're having a conversation.

[-] Occamsrazer 4 points 1 year ago

It might partially solve for it, by reducing severity of these acts, but guns are really just a means to violence. There are plenty of other ways to enact violence if that's what you want to do.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The fact that guns are easy to get, easy to use, and are a means to extreme, and usually fatal violence is a huge factor to consider in the increase in the violence they contribute to.  Not all weapons are created equal, and the type of weapon they are cannot be weighed equally to other weapons when calculating how each type of weapon contributes to violence. And especially considering the fact that most lethal violence that is committed is committed with a gun. 

[-] interceder270@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No, that's just a distraction the ruling class throws at us to prevent us from addressing the real issue: the disparity in wealth.

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sweden has a higher wealth inequality index than the United States. Strange, how that doesn't lead to an epidemic of school shootings without unfettered access to guns.

[-] interceder270@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Bad example. Sweden is currently suffering the worst gun violence of any scandinavian country.

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I know. It's still way better than the US. Because guns are a bigger factor than wealth disparity, mental health care, social homogeneity, or anything else which is typically pointed to by people who value their access to guns more than other's lives.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Are you asserting that school shootings are caused by wealth inequality? Do you have any data to back that up? 

[-] farcaster@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

No the person I'm replying to is.

While it may be a factor, I'm pointing out America is by no means unique in having these problems, such as wealth inequality. In fact all the problems so often touted as the cause for gun violence are not unique to America. The main exception is the incredible proliferation of guns and the lax regulations surrounding them.

But many Americans love their guns, as long as they don't have to pay the price in blood for it, they'll continue blaming other factors..

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

No they’re not, they just said that was a distraction.

this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
157 points (91.5% liked)

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