The Unproductive Response to Shooters
Two years ago I wrote an article about gun control for my high school’s political review following the tragic shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College. Prominent news sources were quick to follow the tragedy with articles describing both the shooting and the shooter himself. Many of the articles I read focused on the shooter, his background, and his ideology. Descriptions of the shooter were especially prominent in the titles of these articles, which included, “Oregon Killer Described as Man of Few Words,” and “Who is Chris HarperMercer?” At the time I thought nothing of these titles; the media was doing its job and reporting on the suspect of another tragic shooting.
After the recent shooting in Las Vegas, I immediately turned to my online sources to find more information on what happened. Unsurprisingly, some of the first headlines I encountered included titles such as, “Who Was Stephen Paddock? The Mystery of a Nondescript ‘Numbers Guy’,” “Las Vegas Suspect Was a Gambler Who Drew Little Attention,” and “Las Vegas Shooter Liked Gambling, Country Music.” Are you beginning to see the pattern here?
A substantial proportion of news articles on such shootings focus on the suspect as the main issue and frame him or her in misrepresentative lighting. The decision of these prominent new sources to publish such articles with titles like these frames the public’s opinion on tragic events. This type of media framing is especially prevalent when articles speak about shootings in the United States. The decision of these sources to publish such articles is a significant detriment to the United States’ perception of shootings by 1) deciding to focus and prime their viewers’ attention on the suspect instead of on issues surrounding gun control, and 2) focusing on the suspect’s life before the shooting and their mental health as opposed to framing them as murderers with access to guns.
[pullquote]The decision of these sources to publish such articles majorly sets back the United States’ perception on shootings.[/pullquote]
Framing and priming are two central terms here that serve to describe how media sources can easily manipulate their viewers into thinking about certain stories in biased ways. This is seen everywhere, no matter what the broadcast or article is about, and in most cases there is nothing you can do about it since it is done so discreetly. In the cases of mass shootings, however, it is extremely detrimental to our society that these primary American news sources tend to not represent shooters and gun issues in the appropriate lighting. By focusing on the faults of the shooters as opposed to on gun control issues, they manipulate viewers to assume that the real threat in each case is the shooter and not the lack of gun regulation in the United States.
[pullquote]American news sources tend to not represent shooters and gun issues in the lighting that they truly deserve.[/pullquote]
When the press and politicians pin the cause of shootings on the shooters and their personal issues, backgrounds, and mental health states, they step away from the issues of gun control and avoid the burden of having to think about gun reform. Instead of implementing legislation that could prevent unstable persons from attaining a handgun or a semi-automatic, people tend to focus on mental illness and the individual issues that the shooter dealt with before the time of the shooting. The titles of articles also point to how humanely these shooters are framed in the public’s eyes. In mentioning how these shooters “enjoyed country music” and were “timid,” they step away from characterizing these killers in a way that accurately portrays their mental instability and the extreme violence they perpetrate. I’m sure, however, that if these shooters were of Muslim descent, these stories would take a completely different perspective and actually acknowledge the fact that they terrorized society.
The fact is, the United States is incapable of responding correctly to a shooting when the shooter is American. When the public knows that these shooters grew up in our land, with our norms, assimilating to our expectations, we simply cannot accept that these horrific shooters were molded and raised on our own soil. How can our country, arguably the most patriotic land there is, be patriotic about that? Americans need to face the issues surrounding gun reform, take a look at the Second Amendment again, and rethink how they respond to these shootings.
[pullquote]The United States is incapable of responding correctly to a shooting when the shooter’s origin is the United States.[/pullquote]
When you look at the numbers, it’s not surprising that the United States has the highest rate of gun violence compared to other developed countries. The United States has the highest rate of civilian-owned firearms and, unsurprisingly, has the highest rate of homicides by firearms, opposite Australia who has the lowest rate of gun homicide, largely as a result of their total ban on guns. As the saying goes, more guns mean more gun deaths. I’m not saying there is a simple solution for this; I don’t believe Americans will abandon the Second Amendment in a day. But I do think it is time Americans begin to confront the issue our country is facing with gun violence and gun control, and a good start might be with how the media and important public figures frame shootings — and shooters — in the eye of the public.
Sophie Attie ‘20 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at sattie@wustl.edu.