Understanding Mass Shooters (Part 1 History of mass shooters)

I’ve recently come off the back of delivering a 12 week module about mass shooting to undergraduate students. Writing this module and delivering it on a weekly basis for 3 straight months has ben a challenge - not least in it forcing me to develop what I thought my understanding was in the area. Put briefly, my main theoretical take on mass shooters was typically that mostly they were operating under the influence of extreme narcissistic personality, combined with neuroticism and instability, and an inability to cope when things went wrong in their lives (so called triggering events). However, understanding Mass Shooting, why it is done, what the contributing social factors are, and how it can possibly be reduced, requires an understanding that goes beyond just that of “narcissists with firearms” or the more crass “nutters with guns” as I used to jokingly say. It’s a deep dish that involves a whistle stop tour of the American schooling system; weaponry & ballistics; gun laws and state regulations, mental health provision, workplace psychology, law enforcement, and the American psyche, so strap yourselves in…..