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Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP)
Mass Shooting Prevention and Research Library (MSPRL)
Mass Shooting Projects
All Mass Shootings Are Local Project
In some cases, we do not know and will likely never know what caused a mass shooting. But in many cases, it’s apparent, sometimes glaringly so. Regardless, we must not allow indifference to rule or allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the totality of these horrific events. As many others have so passionately done, we must leave no stones unturned in our quest to stop the next mass shooting. While we seek a cure-all that will be an end-all, the enormity of that focuses on global solutions when it’s local personal interventions that matter. Mass shootings likely cannot and will not be stopped collectively.
Valiant efforts like the following are not the answer:
—Legislation, particularly on the state and federal levels, often provide meaningful solutions. But that’s generally not so for preventing organic mass shootings.
—Most technological advancements (like miracle/wonder drugs that have changed our lives forever and for the better) are generally the product of a handful of highly knowledgeable and skilled engineers and/or scientists, often with long track records of previous groundbreaking innovations, but their likeness is not going to get it done.
—We often think well-intentioned PhD like researchers and writers, very often with hefty federal grants are the answer, but they’re not.
No, it’s not in chambers, laboratories, think tanks, and the like where the next mass shooting will be stopped. To wallow in finding the magic bullet that ends one, several, or all mass shootings from a remote place is foolish at best and futile at worst. The national, regional, state, county, and even municipal actions of government, and businesses and organizations like 501(c)s, while honorable, won’t save the day. But the next mass shooting can likely be stopped by you in your backyard.
Your opinion?
Yes, we believe the next mass shooting can only be stopped locally by caring, competent, and savvy individuals, who are brave.
Just as all politics are/is local, all mass shootings are local. Just as we’re told to shop locally, we need to stop mass shootings locally. The next mass shooter is kin, a friend, a colleague, and/or a neighbor. While high civilian gun ownership, copycat fame-seeking individuals, violent video games, saturated and sensationalized media coverage, and inadequate or incompetent mental health services are high on the bulleted lists of the causes of mass shootings, we must remember, the aggregate of that can and often does dissuade or overpower us.
“It’s the economy, stupid” has more than served its purpose, but now, for mass shootings, comes “It’s local, stupid.” And it is.
Is it local?
The next mass shooting that grabs headlines probably won’t be yours. But yours might just be brewing or might be soon. Pay attention. Pay close attention.
Soft Targets and Crowded Places (ST-CP) – Mass Shooting Prevention and Research Library (MSPRL) implores people, including the media, to understand the localism of mass shootings and to educate themselves in the stages, often very apparent, of what leads an individual to be a mass shooter, and when appropriate, to cunningly cast aside the steadfast American rule of minding your own business, and intervene early, and if necessary, often.
While we offer voluminous amounts of data, which can be helpful for awareness and research, stopping the next mass shooting depends on you, your significant other, your best friend, your coworker, and your neighbor.
While “If You See Something, Say Something” has been effective, it’s no longer enough. When it comes to mass shootings, it goes far beyond just seeing. It includes if you hear something and/or feel something. Both of those are equally as important as seeing something.
Is that true?
Almost every mass shooter was never in a vacuum, their intentions, from blatant to subtle, were there, but in a host of ways they fell through the cracks because those who merely crossed paths with them up to and including those who hobnobbed with them, and everyone in between, weren’t savvy, and more importantly, they chose to mind their own business.
The phrase “mind your own business” in the Bible, particularly in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, encourages individuals to focus on their own lives and work rather than being overly concerned with the affairs of others. It emphasizes the importance of leading a quiet and productive life, working diligently, and avoiding being “busybodies” or meddlers.
Sadly, the notion of minding our own business is deeply entrenched in society.
From repeated instruction from our parents from very young ages to the explicit teachings of the Bible in Sunday school and well beyond, and every medium in between, we have been programmed to mind our own business.
But both the old-world and modern world could not, and did not, foresee the extent and frequency of mass shootings. Just as the Second Amendment has become archaic in certain respects as it pertains to mass shootings, so too has the very long-standing principle that we mind our own business.
Mass shootings often ultimately end up being regional, national, and even international news, but they never started that way. They started in homes, neighborhoods, and communities, often very small ones; the places where we live; the very places where we work, go to school, and recreate. They ended, often on the national and even world stage, but they started in our backyards. It’s only in those backyards that we can stop them.
For example 50+ Bible Verses About Minding Your Own Business. Google it, and you’ll find a lot more.
Minding our own business is good time proven advice, but it’s completely dated when it comes to mass shootings.
When you see, hear, and/or feel something about the possibility of a mass shooting, be a busybody and meddle until the cows come home, then spill it all to the authorities, early and often.
Should you/we do that?