What Have We Learned About Mass Shooters

Service Description

Countering the Mass Shooter Threat Online, opens with a look at the data in a way that has never been explored before. Part One begins with a high level summary of many of those data points, including key definitions, data trends of these events, a breakdown on where these events are occurring, and even a detailed look at police response time to these shootings. Part One also analyzes what factors affected the outcome at mass shootings. For example, after every mass shooting and in particular, after the Newtown shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, there was a deafening cry by gun control advocates to ban certain classes of firearms and to reduce the number of rounds that could be stored in magazines, driven by the belief that those changes would reduce the number of dead at mass shootings, or even eliminate them all together. In addition to understanding whether those arguments were right or wrong, Part One also analyzes whether these shooters really do gravitate toward gun-free zones; and, how the response of potential victims affected the outcome. Part One closes with a detailed analysis of the solutions being proposed by gun control advocates to determine whether the data indicated that those solutions would work, or not work. Topics explored in Part One include: -Mass shootings by the numbers. - Would reducing magazine capacity or banning AR-15s work? - Do gun-free zones help or hurt? - Does victim response make a difference? - What are universal background checks, and would they end mass shootings? - What about no fly lists and terror watch lists? There have been 48 mass shootings since the tragedy at Columbine, accounting for hundreds of deaths. This mini class will analyze data on these mass shootings and what factors affected their outcomes. In addition to exploring the validity of arguments proposed by gun-control advocates, this mini-class also investigates whether mass shooters gravitate toward gun-free zones and how the response of potential victims affected the outcomes.