136: Unpacking the Violence Project

Mass shootings account for only 0.2% of firearm deaths in the US a year -- but their impact is large, deeply traumatizing survivors, their communities, and the country as a whole. How do we, as a nation, try to prevent these mass shootings? And what commonalities exist between not just these shootings, but the shooters themselves? To find out, host JJ is joined by
Dr. Jillian Peterson of Hamline University and Dr. James Densley of Metropolitan State University, both authors of forthcoming book "the Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic" and co-founders and co-presidents of a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center of the same name (the Violence Project). Together they all discuss the Violence Projects' mass shooter database, which collates data about mass shooters life histories, psychological profiles, and first person accounts (while also practicing no notoriety) -- and how this data suggests better interventions against violence.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• the Off-ramp project: the road to violence is long -- let's build more exits (Off-ramp)
• How Many Mass Shootings Have There Been in 2021 So Far? It Depends How You Count (Newsweek)
• Recent Spate Of Mass Shootings Is Among Worst In U.S. History (the Wall Street Journal)
• How Ending Child Abuse And Improving Mental Health Care Could Prevent Mass Shootings (Global News - 13 Hours)