Yes, Mass Killings Inspire Copycats, Study Finds

[IDemo]

Police have said so for years and now scientists have measured the effect: Mass shootings and school attacks do inspire copycats.

As many as 20 to 30 percent of attacks are set off by other attacks, researchers at Arizona State University and Northeastern Illinois University. The effect last about 13 days, they write in the report published Thursday in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

And mass killings — such as the 2012 attack on small children at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, the 1999 Columbine massacre, and last month's shooting of nine people at a prayer meeting in Charleston — are becoming alarmingly common in the United States.

"On average, mass killings* involving firearms occur approximately every two weeks in the U.S., while school shootings occur on average monthly," wrote Sherry Towers, a research professor at ASU, and her colleagues.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/yes-mass-killings-inspire-copycats-study-finds-n386141

* "Mass killings" = four or more people murdered, by any means, according to the report.

[daleanime]

1. Too bad there is nothing sensible and easy....

that we could do to slow this down.

[Glassunion]

2. Well, considering the M$M coverage and attention.

That's a big "well... no shit?"

[Duckhunter935]

3. interesting resources

o study this issue, we examine data on mass killings (four or more people murdered, by any means) in the US between 2006 to 2013 compiled by USA Today (N = 232, 176 of which involved firearms), data on school shootings from 1998 to 2013 inclusive from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (N = 188), and data on mass shootings (at least three people shot, not necessarily killed) from February 2005 to January 2013, also from the Brady Campaign (N = 477).

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117259

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Seems reasonable...

Many of us have thoughts in the background-- things we might like to do. And not all of them are crimes. We might hate someone and wish them ill. Or we might see a homeless person and wonder what we can do.

Then we see someone actually kill some people we hate and realize it can be done, so we actively plan another killing.

Or we see someone set up a food bank and see it can be done, so we set up our own.

Two sides of human behavior-- now if we knew how to reduce the effects of the problematic side...