Statement on Mass Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX
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The International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) extends our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of the mass shooting on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Once again, we are heartbroken over yet another horrific, senseless act of gun violence in the United States.
We are sobered by recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which show that firearm injury is now the number one cause of death for children 0-19 years in the United States. As social scientists, we have identified multiple risk factors for gun violence, and we have identified interventions to reduce it. But it takes the will of our elected officials to address these factors.
In our March 2018 report from the ISRA Presidential Youth Violence Commission, we reviewed the scientific evidence showing that personal and environmental factors are associated with youth violence, including:
Personal risk factors: Male gender, aggressive behavior in early childhood, aspects of personality and emotion regulation (e.g., people who are callous, lack empathy, or are characteristically angry and have poor anger regulation), and obsession with weapons, previous mass shootings, and death.
Environmental risk factors: Easy access to guns, social exclusion and isolation, exposure to violence across social environments (e.g., family, neighborhood, media, school), substance use, and stressful life events.
As we concluded in our Commission’s report regarding intervention: “… it may be possible to initiate effective treatment and prevent escalation to violence. Although some risk factors are static (i.e., not subject to change and thus not amenable to treatment), others are dynamic and thus malleable in the context of appropriate intervention. For example, it is not possible to alter a youth’s history of maltreatment or exposure to domestic violence, but it is possible to improve a youth’s capacity to manage intense anger, reduce his or her use of violent media, and limit his or her access to guns. Evidence is growing that self-regulation skills are also malleable, beginning in early childhood. Self-control training can increase self-control and decrease delinquency. The likelihood of violence also may be reduced by interventions focused on developing skills such as empathy, perspective taking, social problem-solving, and conflict resolution. For high risk youth, we must also invest in building protective factors (e.g., prosocial involvements, social support, attachment to positive role models, strong commitment to educational attainment).”
Although all of these risk factors are important points of intervention for policymakers and health professionals, ISRA strongly emphasizes the scientific literature which shows mass shootings are more likely in localities with more permissive firearm laws and higher rates of gun ownership, even in the context of these other personal and environmental risk factors (e.g., see Harvard Injury Control Research Center and Reeping et al., 2022). Thus, reducing easy access to guns is a key, and likely the most effective, approach to preventing such horrific acts of violence.
Andrews, A.L., Killings, X., Oddo, E.R., Gastineau, K., & Hink, A.B. (2022). Pediatric Firearm Injury Mortality Epidemiology. Pediatrics, 149(3), e2021052739.
Bushman, B.J., Coyne, S.M., Anderson, C.A., Björkvist, K., Boxer, P., Dodge, K.A., Dubow, E., Farrington, D.P., Gentile, D.A., Huesmann, L.R., Lansford, J.E., Novaco, R., Ostrov, J.M., Underwood, M.K., Warburton, W.A., & Ybarra, M.L. (2018). Risk factors for youth violence. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 331-336.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (n.d.). Homicide. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
Reeping, P.M., Klarevas, L., Rajan, S., Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Heinze, J., Zeoli, A.M., Goyal, M. K., Zimmerman, M.A., & Branas, C.C. (2022). State Firearm Laws, Gun Ownership, and K-12 School Shootings: Implications for School Safety. Journal of School Violence, 21, 132-146, DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2021.2018332
