School shooting

A CCTV still from the surveillance video of the Uvalde school shooting, showing the perpetrator, Salvador Ramos, seconds before entering classrooms 111 and 112.
The perpetrator of the Aracruz school shootings, who killed four people before being apprehended
Vladislav Roslyakov, armed with a shotgun, walks down stairs in the Kerch Polytechnic College massacre.

A school shooting is an armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties.[1][2] The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings,[3][4] although school shootings take place elsewhere in the world. Especially in the United States, school shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies, gun rights and gun control.

According to studies, factors behind school shooting include easy access to firearms, family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, and mental illness among many other psychological issues.[5] Among the topmost motives of attackers were: bullying/persecution/threatened (75%) and revenge (61%), while 54% reported having numerous reasons. The remaining motives included an attempt to solve a problem (34%), suicide or depression (27%), and seeking attention or recognition (24%).[6]

  1. ^ Vossekuil, Bryan; et al. (2004). The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Secret Service. p. 4.
  2. ^ "Mass Shootings Are Contagious". Live Science. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Foxman, Simone; King, Ritchie (December 14, 2012). "How school killings in the US stack up against 36 other countries put together". Quartz. Atlantic Media. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  4. ^ Wolfe-Wylie, William (December 14, 2012). "Interactive: School shootings around the world since 1996". Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  5. ^ Gold & Simon (December 2016). "Gun Violence and Mental Illness. Vol. First edition". European Journal of Public Health. 26 (6). American Psychiatric Association Publishing: 1080. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckw192. ISSN 1101-1262. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) license.
  6. ^ School Shooter: A Quick Reference Guide. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes (U.S.). January 1969.