|
Happy Friday Rulers! I hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far. For the final edition of Women Rule this year, I talked to experts about what they’re calling a “statistical rarity”: female mass shooters. Let’s get into it: Two people were killed and six more injured when a teenager opened fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday. Police said the suspect died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Monday’s deadly school shooting brought the number of people killed in the U.S. on school property this year to 13. The K-12 School Shooting Database indicates that there were more than 320 shootings at schools in 2024. (This data includes when a gun is drawn, fired or when a bullet hits school property, “regardless of the number of victims,” day of the week or time.) While shootings are considered commonplace in the U.S., one aspect of this incident was unusual: The suspected shooter was identified by police as a 15-year-old girl. Experts tell Women Rule that female shooters, whether in schools or otherwise, are rare. According to an analysis by The Washington Post, just 4 percent of school shooters are female. The shooter is the ninth female student to commit a school shooting since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. (The Post tracks shootings that occur during the school day on K-12 campuses where students are present.) The vast majority “of mass shootings are committed by men,” explains James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University and an expert on mass killings. “Keep in mind that 90 percent of murders are committed by men. … Homicides are a male-dominated activity, especially when it involves guns.” Fox has been studying mass killings since the early 1980s and served on former President Bill Clinton's advisory committee on school shootings. He tells Women Rule that one reason men are more likely to commit mass shootings is their access to and knowledge around guns. “Men are much more comfortable around guns,” he says. “They’re more likely to be hunters, more likely to have a military background, more likely to be trained on [how to use] guns.” Kelly Drane, research director for the Giffords Law Center, agrees: “Generally speaking, this is becoming less and less true. But historically, the vast majority of gun owners have been male. A gun is an essential component to commit a mass shooting. If you’re thinking about someone who has the broadest access to the means to commit this violence, you’re talking about men.” Mass shooters may also find inspiration in previous shootings, studies show, which increases the likelihood that males will potentially “see themselves” in other shooters. “One thing we know about mass shootings in particular is that many mass shooters are studying the behavior of prior mass shooters,” Drane says. “Mass shooters look at people that have committed mass shootings before them as they’re planning their attacks.” “In terms of copycating, the tendency is greater when the follower shares characteristics with the role model,” Fox adds.
Another reason a woman mass shooter is so rare, according to Drane, could be related to how women handle conflict. “More generally, when we think about how people … deal with conflict, men tend to be more externalizing,” she says. “Women tend to be a bit more internalizing.” Studies have also shown that men tend to express “physical, overt and direct aggression,” and express anger outwardly more often than women do. While the investigation into Monday’s shooting is still ongoing, the shooter’s motivations are not immediately clear. Law enforcement said the motive appears to be a “combination of factors.” Drane tells Women Rule that regardless of a shooter’s gender, there are “many opportunities for intervention.” “The first thing I think about is that a 15-year-old should not have access to a gun,” she says. “I think there are really critical laws, and not just the laws, but people actually doing the behavior of keeping guns away from children is a really important step we can all take to help prevent school shootings.”
PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for the next two weeks for the holidays but back to our normal schedule on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025.
| 
