Mass shootings, fatality thresholds and defining by numbers

Political and social consequences

Bibliographic Data

ID21787820
AuthorsSarah Watson (0000-0002-4082-0711, Newman University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume25
Issue2
Pages335-353
Publication date2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCriminology & Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-8958 • E-ISSN: 1748-8966
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/17488958221110812
OpenAlexW4285795014
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited56

Mass shootings are one example of a focusing event that has particular significance for firearms legislation. Mass shootings shock, disturb and provoke enormous and controversial debate, often causing significant public and media resonance, becoming the subject of intense discussion politically. At times providing an impetus for legislative amendments, often in distinct ways that routine gun violence does not. If certain events highlight the need for reform, policy change becomes more likely. Cases with the lowest number of victims are likely to generate the least amount of attention and are most likely to be missed in data collection, rendering them the least noteworthy, least important in terms of lethality and social and political consequence. Various problems come to the attention of people in and around government, necessitating an understanding of why such problems occupy officials’ attention and appear to be more ‘deserving’ of attention

Criminology · Environmental health · Gun control · Legislation · Legislature · Mass media · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Law · Medicine · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies

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