Citation

Fox JA, Fridel EE. J. Mass Viol. Res. 2022; 1(2): 17-26.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, State University of New York at Oswego, Department of Criminal Justice)

DOI

10.53076/JMVR59660

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As defined back in the 1980s, the term "mass shooting" has long been understood to mean the intentional killing of four or more victims with gunfire in a single incident. However, recent efforts to examine this rare and tragic crime have employed alternate definitional criteria. In order to facilitate cross-study comparisons and curb rampant public fear, it is imperative that scholars, politicians, and the media avoid using the same terminology to describe very different phenomena. In this article, we advocate for the traditional definition in view of a variety of theoretical and methodological considerations.

Language: en