Affiliation:
1. Valdosta State University, USA
2. The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, USA
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors examine what they call “alma mater” school shootings - those in which a current or former student returns to attack people at the school. In this case, the focus is on K-12 school shootings in the United States between 1990 and 2018 where two or more individuals were killed. They argue that many shooters target their alma mater because it is the place where they have experienced “place trauma” - emotional pain that is intertwined with a location. After discerning common demographic, personal, and spatiotemporal patterns, they discuss how the shooters acquired the firearms used to carry out the attack. Finally, the authors outline policy and practice considerations focusing on education, school funding, and legislation.
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