Minnesota Violence Project Aims to Understand Mass Shootings
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 12:27 pm
Supporters of gun control measures are seen gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Concord, New Hampshire, Aug. 5, 2019, urging Republican Governor Chris Sununu to sign them in the wake of two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio over the weekend.
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA - Minnesota researchers have created a new database that seeks to help understand circumstances that contribute to mass shootings in the United States.
Minnesota Public Radio News reports that the nonpartisan Violence Project's database went online Tuesday. The project's researchers chronicled traits related to 171 people who committed mass shootings.
Violence Project co-founder James Densley says researchers looked at factors in the lives of shooters. Those aspects include mental health troubles, whether they considered suicide, and how they had access to guns.
Researchers found that 98% of mass shooters were men and that 52% were white.
Mass shootings are defined as shooting and killing four or more people in a public space.