The School Shooter Demographic

Picture a school shooter: what do they look like? I’m 99% sure you pictured a guy. More than likely he is a white guy. According to an article published by Campus Safety in 2018, since 1970, only about 4.3 percent of school shootings were perpetrated by a female, and only 21% of school shooters are non-white. An investigation in 2015 found that since the 1999 Columbine shooting the "more than 40 people ... charged with Columbine-style plots" were almost all white male teenagers, like the Columbine perpetrators. (CNN, 2018) These statistics aren’t borne out of coincidence. The unique position that white men hold in society, along with socialization practices that differ for boys and girls both contribute to the establishment of this demographic.

“What’s become clear over the past 30 years of research is that there’s virtually always a personal grievance that will start a person on a pathway to mass murder,” said  Dr. J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist. (New York Times, 2018) So is there a pattern in the type of personal grievance that motivates shooters? In a word, yes. It has to do with the intersection of both white and male identity. This identity comes with a lot of potential power. From birth, you are promised to be at the very top of society, and this position feeds entitlement. When you don’t get what you believe is entitled to you, you can lash out. Elliot Rodger, who ran down six people in 2014, was a self-proclaimed “involuntary celibate”- part of a man’s internet group that expresses their hatred for women for not wanting to have sex with them. Before committing the murders, he wrote a manifesto explaining his frustrations with the women who spurned his advances. The sense of ownership felt over women's bodies is just one example of the type of entitlement that feeds many white male shooters.

The promise of fame seems to entice white male shooters as well. Mark Potok, who researched hate groups and their followers for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in 2015 that many gunmen turned out to be “people who are looking for something larger than their own small lives, to be seen as a hero standing up for a cause. (NYT, 2018) The want to be a famous hero isn’t uncommon in our society, but the supposed ‘heroism’ behind hate crimes shows that these men are acting upon the belief that they are superior, in addition to the want of fame. Their “superiority” makes them feel entitled to fame, and they will do extreme things simply to be remembered.

The differences in the ways we socialize boys and girls also contribute to the high percentage of male shooters. Most boys are not taught healthy ways to deal with their emotions. A CNN article published in 2018 stated, “...boys are largely not taught to navigate their feelings and, as a result, to secretly fear them. They're taught to "play through the pain," emotional and physical.” They are encouraged to hold their feelings in; to ignore them. The most socially acceptable outlet for their feelings is releasing anger through violence. And activities that are deemed more masculine, or at least have a largely male demographic have to do with violence, such as contact sports and video games. So it is not surprising that boys who feel that violence is the best outlet to air their frustrations would be compelled to perpetrate violent crimes.

In addition to the encouragement of violent outlets for emotions, violent crimes are not punished nearly as harshly when they are done by white people as opposed to black people. According to the death penalty information center, “In 96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both" This sort of security essentially gives white boys permission to murder. They have been taught their whole life that they will be held less accountable for their actions than any other group. They are removed from the consequences of their actions.

There are many factors that have contributed to the ‘school shooter’ demographic, and they have to do with both race and gender. First, the influence of traditionally acceptable male hobbies encourages violence in boys. Second, boys are not taught healthy ways to deal with their emotions; asking for help is deemed weak and violent reactions are deemed acceptable. Third, many school shooters are influenced by want of fame, something white boys think they are inherently deserving of. Fourth, white boys are taught that they are entitled to the world, including other people. The influence societal factors have on white boys is one of the main reasons we have so many school shootings in our country. We will never stop the violence if we do not change the gender norms and pervasive racism that cause it.