Mass Shooting on the Rise: A Growing Problem in US - Essay Sample

Introduction

The mass shooting has been on the rise globally and one of the most significant problems in the United States. Although many people see this as a simple problem to solve, it is increasing daily. The mass shooting is an act of violence conducted by one or more attackers at public places and mostly target populated areas such as schools or shopping centers. In the United States, the attacks are becoming the order of the day with these terror attacks occurring frequently. Although several nations are experiencing a mass shooting, the United States is the leading nation globally when it comes to terrorist attacks (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018).

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Mass shooting can is a contagious behavior; hence if one case happens, it increases the probability of another scene occurring. There are a lot of factors that influence the occurrence of mass shootings in the world. Some of these factors may be ethnicity, media, gender, and the age of the shooters. In the United States, the mass shooting is rapid and occurs in approximately every 12.5 days. A study shows that 31% of the global mass shooting comes from the United States even though it holds only 5% of the world population (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018). The mass shooting has been experienced mostly in schools and populated public places.

Any crime or violent behavior can be referred to as contagion in nature, and this also includes the mass shooting (Krouse & Richardson, 2015). Hence, the more the crime is conducted, the more the likelihood of it happening again. The attacks occur only for a few minutes and leave many dead and others with severe injuries. By 2016, there were approximately 340 leaving 1,141 dead, and total victims were 2,526 (Lankford, 2016).

It should be noted that the attacks occur in schools and other public places that are highly populated. In the United States, a mass shooting is becoming common, and the situation needs to be controlled. The races have been considered in these attacks that are happening as individuals from different ethnic groups and races have been affected by these attacks.

Perpetrators

As it is known, the United States is a nation with people from different backgrounds and races, starting with the black to the whites. Moreover, the shooters are mainly white who carry out attacks in various places (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018). The US congress defines a mass shooting as any incidence where four people die due to gunfire. Additionally, the majority of domestic terrorism is mainly brought by white Americans.

It should be noted that the reason for the rise of crimes can be connected to white supremacy. Furthermore, white has the idea of being great than other individuals from different races. White Americans account for almost 60% of the total attacks in the United States (Krouse & Richardson, 2015). Although other races are involved in many attacks, white people take the lead in these crimes. Moreover, the large percentage of the white can be traced back to the idea that they have the largest share of the country’s population.

Statistics hold that out of the 101 perpetrators, 64 are white, eight are Asians, 19 are black, and ten Latino. The study indicates the real attackers in the United States' states (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018). Moreover, in schools, most of the attacks are conducted by ex-students of the schools in question. Another factor that influences the whites to commit these crimes is the psychological influence that is brought about by stress. The psychological problems happen to almost every individual from any ethnic group, making it to be committed by people from all races and ethnic groups (Krouse & Richardson, 2015).

Moreover, other men from different backgrounds, such as Latino, have been involved in some of the mass shootings conducted in the country. Furthermore, Asian and blacks have been active in committing the crimes which have left a significant number of people dead. Hence shooters cannot be confirmed to be from a single ethnic group or race as they come from several groups.

In most cases, the white Americans are driven by the white supremacy in attacking other people from different races. As a result, it has emerged that they are targets of counter-terrorism in the United States, making security departments, including the FBI closely monitor them. Additionally, the Asians become shooters due to religion, where they carry out attacks mostly in the area of worship. Most of the Asians are Muslims, and they tend not to value other people from other religious groups. An excellent example of an Asian shooter is the Virginia Tech attacker, Seung-Hui Cho, and the crime was conducted on April 16, 2007, killing approximately 32 individuals (Lankford, 2016).

Males have so much committed the mass shooting due to their weaknesses in dealing with the psychological problems. Primarily, men from all ethnic groups and social classes are so affected by any family disputes compared to their female counterparts. For example, when males face some challenges in families, they end up taking alcohol as a way of trying to reduce the psychological torture. Hence men have been involved in the shooting more than the female counterparts. A study shows that more than 50% of the shooters in the United States are males who, in most cases, are undergoing a given mind situation (Lankford, 2016).

A study shows that most of the shooters who are mainly white commit crimes when they are undergoing some psychological problems (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018). Additionally, the students who were former students of some schools have been carrying attacks on the given schools. The reason for this may be the frustrations caused by attaining poor grades and end up blaming the tutors and fellow students hence carrying out the attacks.

Additionally, the white men do not believe in saying sorry and end up pulling the trigger. Hence the leading number of male perpetrators who are primarily white. The mass shooter's age differs depending on the factor propelled the perpetrator to take the unfavorable action. In most cases, the average of the shooters is approximately 33.4 years, with the more significant portion being male.

Victims

Furthermore, women are not common perpetrators of the mass shooting of the fall victims of these terror attacks. It should be noted that approximately 47.5% of the victims are women, although there is no ethnic group targeted by the attackers; the whites hold the most significant percentage of victims (Lankford, 2016). The reason for this can be the fact that the United States has a more significant portion of the white. It is evident that all the ethnic movements in the united states have been a victim of either of the attacks carried in the country (Krouse & Richardson, 2015).

Hence the pain has been felt by each race in the state, and this applies to ethnic groups and the people of different ages who have been victims of the attacks. Research holds that most of the victims of the mass shooting have been women and young children with a number of men being able to run for safety.

Moreover, the victims of these attacks vary in terms of age in each of the genders involved starting from female to male. In schools where these attacks have happened, most of the victims have been youths and children within the age of 12 to 28 years. Additionally, the mass shooting victims in schools and colleges depends on the average number of females and males in the learning institution.

Although white Americans may be the most considerable number of victims affected by the terror attacks, other races are also affected. It is evident that in areas of the high number of Asians, most of the victims are Asian; hence, the victims' race and ethnicity depending on the areas where the mass attack takes place. Additionally, the age of the victims is widely spread over the age groups starting from the unborn to the elderly (Krouse & Richardson, 2015).

Besides, these children are also victims of the mass shooting that is becoming frequent daily. The races affected by the incidences comprises of the whites as they hold a large number in any given group of people (Krouse & Richardson, 2015). Moreover, the worship areas have not been a target from the attacker; this shows that the differences in culture and religion do not fuel the attacks. Therefore, women remain the victims of the shooting, having been affected in every attack that has been witnessed.

Media

The media is one of the means through which people get information regarding a given incidence in a state. In the United States, the various mass shooting has been spread through different media platforms, including social media channels. Additionally, the rise in mass shootings has been influenced and linked to media contagion theory. The theory holds that the more people know about these attacks, the more they try to execute them. One of the most popular methods is that keeping the strikes will make people have no idea on how to carry out attacks in schools and other public places. A study shows that the increased use of social media has also fueled an increase in numbers of the mass shooting in the United States (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018).

In most cases, each media station and newspaper have their headlines that are attractive rather than astonishing (Krouse & Richardson, 2015). Furthermore, the media hold the information and keep on reporting the mass shooting for almost a week. The news headlines are given some titles, such as the biggest story of the week, to attract viewers. As a result, the shooters end up looking as heroes making other individuals take the initiative of committing the crime. Due to this, the number of attacks in the United States increases as the media reports (Cabrera & Kwon, 2018).

Among all the social media, twitter takes the lead at reporting the mass shooting incidences occurring in the United States. It is evident that Twitter users are on the channel as quickly as twenty minutes after the shooting. Primarily, the users are mainly American natives who spread the video and pictures of the incident (Krouse & Richardson, 2015).

As a result, the traditional media finds it hard to change what is already known by the citizens and borrow some information from the social media platforms (Krouse & Richardson, 2015). Moreover, the media, both traditional and social, plays a crucial part in imitating these crimes, making them more familiar hence happening often.

It may be hard to classify the media reporters in terms of gender and ethnicity because most of the social media users have hidden identities. Although, it can be estimated that most of the social media users are whites due to their large population and the fact that they tend to be in line with the evolving technology. Middle-aged youths mostly use social media worldwide (Lozada, Cai, Li, Davidson, Nix, & Ramsey, 2019).

It is estimated that those who spread the news about the attacks are mostly youths in the United States. Moreover, black Americans are at a lower level of evolution in technology, which minimizes their spread of reports regarding the mass shooting. With the increased use of social media, the mass shooting in the United States is on the rise as scholars relating it to media contagion (Lozada et al., 2019).

The traditional media, including newspapers, broadcasting, and television reports, do not bring an immediate impact (Lozada et al., 2019). As a result, the individual may be not having any information about a given mass attack that has happened. The incident will not remain unknown for a long duration; hence people get the information on the second day after the attack (Cabrera...