Mass Killings and School Shootings

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering sociological, demographic, typological, and media dynamics of mass killings and school shootings based on lecture notes and readings.

Public Mass Shootings

Attacks at public locations such as schools, workplaces, churches, malls, and movie theaters where the perpetrator uses a firearm to kill at least $4$ victims.

Six Dimensions of Hegemonic Masculinity

The Provider, the Procreator, the Protector, the Punisher, the Prestige-seeker, and the Pleasure-seeker; culturally constructed gender dimensions that help contribute to performative mass shooting crimes.

Incel (Involuntarily Celibate)

Online communities developed as a result of marginalized masculinities, gender role expectations, and societal norms around relationships, dating, and sex, where frustrated men may react in unhealthy ways.

Accelerationist Strategy

A strategy discussed in white supremacist online networks that promotes mass shootings to encourage further acts of violence with the ultimate goal of instigating a race war.

Moral Panic Framing (Race and Mass Shootings)

Media coverage patterns where white perpetrators are portrayed as abnormal members of their race who are mentally ill, frames that are typically denied to offenders of colour whose violence is portrayed as normal and expected.

Fame-Seeking Mass Shooters

Perpetrators who carry out attacks driven by the pursuit of fame and celebrity status, achieving widespread attention or micro fame that can inspire copycats and followers.

Nova Scotia Mass Killings (2020)

A 2020 mass killing in Canada that began with intimate partner violence before escalating into a rampage where the perpetrator impersonated an RCMP officer and killed acquaintances and strangers.

Mass Killings

Incidents where multiple people are killed in a distinct episode at a single place with a required minimum death threshold (such as $3+$ or $4+$ victims) and no cooling-off period.

Mass Shootings

Incidents defined specifically by the method of violence (the discharge of firearms), where victim death is not a strict requirement.

Familicide

Mass killings occurring within the home where intimate partners or family members are targeted first, which more frequently involve non-gun weapons compared to random public killings.

Predisposers

Underlying individual factors, such as mental health issues or historical vulnerabilities, that predispose a perpetrator to commit an act of mass violence.

Precipitants

Acute triggering events, such as being fired from a job or experiencing a romantic breakup, that immediately precede and provoke an attack.

Facilitators

Situational factors that increase the likelihood or lethality of a violent event, such as having access to a weapon or being threatened.

Rampage Shootings (School Typology)

Incidents committed by a member or former member of the school (student or employee) motivated by symbolic significance, often to exact revenge on the community or gain power.

Mass Murders (School Typology)

Incidents committed by a non-member who is typically an adult and not a former student or employee, motivated by symbolic significance, often to gain power.

Terrorist Attacks (School Typology)

Incidents carried out by individuals or groups advancing political or ideological goals, where the school is specifically selected for its symbolic importance.

Targeted Shootings (School Typology)

Incidents committed by a member or former member of the school (student or employee) specifically motivated by revenge for real or perceived maltreatment.

Government Shootings (School Typology)

Incidents carried out by government agents (such as military or police personnel) as a response to student protest, violence, or rioting.

The Columbine Effect

The ongoing phenomenon where extensive, perpetrator-focused media coverage of the Columbine shooting created notoriety and inspired subsequent copycat school shooters.

No Notoriety

A media movement aimed at shifting coverage away from the perpetrator and toward the victims and heroes, denying the shooter infamy to reduce the risk of copycats.