Summary: A comprehensive analysis of all known U.S. school shootings reveals that most shooters grew up in social environments where guns were a central part of family bonding and identity. These cultural meanings of affection, fun, and belonging made firearms easily accessible to the shooters—often without barriers at home.
In many cases, parents purchased the firearms used or stored them in places their children could reach. The findings highlight that gun culture wasn’t just background context—it was a formative part of the shooters’ lives, shaping both their identities and their access to deadly weapons.
Key Facts:
- Cultural Bonding: Many shooters described guns as symbols of love, friendship, or identity.
- Easy Access: All shooters had unrestricted access to firearms—often supplied or enabled by family.
- Preventive Focus: The study urges focusing on reducing gun access and improving student belonging.
Source: PLOS
A new analysis of school shootings in the U.S. suggests that most shooters had a social background in which guns were a key leisure item, with attached meanings of bonding and affection, which also translated into easy access to firearms. Anne Nassauer of the University of Erfurt, Germany, presents these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on April 23, 2025.
For U.S. minors, guns are the leading cause of death. Some of these deaths occur in school shootings, where a current or former student fires at people at their school. Discussions of school shootings often cite the unique gun culture of the U.S. as a causative factor.
However, few studies have methodically analyzed the role of gun culture in school shooters’ lives.
To address this gap, Nassauer analyzed all known U.S. school shootings across U.S. history (83 cases), some of which resulted in no deaths, some in a few deaths, and some in many.
Using data from court, police, and media records, she assembled a case file for each shooter and conducted cross-case and statistical comparisons to determine whether any patterns in gun culture emerged.
The analysis suggests that a distinct pocket of U.S. gun culture plays a key role in school shooters’ lives. Specifically, most shooters in the study came from a social background in which guns were key leisure items that were often important for family bonding time, often from a young age.
Some shooters described guns as being their “only friend” or the “love of [their] life.”
Notably, all shooters in the study faced no difficulty in obtaining the guns they used in the school shootings.
The analysis suggests that this ease of access stemmed from the cultural meanings assigned to guns within the shooters’ social settings—namely, fun, bonding, and belonging—which translated into practices that made accessing guns easy.
For instance, some parents had bought the guns their children then used for the school shooting, while others kept guns in easily accessible parts of their house.
The findings suggest that research on how to prevent school shootings could focus on making guns more difficult for students to access and on finding ways to foster student belonging.
The author adds: “All school shooters in U.S. history had easy access to the firearms they used — even those who were very young or severely mentally ill. Many came from a gun culture where firearms are symbols of affection, bonding, and identity. The weapons were often freely accessible in the shooters’ homes.”
“This study shows school shooters don’t just use guns, but many grow up in worlds where guns are central to identity and belonging. Gun culture isn’t just a backdrop — it’s a formative part of many school shooters’ lives.
“For many school shooters guns were what they called their ‘only friend’, or ‘the love of their life’. We can’t understand school shootings without understanding how gun culture shapes youth identities and gun access.”
“Guns don’t cause school shootings, but they make them possible — and often far too easy. There’s not a single school shooting in the US where a shooter had trouble getting a firearm.
“So we have to ask: Why do only those with easy gun access do it? Are other potential shooters deterred because they don’t have a gun within easy reach?”
About this psychology and gun violence research news
Author: Hanna Abdallah
Source: PLOS
Contact: Hanna Abdallah – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
““The only friend I had was my gun”: A mixed-methods study of gun culture in school shootings” by Anne Nassauer et al. PLOS One
Abstract
“The only friend I had was my gun”: A mixed-methods study of gun culture in school shootings
Firearms are the leading cause of death for minors in the United States and US gun culture is often discussed as a reason behind the prevalence of school shootings.
Yet, few studies systematically analyze if there is a connection between the two: Do school shooters show a distinct gun culture?
This article studies gun culture in action in school shootings. It studies if school shooters show distinct meanings and practices around firearms prior to the shooting, as well as patterns in access to firearms.
To do so, I analyze a full sample of US school shootings. Relying on publicly available court, police, and media data, I combine qualitative in-depth analyses with cross-case comparisons and descriptive statistics.
Findings suggest most school shooters come from a social setting in which firearms are a crucial leisure activity and hold meanings of affection, friendship, and bonding. These meanings translate into practices: all school shooters had easy access to the firearms they used for the shooting.
Findings contribute to research on firearms and youth violence, public health, as well as the sociology of culture.
