Can we prevent mass shootings?

Families, friends, the Uvalde, Texas community, and the nation are grieving the death of 19 children and two of their teachers after Tuesday’s horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School. Less than two weeks after a mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store, Americans are faced with yet another senseless mass murder. As investigators comb through the alleged killer’s motives, looking for red flags, examining school security and law enforcement response, the public and political debate begins again – could these murders have been prevented and if so, how?

There have been at least 213 mass shootings already this year, a new record even for this country. While gun rights and gun regulation activists debate the answers, many Americans are feeling hopeless and resigned to these uniquely American tragedies. But Mother Jones journalist MARK FOLLMAN, says there are things that we can do to prevent the next mass shooting. Follman has been covering mass shootings for more than a decade and started a database at Mother Jones to track them in America after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado massacre. We’ll talk to him about the Texas mass shooting, what we know about gun violence perpetrators, the guns and the gun debate, why nothing seems to change, and how threat assessment could be used to prevent future violence. Follman’s new book is Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America.

We recommend

Mother Jones, Here’s How We Can Prevent the Next School Massacre – “Evidence emerged almost immediately that the shooter had been signal­ing rageful intent to peers and adults around him—warning signs of a bloodbath that could have been avoided.”

Mother Jones, US Mass Shootings, 1982–2022: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation

Washington Post, America’s gun exceptionalism, by the numbers