Free Republic

This graphic gives needed perspective on the “epidemic” of mass shootings.  The question an unbiased observer might ask is “Why is such enormous attention given to such a tiny fraction of deaths?The answer is fairly easy to understand.  The media gains both monetary and political benefits from hyping these shootings. They gain monetary benefits from increased attention to their programs and advertiser base, but that does not explain why similar mass killings get far less coverage.    Clayton Cramer wrote a paper showing that mass killings with guns gets far more coverage than would be warranted by their numbers.He...

The media knows that the more attention that they pay to mass killing perpetrators, the more incentive they create for mass killings.  The effect is known as the “Copycat Effect“.  It is a well known and researched phenomena.  Endless promotion of these tragic events and the publicity given to the perpetrators is far more of a causal factor than the Second Amendment.CBS news relates the latest evidence that media coverage of his name and face was one of the primary motivations for the Umpqua shooter.   From cbsnews.com: In one post on the blog about Vester Flanagan, the man who...

Before the bodies were buried, the old media and other proponents of ever more restrictions on the Second Amendment were using the deaths to promote their political agenda.  They piously fail to mention their own responsibility. The "Copycat Effect" is a well known and researched phenomena.  Endless promotion of these tragic events and the publicity given to the perpetrators is far more of a causal factor than the Second Amendment. We have known for decades that it is media attention that is the driving motivation for most of these public mass shooters. The copycat effect has been demonstrated and...

When we look at the Sandy Hook school shooting, are there actual public policies that could prevent, or at least reduce such events?  Are there policies that could mitigate the amount of killing?  The answer to that question is a clear and surprising yes.    No, I am not talking about using the school shootings to punish Tea Party members who like guns.  The "Gun safety proposals" (if you are on the left) or "Citizen Disarmament proposals" (if you are a second amendment supporter) would have done nothing to prevent Sandy Hook.   Nor would proposals to ban violent video games...

Investigators in Connecticut released a report yesterday concerning the December 2011 murders in Newtown. It says the shooter was "obsessed" with mass murders. From the Wall Street Journal: During their search of the (redacted) home, law-enforcement officials found a spreadsheet that tracked mass murders over the years, including the names of the assailants and information about each incident. They also found a "large amount of materials relating to Columbine shootings" as well as a "computer game titled 'School Shooting' where the player controls a character who enters a school and shoots at students" and "commercial movies depicting mass shootings," the...

The twilight language may be revealed in the Mother's Day killings of two second-grade girls near Beulah Park in Zion, Illinois. Could the place and victims have been purposedly selected? The news of the deaths are the lead story in many media outlets. Let me quote from today's (May 10, 2005) New York Times to make some points. Zion First, you have the name "Zion" with it's natural lexilinks to the ancient "Zion" of the Mideast and to the "Zion" of the Matrix movies. As I point out in The Copycat Effect, some killers have used The Matrix for inspiration....