What causes mass shootings? (with Ragy Girgis)
Dr. Ragy Girgis, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, shares data-driven insights on mass murders, revealing public shootings are a small fraction. He discusses motivations like nihilism and toxic narcissism, the critical role of firearms, and challenges common misconceptions about mental illness, media coverage, and prevention strategies.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Columbia Mass Murder Database and Definitions
Categorization of Mass Murders: Domestic, Felonious, Public
Media's Role and Harmful Effects of Focusing on School Shootings
Motivations for Familicide Mass Murders and Role of Nihilism
Psychological Barriers to Mass Murder and Impact of Suicide
Gender Differences in Mass Murder Perpetrators
Characteristics and Motivations of Felonious Mass Murders
Distinguishing Mass Murderers from Serial Killers
Intentionality and Planning in Public Mass Murders
The Limited Role of Psychosis and Mental Illness in Mass Shootings
Toxic Narcissism and Personality Traits in Public Mass Murderers
Ideological Radicalization and Political Motivations
Precipitating Factors: Substance Use, Trauma, and Head Injury
Effectiveness of Proposed Prevention Strategies for Mass Shootings
Firearm Availability, Regulation, and Cultural Impact in the U.S.
Impact of Weapon Type vs. Number of Weapons on Fatalities
Historical Trends in Mass Murder Rates Since 1970
Differences Between Mass Murder and Single/Double Murders
9 Key Concepts
Mass Murder
An event defined by three or more fatalities occurring in one event and one location, consistent with the congressional definition of a mass killing.
Mass Spree Murder
A type of mass murder where three or more people are killed in one event without a 'cooling off period,' but across multiple locations, such as the Elliot Rogers case.
Domestic Mass Murder (Familicide)
The most common type of mass murder, accounting for about 45% of cases, where at least one family member is among the victims. These are primarily perpetrated by middle-aged men, often involving suicide-homicide, driven by emotional upset from job loss or romantic issues.
Felonious Mass Murder
A mass murder occurring as part of another criminal act, such as a robbery or insurance fraud, not including gang violence. These perpetrators are typically younger and may have a criminal history, but are rarely psychopaths.
Public Mass Murder
The type of mass murder most familiar to the public, comprising 13-15% of cases, often involving mass shootings in public places. These events are usually planned for months or years, and over 50% involve the perpetrator taking their own life.
Nihilism (in mass murderers)
A profound feeling of emptiness and worthlessness experienced by perpetrators, particularly in familicide cases, leading to a belief that life is without value and that taking one's own life and family's life is a 'mercy killing.'
Toxic/Malignant Narcissism
A psychological state in public mass murderers characterized by deep-seated emptiness, identity diffusion, low self-esteem, and the use of splitting-based defenses like projection, rather than the more commonly understood grandiose narcissism.
Psychosis
The 'end stage' of severe psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, or bipolar disorder, involving delusions or hallucinations. Only about 5% of mass shootings are primarily motivated by psychosis.
Identity Diffusion
A characteristic of individuals with borderline levels of personality organization, where they lack a clear sense of self, struggle to understand how they interact with others, and are unsure of how they should behave, often seen in mass murderers.
14 Questions Answered
The database gathers all its data from publicly available sources, including online records, police and court records, and reliable media sources.
Mass murder is defined as an event resulting in three or more fatalities in one event and one location, consistent with the congressional definition of a mass killing.
The most common type is domestic mass murder (familicide), accounting for about 45% of cases, followed by felonious or criminal mass murder at approximately 33%, and then public mass murders at 13-15%.
Public mass murders are the type the media reports on most due to their attention-grabbing nature, often involving unique or atypical features like mental illness or psychiatric medication, even though they are less common than other types.
No, current understanding suggests these drills are more harmful than beneficial, leading to increased anxiety, depression, and fear in young people, and potentially contributing to a contagion or copycat effect.
The primary motivation for public mass shooters is fame or infamy, seeking publicity for their actions, which distinguishes them from other types of mass murderers.
This behavior is often an exaggerated acute stress response, combined with underlying nihilism and a twisted logic where they believe they are doing their family a 'favor' by ending their lives in a world they perceive as hopeless.
Only about 5% of mass shootings are primarily motivated by severe mental illness, specifically psychosis (delusions or hallucinations), despite a higher percentage of perpetrators having some diagnosed psychiatric condition.
Public mass shooters typically exhibit severe nihilism (often leading to suicide), toxic or malignant narcissism (characterized by emptiness and low self-esteem), and a strong affinity for or fascination with firearms.
Firearms are chosen due to their association with suicide, the perpetrator's fascination with them, and their ability to attract attention. Mass stabbings are associated with more fatalities than mass shootings, partly because non-firearm perpetrators are less likely to commit suicide, allowing the event to continue longer.
The U.S. has a significantly higher rate of mass shootings compared to other countries, and data clearly indicate that states with greater gun regulation have fewer mass shootings, while those with lower regulation have higher rates, directly linking gun availability to the problem.
The number of weapons used by the perpetrator is a far stronger predictor of the number of fatalities and injuries than the specific type of weapon (e.g., semi-automatic vs. non-automatic).
The most impactful strategy is limiting gun availability through law. Other promising approaches include ensuring early-stage psychosis patients are medicated, implementing smart gun technology, shifting cultural attitudes away from romanticizing guns, and identifying individuals who explicitly state their intent to commit a mass shooting.
Mass murderers are almost never psychopaths and are driven by motives other than pleasure (like fame, revenge, or nihilism), whereas 87% of serial killers are psychopaths who kill for pleasure and often engage in sexual assault, dismemberment, or cannibalism.
12 Actionable Insights
1. Report Threats of Mass Shooting
Identify and report individuals who explicitly state or imply they will perpetrate a mass shooting, as this characteristic has the highest predictive value for preventing such events.
2. Limit Media Reporting on Perpetrators
When reporting on public mass shootings, media should omit personal details, names, and photographs of perpetrators to avoid fueling the ‘fame or infamy’ motive that drives these events.
3. De-romanticize Guns in Media
Culture, including movies, TV, video games, and music, should stop romanticizing guns and gun violence, as this contributes to the problem by making guns seem ‘cool’ rather than dangerous.
4. Limit Gun Availability by Law
Implement stronger gun regulation and laws to decrease gun availability, as data clearly shows states with greater regulation have lower rates of mass shootings and gun violence.
5. Implement Smart Gun Technology
Require smart gun technology (e.g., fingerprint locks) on all firearms to prevent unauthorized use, which could address a significant portion of illegal gun issues and some legal ones.
6. Enforce Existing Gun Laws
Strictly enforce current laws designed to prevent illegal firearm sales, such as straw purchases and unreported private sales, as these are the primary ways legal guns become illegal.
7. Annual Gun Examinations/Registration
Consider implementing annual examinations or registration for firearms, similar to motor vehicles, to better track ownership and ensure compliance with safety measures.
8. Ensure Medication for Early Psychosis
Prioritize Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) to ensure young people in the early stages of psychotic disorders are medicated, as this can prevent the 5% of mass murders primarily motivated by severe mental illness.
9. Avoid School Shooting Drills
Discontinue school shooting drills in elementary and high schools, as these have been shown to be more harmful than beneficial, leading to increased anxiety, depression, and fear in young people.
10. Avoid Armed Guards in Schools
Refrain from placing armed guards or school safety officers in schools, as their presence does not help and may actually make schools more appealing targets for perpetrators seeking a strong response.
11. Screen for Specific Public Shooter Profile
Focus prevention efforts on identifying individuals exhibiting the specific three-point psychological profile for public mass shooters: severe nihilism, toxic narcissism (infamy/fame seeking), and a fascination with firearms, as this profile is relatively specific.
12. Recognize Familicide Risk Factors
Understand that familicide mass murders are often perpetrated by middle-aged men experiencing acute emotional upset due to job loss or romantic issues, often accompanied by severe nihilism and a plan to commit suicide.
8 Key Quotes
The majority of mass murders are mass shootings, and mass shootings are very much a Western problem, and by and large, dominated by an American problem.
Ragy Girgis
It might not only could it be harmful to children to focus on these things, but it actually might create more of the problem that they're trying to solve, which is just it's so horrible and ironic at the same time.
Spencer Greenberg
There's almost no benefit to reporting on them. At the least, when they when people do report on public mass shootings or mass murder in general, the guidelines and this is pretty well, this is pretty well agreed upon by experts and many in the media actually do kind of stick to these guidelines. And that is to report no personal details about the perpetrator.
Ragy Girgis
Once someone decides to take their own life, that third hurdle is removed. And that just makes it easier then for someone like that to perpetrate a mass murder.
Ragy Girgis
If there were no firearm, there would be much less motivation to perpetrate a mass murder. Much less, I mean, by orders of magnitude.
Ragy Girgis
The data could not be more clear. It's really unsettling.
Ragy Girgis
The primary predictor of fatality count in a mass shooting is the number of weapons used.
Ragy Girgis
Identifying someone who could perpetrate a mass shooting when we're thinking about prevention without just identifying too many people and without making this too unwieldy is to identify people who say they're going to perpetrate a mass shooting. That actually is more common than not.
Ragy Girgis