The United States continues to face rising rates of firearm violence at a time when overall crime rates are declining. Among the types of firearm violence that are increasing in frequency are public mass shootings. These events have widespread impacts, affecting not only those individuals who lose loved ones or who are present at the scene of the attack, but also members of the communities in which they occur. Such impacts include, but are not limited to, trauma-related psychological distress, emotional or physical responses, and financial impacts. To date, however, understanding the breadth of these impacts has been largely overlooked by the scholarly community, which can have important implications for policymakers and practitioners tasked with supporting survivors and communities after one of these tragedies occurs.
This research project, led by Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut, Executive Director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government and a national expert on mass shootings, represents the first large scale assessment of survivors of public mass shootings. The main goals of this project are to (1) identify the needs of survivors after a mass shooting in both the immediate, intermediate, and long-term, and (2) provide recommendations for vested stakeholders (e.g., governments, agencies, support providers) about how best to provide support in ways that meet the needs of the survivors.
Hear directly from mass shooting survivors about their experiences.
Ten survivors from different communities across the U.S. that experienced a mass shooting share their experiences with social acknowledgement, which this research found to be one of the most important aspects of a positive journey toward resiliency.
The Role of Peer Support and "Similar
Others" After Mass Shootings
Ensuring Access to Resources in the
Immediate Aftermath of a Mass Shooting
LATEST ANALYSIS
For National Gun Violence Awareness Month in the United States, this blog for the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government explores the role and importance of social acknowledgement for mass shooting survivors. The piece also includes five ways in which members of the public can work to support survivors of these tragedies on their road to resilience.
This project includes survivors from 48 different communities
impacted by mass public shootings across the United States.
Map made with Google Maps with project data uploaded as a layer.
