The Violence Project:

How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic

By Jillian Peterson & James Densley

Winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award

An examination of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to action to stop these tragedies using first-person accounts from perpetrators, survivors, and families.

Now Available

2023 Published Essays

• The Conversation – Typical mass shooters are in their 20s and 30s – suspect’s in California’s latest killings are far from that average
• LA Times – Older mass shooters are rare. Here’s how the differ from young assailants
• New York Times – Mass shootings in the US: A symptom of despair

2022 Published Essays

• The Conversation – Rampage at Virginia Walmart follows upward trend in supermarket gun attacks – here’s what we know about retail mass shooters
• The Conversation – What we know about mass school shootings in the US and the gunmen who carry them out
• The Conversation – More mass shootings are happening at grocery stores – 13% of shooters are motivated by racial hatred, criminologists find
• The Conversation – Accused Buffalo mass shooter had threatened a shooting while in high school. Could more have been done to avert the tragedy?
• The Conversation – School shootings are already at a record in 2022 – with months still to go
• Time Magazine – The steps we can take to reduce mass shootings
• Washington Post – Ideology is not at the root of most mass shootings

2021 Published Essays

• The Conversation – School shootings are at a record high this year – but they can be prevented
• The Conversation – Knoxville school shooting serves as a stark reminder of the familiar – but preventable – threat
• Ed Week – Assessing shooting threats is a matter of life or death: Why aren’t experts better at it?
• Los Angeles Times – The Powerful message behind charging the parents in the Michigan school shooting 
• Los Angeles Times – Why mass shootings stopped in 2020 and are now roaring back
• Los Angeles Times – The rise in school shooting threats is alarming, and a cry for help
• Star Tribune – School closures are costly caution – but are still not enough to prevent tragedies
• Star Tribune – The mass shootings are back, as is the question: Why?
• Sun Sentinel – One Second from Columbine at Lehigh Acres
• The Tennessean – Students, teachers must feel safe to report school shooting threats
• Washington Post – School shootings are increasing – and changing. Easily accessible guns are to blame

2020 Published Essays

• The Conversation – U.S. gun violence: Too many people have died in 2020 – and COVID played a larger part than you think
• MinnPost – Break the cycle: Five changes in Minnesota policing that can be enacted right now
• Pioneer Press – If they want to improve police in Minnesota, legislators need to know this

2019 Published Essays

• The Conversation – University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting had these things in common with other campus shootings. 
• The Conversation – School shooters usually show these signs of distress long before they open fire
• The Conversation – Colorado shooting eerily recalls Columbine massacre
• The Conversation – How Columbine became a blueprint for school shooters 
• Ed Week – What school shooters have in common
• Los Angeles Times – Why do people attack places of worship?
• Los Angeles Times – There is no single profile of a mass shooter. Our data show there are five types 
• Los Angeles Times – We analyzed 53 years of mass shooting data. Attacks aren’t just increasing, they’re getting deadlier
• Los Angeles Times – We have studied every mass shooting since 1966. Here’s what we’ve learned about the shooters
• Minnesota Association of School Administrators – School Shootings: What Administrators Need to Know
• Star Tribune – Terrorism is a performance.  Stop watching
• USA Today – We can do more to prevent workplace shootings like Aurora, Illinois

Published Essays 2015 – 2018

• CNN – The usual approach to school security isn’t working
• CNN – How social media sends extremism into overdrive
• MinnPost – Police crisis intervention training: We need a new paradigm, not a new building
• Pioneer Press – For police training, do the research to figure out what work
• Star Tribune – Preventing mass school shootings?  Here’s a key first step
• Star Tribune – Why the trend of posting gruesome acts online? 
• Star Tribune – Verdict in police shooting of Philando Castile: The fear defense should have us all afraid
• Star Tribune – Untangling the roots of school violence
• Star Tribune – Mental illness and violence: Not so easy to connect the dots