Mass Shootings Policies and Prevention — Columbia Scientific Union for the Reduction of Gun Violence

Mass Shootings: Policies and Prevention

This work is evaluating the impact of gun violence on child health, developmental, and learning outcomes with implications for school and community-wide interventions. Current projects and publications are included below.

Current Projects

Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy

JAMA Summit on Firearm Violence Prevention

Contributions to a national convening focused on advancing research, policy, and cross-sector strategies to reduce firearm violence.

Media

A Right Worth Fighting For

Newsroom, Teachers College, Columbia University - August 2019

Op-Ed: What gun control activists can learn from the NRA

Los Angeles Times - August 2019

Youth Against Gun Violence, ‘From Black Lives Matter’ to the ‘March for our Lives’

WNYC News - March 2018

After the Sante Fe Massacre, bury the ‘good guy with a gun’ myth: Armed staffers won’t deter shooters or keep kids safe

New York Daily News - May 2018

If the assault weapons ban ‘didn’t work,’ then why does the evidence suggest it saved lives?

Los Angeles Times - March 2018

It’s the guns (and ammo), stupid: Dissuading killers and hardening targets matter too, but access to weapons matters most

New York Daily News - February 2018

America’s Deadly Gun Disease

US News - December 2015

Relevant Publications

Self- and Other-Harm in Mass Shooters: A Dual-Harm Analysis

Diego A. Díaz-Faes, Sonali Rajan, Charles C. Branas, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 2025. An analysis of 197 U.S. mass shooters (1966–2023) finds that one-fifth met criteria for dual-harm (self- and other-harm) and that this group showed the highest prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, mental health-related risk factors, and indicators such as leakage and fame-seeking, underscoring diverse pathways and a high-risk subgroup with complex prevention needs.

Pre-Attack Crisis Indicators in Mass Shooters: Differences Across No-, Single-, and Dual-Harm Groups

Diego A. Díaz-Faes, Sonali Rajan, Charles C. Branas, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 2025. Using The Violence Project Database (197 U.S. mass shooters, 1966–2023), this study identifies distinct pre-attack crisis indicator profiles and finds that shooters in a dual-harm group (self- and other-harm) were overrepresented in an “emotionally labile and aggressive” profile, highlighting heterogeneity in pre-attack warning signs and the potential value of harm-based risk frameworks.

School Violence Exposure as an Adverse Childhood Experience: Protocol for a Nationwide Study of Secondary Public Schools

Sonali Rajan, Navjot Buttar, Zahra Ladhani, Jennifer Caruso, John P. Allegrante, Charles C. Branas, JMIR Research Protocols, 2024. Protocol describing a national study examining how exposure to intentional school gun violence relates to adolescent mental health, school safety perceptions, and academic outcomes.

Experiences of Online Bullying and Offline Violence-Related Behaviors Among a Nationally Representative Sample of US Adolescents, 2011–2019

Noah T. Kreski, Qixuan Chen, Mark Olfson, Magdalena Cerdá, Silvia S. Martins, Pia M. Mauro, Charles C. Branas, Sonali Rajan, Katherine M. Keyes, Journal of School Health, 2022. National analysis linking online bullying experiences to offline violence-related behaviors (including weapon carrying and school avoidance), highlighting intersections between youth adversities and violence.

The Effect of Large-Capacity Magazine Bans on High-Fatality Mass Shootings, 1990–2017

Louis Klarevas, Andrew Conner, David Hemenway, American Journal of Public Health, December 2019. An empirical analysis showing that states without large-capacity magazine (LCM) bans experienced significantly more high-fatality mass shootings and higher death counts compared with states that enacted LCM bans, suggesting such restrictions are associated with reduced incidence and lethality of deadly mass shootings.

The Effect of Large-Capacity Magazine Bans on High-Fatality Mass Shootings, 1990 - 2017

Klarevas L, Conner A, Hemenway D, American Journal of Public Health, 2019

Examining Mass Shootings From a Neighborhood Perspective: An Analysis of Multiple Casualty Events and Media Reporting in Philadelphia, United States

Beard JH, Jacoby SF, James R, Dong B, Seamon MJ, Maher Z, Goldberg AJ, Morrison CN, Preventive Medicine, 2019

Changes in U.S. Mass Shooting Deaths Associated With the 1994 - 2004 Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Analysis of Open-Source Data

Klarevas L, The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 2019

Cross-Sectional Study of Loss of Life Expectancy at Different Ages Related to Firearm Deaths Among Black and White Americans

Kalesan B, Vyliparambil MA, Zuo Y, Siracuse JJ, Fagan JA, Branas C, Galea S, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, 2019

State Gun Laws, Gun Ownership, and Mass Shootings in the US: Cross-Sectional Time Series

Reeping PM, Cerda M, Kalesan B, Wiebe DJ, Galea S, Branas C, BMJ, 2019

Rapid Response to Mass Shootings

Reeping PM, Jacoby S, Rajan S, Branas C, Criminology and Public Policy, 2019

The Political Weaponization of Gun Owners: The National Rifle Association’s Cultivation, Dissemination, and Use of a Group Social Identity

Lacombe M, The Journal of Politics, 2019

Funding for Gun Violence Research is Key to the Health and Safety of the Nation

Rajan S, Branas C, Hargarten S, Allegrante JP, American Journal of Public Health, 2018

Academic Public Health and the Firearm Crisis: An Agenda for Action

Branas C, Flescher A, Formica MK, Galea S, Hennig N, Liller KD, Madanat HN, Park A, Rosenthal JE, Ying J, American Journal of Public Health, 2017