Mass Shootings, Are They a Spiritual Problem?

The United States is facing a serious problem in terms of violence and public safety.  Though mass shootings occur internationally, the US is especially afflicted with them, being responsible for one third of all mass shooters and having seven times its share of the world’s mass shooters per capita. Peterson et al., The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), p20, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ (creating the most comprehensive mass shooter database and discussing trends discovered from profiling 172 shooters and their backgrounds).  In recent history, we were especially devastated by the mass shootings that took place at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan in 2021, at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in 2022, in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in 2022, in a Michigan State University classroom in Lansing, Michigan in 2023, and at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine in 2023 also.  Mass shootings are defined as “any event in which four or more victims (not including the shooter) are murdered with guns in a public location such as a workplace, school, house of worship, or restaurant.” Peterson et al., supra, p4.

As believers, it is hard to be an example of faith to families who have endured such tragic loss.  The feeling of helplessness is almost inexplicable.  Such brutal slaughtering of innocent women and children showcases some of the most demonic ideation possible and after the actors have successfully taken these precious human lives it appears that the devil is winning!  Unfortunately, it seems that the devil is still gaining in this way more and more often in this country. Ruvio, PsychologyToday.com, Mass Shootings Are a Symptom, Not the Root Problem, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/forward-looking-behavioral-science/202303/mass-shootings-are-a-symptom-not-the-root-problem#:~:text=The%20social%20isolation%20many%20experienced,lessening%20the%20risk%20of%20violence (Mar. 1, 2023)(US mass shootings per year growing from 269 in 2014 to 690 and 647 in 2021 and 2022, respectively).

Lawmakers do not have a solution for us because firstly, legislators cannot agree on what the problem is.  Those opposed to more gun regulations often say this is not a gun reform problem but a mental health one, those who want stricter gun laws, typically say that this is not a mental health problem but an issue of access to guns.  Though we may differ as to those points, we should all concede that mass homicides are decidedly a spiritual problem.  So then, what can we as people of faith do to fight this spirit of mass murder infecting our nation?

Profiles of Shooters

Most experts clarify that the shooters themselves are not demons or “monsters,” but regular people who have exceptionally negative experiences early on in life that cause them to commit these monstrous acts.  The Peterson study finds that shooters tend to have the following histories in common: extraordinary childhood trauma, failed relationships/social isolation, mentorship into hate/victimhood with promotion of Martial Lawing their grievances, suicidality and proof-of-concept or studying other mass shootings. The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), p4, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/.

Extreme Childhood Trauma. Mass shooters are more likely to have a history of childhood trauma. Peterson et al., supra, pp38-39 (55% compared to 15% in the general population where the information was recoverable).  From the anecdotal evidence provided in Peterson, we know that some of the suffering was extreme, including severe domestic violence, child rape, death threats to children, idol beatings and emotionally abusive language encouraging suicide/homicide. Id., pp33-52.  This abuse is commonly effectuated by a father figure who uses violence to get his way around the house—right or wrong.  Experiencing this kind of dictatorship from hell growing up feeds into their later extremism.  The shooters replicate said pathology in society, using force to get their way, right or wrong, implementing their versions of justice through violence.  This formative abuse increases ones propensity for both suicide and homicide.

Social Isolation. A study of 177 mass shooters at Virginia Commonwealth University identified social isolation as the most important external indicator leading up to the attacks. McNeill, News.VCU.edu, Addressing social isolation may be key in preventing mass shootings, study finds, https://news.vcu.edu/article/2023/02/addressing-social-isolation-may-be-key-in-preventing-mass-shootings-study-finds (Feb. 17, 2023); see also, Ruvio, PsychologyToday.com, Mass Shootings Are a Symptom, Not the Root Problem, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/forward-looking-behavioral-science/202303/mass-shootings-are-a-symptom-not-the-root-problem#:~:text=The%20social%20isolation%20many%20experienced,lessening%20the%20risk%20of%20violence (Mar. 1, 2023)(citing studies finding that social isolation increases antisocial behavior, anger, aggression, and difficulties engaging in healthy interpersonal relationships).  Isolation, like bullying or being socially exclusive, reinforces some of the negative self-imagery indoctrinated from childhood.  Moreover, at least some seclusion is of practical necessity since the attackers eventually plan on committing a capital felony, they must plot largely in secret.

Mentored Into Hate/Victimhood. Many mass shooters are younger white men, often playing into the angry white male stereotype, feeling themselves to be the victim of losing their sense of “self,” defined by historically superior jobs and incomes. Peterson et al., The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), pp29 & 128-29, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/.  Many share a belief in white nationalism, a subculture whose values include a “violent denial of diversity,” or paranoid fears of being “replaced” by nonwhites.  The policy of white nationalism is unreasonably illegal and it is surprising that so many white men allow other younger white men to seriously, publicly argue it.  White nationalism is a self-sabotaging mentality because it “blames” others  for lawfully pursuing self-betterment, competing in a free market and working hard for what they desire in life.  These are all noble and universally respectable values.  White men have no right to monopolize better lifestyles in this country or to prohibit others from legitimately exceling to their highest potential in life.  This has been true since Desegregation and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Those laws are not likely to change.  Directly, that is a 60-year-old memo and everyone who wants a viable future in the US needs to receive it and plan accordingly. 

The mindset of feeling replaced is a result of comparativeness and coveting, both of which are spiritually unhealthy, inner racially and interracially. Exodus 20:17 (The Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”).  If someone is tough competition for you—racial minority, woman or otherwise—study them, learn from them, work harder, sacrifice, be more disciplined, and trust God for what you want out of life.  This is the best we all can do. Colossians 3:22-25

"Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ.  For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality."

Shooters’ ideals of victimhood do not stop with race.  Some also have disappointment about being left behind in terms of getting laid, if you can believe that.  They are called “involuntarily celibate” or incels.  Peterson et al., The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), pp133-138, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ (“incel evolved into shorthand for online groups of men who blame feminism in general and women in particular for any and all grievances.”).  What in the world is society supposed to do about making sure that every man who wishes to do so can have as much premarital sex as they would like?  This demonstrates a misgiving about the place and purpose of human sexuality from a spiritual perspective, sexual pleasure being to fortify a marital bond, not validate manhood. See e.g., Songs of Solomon.  This further illustrates how absent of spirituality the gunmen’s causes can be.

Suicidality. Nevertheless, valid or invalid, said “victims” are deciding to resolve their grievances with extreme violence, an objectively unacceptable means for doing so.  They are first suicidal, then homicidal.  The Peterson study showed that “[o]ne in three of mass shooters is actively suicidal prior to the shooting and 40 percent specifically plan to die in the act.” The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), p25, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/.  Rather than merely take their own lives, they choose to retaliate against others who may or may not have directly offended them.  In this way, they are employing Martial Law, charging, trying and convicting others to death for their alleged offenses.  Even if their reasons were valid, we can be certain that their mechanisms for achieving them are abominable.

Studying Other Mass Shootings. Finally, mass shooters are suspiciously sometimes mentored into idolizing other mass shooters.  Peterson et al., supra, pp97-121.  Shooters popularly find online glorification of the Columbine tragedy of 1999, such literature including the perpetrators’ drawings, personal reflections, poems, violent rants, kill lists and basement tapes.  One subsequent mass shooter’s mother even took her son on a field trip to Littleton, Colorado and Columbine High School before his rampage! Id., p97.  The Columbine shooters are disturbingly idolized by subgroups on social media, many participants claiming they are going to replicate their behavior.  In this way, these shooters-in-training seek posthumous notoriety—to be recorded in history as having accomplished something that a subculture of America today worships, a mass shooting of all things.  

If American parents and society at large cannot do a better job of raising all our children than this, then we as a community of faith must pick up the slack.

Some Solutions

There is probably no simple answers to preventing every mass shooting in this nation; it is a multifaceted problem.  Most troubleshooters are split between either approaching the issue from a regulation angle or from a mental health disposition. Merino, Religions, God and Guns: Examining Religious Influences on Gun Control Attitudes in the United States, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/6/189 (Jun. 14, 2018).  If we can create laws that effectively keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of those who might use them then that is a good thing.  Also, if mental health counseling can cure the residual effects of a would-be shooter’s extraordinarily traumatic childhood, that would be helpful.  Statistics show, however, that both current efforts are falling short. Ruvio, PsychologyToday.com, Mass Shootings Are a Symptom, Not the Root Problem, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/forward-looking-behavioral-science/202303/mass-shootings-are-a-symptom-not-the-root-problem#:~:text=The%20social%20isolation%20many%20experienced,lessening%20the%20risk%20of%20violence (Mar. 1, 2023)(US mass shootings growing from 269 in 2014 to 690 and 647 in 2021 and 2022, respectively).

Many Christian leaders believe that limiting access to guns is the best way to decrease school shootings.  The Catholic Church has endorsed a plurality of reforms.  Such proposals include reducing the availability of deadlier guns, those with higher capacity to cause damage, like automatic weapons, more thorough background checks, safe-storage requirements and temporary confiscation orders (or “Extreme Risk Protection Orders”) against high-risk persons. Michigan Catholic Conference, A Catholic Response to Gun Violence, vol. 51, https://www.micatholic.org/advocacy/news-room/focus/2023/a-catholic-response-to-gun-violence/a-catholic-response-to-gun-violence/ (Spring 2023); see also, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, NCC Resolution on Rampant Gun Violence and Mass Shootings, https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/common-witness-ncc/ncc-resolution-on-rampant-gun-violence-and-mass-shootings/ (Reaffirmed 2018); Siddiqi et al., AmericanProgress.org, Religious Organizations Are Integral to the Fight Against Gun Violence, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/religious-organizations-are-integral-to-the-fight-against-gun-violence/ (Dec. 7, 2021); and Sheremeta, YelenaSheremeta.com, How Should Christian Women Respond to Mass Shootings?, https://yelenasheremeta.com/blog/how-should-christian-women-respond-to-mass-shootings , (Assessed Mar. 6, 2024).

Legislation can only go so far.  As adamant as many Catholics et al. are, there are lobbyist that vehemently oppose gun regulation, so pro-regulation efforts have not materialized as desired.   Plus, not all mass shooters follow the law before they act out a shooting.  They are criminals after all, about to be responsible for the murder of others… rules against obtaining their weapons may not deter them.

Others believe that their role in responding to mass shootings is to console co-victims of the homicides, listen to them, pray for them and counsel them, offering the hope of Christ. Lucey, Christianity.com, What Should Christians Do after a Mass Shooting?, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/what-should-christians-do-after-a-mass-shooting.html (Mar. 28, 2023)(“Christians, in their sinful imperfection, need prayer in order to approach the survivor of a mass shooting with appropriate words and silences; with compassion and discernment.”).

Still others favor mental health solutions.  In terms of mental health, mass shooters obviously have some mental disease, the symptoms of which are evidenced by their homicidal efforts.  Some suggest that K-12 schools should employ more counselors to reduce school shootings.  Therapists can counter isolation, help victims of childhood trauma heal, and potentially intervene. Warner, Politico.com, Two Professors Found What Creates a Mass Shooter. Will Politicians Pay Attention?, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/27/stopping-mass-shooters-q-a-00035762 (May 27, 2022)(citing the Peterson study).  This is a value-added idea, not just from the perspective of preventing mass shootings, but reducing other self-harming activities in our youth like, cutting, other criminal activity, drug and alcohol abuse or sexual promiscuity.  Colleges are increasingly seeing the value of having on-campus therapy; it provides a judgement-free zone for students, gives them coping strategies, counters social isolation, reduces suicide, helps them with life transitions, improves retention and can even increase academic performance. Clark, TimelyCare.com, Importance of Mental Health Services on College Campuses, https://timelycare.com/blog/mental-health-services-on-college-campuses/ (Jun. 23, 2020); and University of Minnesota, 5 Essential Benefits of Therapy for College Students, https://online.umn.edu/story/5-essential-benefits-therapy-college-students (Assessed Mar. 12, 2024).  In this case, grade schools can learn from the best practices of our universities. 

However, K-12 schools are currently largely understaffed and/or underfunded when it comes to mental health counselors and psychologists, the national averages of students per shrink being 78-300% higher than recommended. Peterson et al., The Violence Project: How to Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic (2021), p46, https://www.theviolenceproject.org/.  Additionally, offering mental health treatment at school does not guarantee that students in need will participate or that the mental health services will be effective.  Most mass shooters do not have recorded severe mental health histories, which means something is deterring them from seeking out counseling, only 29% having previously received counseling; maybe it is the availability of psychotherapy, maybe not. Peterson et al., supra, pp59-60.  Moreover, of the minority of mass shooters who had received some mental health treatment prior to their shootings it obviously did not cure them of whatever illness caused their willingness to commit homicide, like the Aurora Colorado movie theater shooter of 2012 or the Buffalo grocery store shooter of 2022. Ramsland, PsychologyToday.com, Mass Shooters and the Myth That Evil Is Obvious, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/202302/mass-shooters-and-the-myth-that-evil-is-obvious (Mar. 1, 2023)(discussing how the Aurora perpetrator had therapy beforehand where he expressed a general desire to kill, though not an immediate one, such that his psychiatrist did not report it).  So, we know that the utility of mental health counseling is limited.

A Spiritual Solution

We can be certain that if a person places murder on their hearts, their spiritual health is deficient. Exodus 20:13 (the Sixth Commandment: “You shall not murder.”).  With the number of Americans killed by these mass homicides trending upward, perhaps we should stop relying on Congress and take whatever we can into our own hands.

"The Problem is Within

Discussions of policies are good and necessary, but they do not address the key problem that is presented in the message of Jesus.  According to him, the reason people perpetrate evil acts is not simply because of a negative environment or because of tempting opportunities.

It is primarily because of the brokenness and evil inside each one of us.  We are all rebels against God.  We are all slaves to sin, compelled to do its bidding.  Jesus’ message is that the main problem in the world is not weapons, bad parenting, poverty, or any other social structure.

Our main problem is that we are estranged from God and in need of redemption."

Franklin, Life Bible Fellowship Church, A Gospel-Driven Response to School Shootings, https://lbf.church/a-gospel-driven-response-to-school-shootings/ (Assessed Mar. 6, 2024).

Feasibly, spiritual outreach is our best answer to this crisis as well as others.  Some studies note that gun ownership (and inherently gun violence) is negatively associated with religious involvement or regular church attendance.  Merino, Religions, God and Guns: Examining Religious Influences on Gun Control Attitudes in the United States, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/6/189 (Jun. 14, 2018)(of the 1,008 adults surveyed, 21% of them believed that putting more emphasis on God and morality in schools and societies was the most important thing for preventing mass shootings, third to stricter gun laws and better mental health screening and support).  How then can the Church—experts in raising spirituality and morality—become more accessible to the public at large, not just people already accustomed to attending church?

Perhaps we can increase our user-friendliness through telephonic hotlines like those available to domestic violence victims or those contemplating suicide.  There are several Christian hotlines discoverable via a modest Google search, such as, Sister Mary Frances’ Catholic Hotline at 800-447-3986 (or https://www.catholichotline.org/ ) or the 700 Club Prayer Line at 800-700-7000 (or https://www2.cbn.com/700club ).  We can also increase televised and online advertisement for the use of these services and/or local churches in response to suicidal/homicidal ideation.  Therefore, since mass shootings are at least a spiritual problem, we people of faith are best suited to treat this disease of the soul.

Until next time: Namaste (or the spirit in me recognizes and greets the spirit in you)!