Homeland Insecurity: Terrorism, Mass Shootings and the Public by Ann Gordon & Kai Hamilton Gentry

Author:Ann Gordon & Kai Hamilton Gentry [Gordon, Ann & Gentry, Kai Hamilton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Freedom, Political Science, Terrorism
ISBN: 9781000353556
Google: mbsTEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 55561244
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

3 Mass Shootings

In this chapter, we explore America’s gun problem and proposals by survivors and advocacy groups for gun control measures. We review government’s response to gun violence and find that the public is largely dissatisfied with policymaking aimed at curbing violence. The lack of policy solutions to reduce violence has led to increasing reliance on training the public to learn to live with and survive violent attacks. We look at the public’s experience with active shooter training and first aid for shooting victims. The chapter also addresses mass shootings in schools. Relying on original data from the Chapman Survey of American Fears (CSAF), we identify attitudes towards school safety and beliefs about the prevalence of violence in schools, as well as the media’s role in heightening fears. Finally, we examine the public’s responses to school shootings and policies advocated by the students, faculty, and community members.

Fear of being the victim of a mass shooting is the fastest-growing fear in America. In the year 2019 alone, there were 417 mass shootings, the highest number ever seen in the United States, see Figure 3.1.1 The nation reeled from the violence that never seemed to end that summer. On a Saturday afternoon in August, in El Paso, Texas, 23 people died and 25 were wounded in a mass shooting at a busy Walmart. Among the dead were Jordan and Andre Anchondo, who died shielding their baby son from the gunfire.2 The gunman had opened fire with an assault weapon he had purchased over the Internet from Romania and had picked up at a local gun store.3 The 21-year-old shooter, a white male, planned the attack to target Latinos. He had driven from Allen, Texas, where he lived with his grandparents, to El Paso in order to carry out his attack because he thought he would be able to kill Mexican immigrants.4 He uploaded a manifesto to the Internet during the shooting. It said, “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by the invasion.”5 The manifesto referred to the massacre of Muslims in a mass shooting in Christ Church, New Zealand. The attack ended when the shooter surrendered to authorities. He was charged with 90 federal charges, including hate crimes.6

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