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School Shootings are Domestic Violence, Not Domestic Terrorism
School shootings are not only correlated with or predicted by domestic violence; they are in themselves instances of domestic violence. These are not random acts, and we should stop responding to them as though they are.
The connection between domestic violence and mass shootings is well established. We know that many perpetrators of mass violence previously have victimized family members or have been victims themselves.
These parallels are clear and indisputable; what we’ve failed to seriously confront is that school shootings are not only correlated with or predicted by domestic violence; they are in themselves instances of domestic violence.
Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newtown, Parkland — in each of these cases, and in almost every other case of school shooting ever documented — the murderer was a student in or of the school. These are not random acts of violence, and we should stop responding to them as though they are.
Basically, we should begin treating school buildings like homes, rather than prisons or military encampments.
As someone who researches and writes about school environments that engender violence, I have lately been making the case that we need less school security rather than more. This claim seems to fly in the face…
