Banning Guns Cannot be the “End all be all” Solution — How Understanding and, yes, Empathy can Mitigate Violence
Photo taken in March 2013, at the Rally to Prevent Gun Violence. Picture by Jay Baker in Annapolis, MD.
In just 2022 alone, over 300 recorded mass shootings have taken place in America. Of all these tragedies, three of the most prominent shootings—Buffalo, Ulvade and Highland Park— have gripped the nation. These shootings share a common denominator: the perpetrators were all between the ages of 18 to 21, hardly qualifying as real-world “adults”. Committing horrific acts of violence at such a juvenile age is exceedingly alarming. While the perpetrators must take individual responsibility and be held accountable, we cannot ignore the uniquely American culture that breeds young shooters and how it came to be.
In response to increased gun violence, which makes near-weekly headlines, Democrats have been pushing for stricter gun reform: raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons or even outright banning assault weapons on the federal level. Though these solutions represent strong solutions to curb violence, such measures are unlikely to pass in Congress, given Republican opposition towards limiting access to firearms coupled with the current Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment. According to the court, the amendment protects the private right of individuals to bear arms for self-defense, unconnected with service in a militia. Most recently, the Supreme Court struck down a New York state law requiring applicants for a license to carry a gun outside of their homes to have a “proper cause,” stating that this law violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Just two days later, President Biden signed into law a bipartisan gun bill to prevent dangerous people from purchasing firearms, increase mental health investment, and bolster background checks for buyers between the ages of 18-21. Yet, the string of gun violence has continued to catch national attention. Fast forward a few weeks on July 4th, Robert Crimo opened fire in Highland Park, killing seven and wounding 30 people. So while the historic bill represents a solid push to mitigate gun violence, banning weapons on the federal level is simply not feasible. What can be done, however, is to understand gun violence through the lens of the perpetrator—not just the gun itself.
As a society, we cannot turn a blind eye to the alarming new pattern of shooters: young perpetrators who both follow and create social media content rooted in violence, that fosters nihilism and ultimately destruction. Moreover, shootings in the past few years are no longer limited to the familiar categories of white supremacists, radical Islamist, or anti-government militias that the public could neatly categorize. This new mold of young shooters—entrenched in a dark social media and isolated domain— raises a critical point: we ought to investigate the external factors that breed this culture of violence, especially among young men.
One narrative—commonly espoused by the right—attempts to explain the rise of gun violence by deferring to mental illnesses. Yet, people who suffer from mental illness account for a miniscule proportion of perpetrators of mass shootings, according to research by Dr. Ragy Girgis, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University. Perpetrators' psychologically desolate and dire circumstances are a better explanation of what drives them to pick up a gun and land their name on the next breaking news headline. Nonetheless, it is still worthwhile to note the correlation between external circumstances and mental illnesses, or the outside forces that can lead to internal turmoil. A study by the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College London concluded that those who experienced two or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), defined as any traumatic event between the ages of 0-17, were over two-times more likely to experience psychological distress, leading to a higher chance of violent or impulsive behavior.
18-year-old Gendron’s attack on a supermarket in a predominately-Black community in Buffalo was no doubt racially motivated and rooted in hatred. Months before the attack, Gendron wrote out extensive plans to kill Black people and admitted that his plans were espoused by the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which suggests that Democrats are bringing in more nonwhite immigrants into the U.S. to “replace” white Americans, in hopes of gaining more votes from the former group. Our society should acknowledge the inherently racist nature of Gendron’s thought process, and also acknowledge an additional twisted piece of the puzzle—his dark and isolated “internet life” that fueled his racism and hate towards Black people.
Gendron’s writings on Discord, a messaging platform, obtained by the Washington Post reveal an isolated teenager whose motivation behind the shooting was a cocktail of poor circumstances and psychological distress. No reporting has established that Gendron suffered from a formally diagnosed mental health disorder; yet, his various accounts of violence represent a strong indicator of his mental distress. One disturbing detail is when Gendron posted a photo of a decapitated and bloody cat on social media. In his “virtual diary”, he stated that he had found a feral cat attacking his own cat, and stabbed the feral cat with a knife and subsequently chopped its head off. In his own words, he states “Honestly right now I don’t feel anything about killing that cat…I literally just feel blank.” This and previous arguments with students portray him as someone who had few friends and found “refuge in hate,” according to Shawn Boburg from the Washington Post. In his isolated and numb life, Gendron submerged himself in reading anonymous messages on 4chan, an Internet message board where users celebrate racism and violence. Fast forward a few months, his relationship with his parents fell apart—he lied about attending classes at community college and instead, focused on preparing for the attack by producing an extensive 180-page document laying out his racist justifications for the shooting.
It is worth noting that Gendron, in his own words, did not consider himself a “true racist” until 2020, when he started immersing himself in the 4chan virtual space. He must be held accountable for his explicitly racist and unforgivable actions; yet, as a society we must also wonder how he entered this dark internet space. As David Brooks from the New York Times summarizes, one common thread among young shooters is that they are frequent “ghosts”, whose early childhood trauma leads to bullying, which leads to self-inflicted isolation, accumulating to a desolate circumstance.
Salvador Ramos descended into violence in a shockingly similar way, leading up to his mass murder in Uvalde. Though without racial motives, family and friends of Ramos describe him as growing up in a “troubled” life—he endured constant bullying for a speech impediment and as he got older started lashing out frequently and resorted to erratic behavior. According to Santon Valdez Jr., one of Ramos’s childhood friends, he recounts one time when Ramos pulled up to a park with cuts all over his face, shrugging off the concern and said that his cat had scratched him. Ramos later admitted that he used a knife and cut his face over and over again. While the motivation behind this behavior remains unclear, what is clear is the bullying he endured, which perhaps led to struggles with his mental health. As his stutter and strong lisp worsened in high school, another friend, Stephen Garcia, told the Post that he [Ramos] would “get bullied over social media, over gaming, over everything.” Similar to Gendron, Ramos soon took refuge socializing online on Yubo, an online “Tinder-style” platform for users to play games and chat. Here, he unleashed all his pent-up anger and channeled them into dangerous thoughts. Teenage users of Yubo claim that he threatened to commit sexual violence and school shootings, regularly. Amanda Robbins, 19, claimed Ramos verbally threatened to break down her door, rape and then murder her after she rejected his initial sexual advances. Another user by the name of Hannah reported that Ramos also threatened to shoot up her school, rape and then kill her and her mother during a livestream session. Hours before the attack, Ramos shot his grandmother and then proceeded to kill at least 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School. Yet, despite his horrendous history, Garcia described him as “the nicest kid, the most shy kid. He just needed to break out of his shell…”
The Highland Park shooter, Robert Crimo, has a history that is sadly analogous to the previous two, and it won’t be the last story of this kind to air. Crimo grew up in a home where his parents regularly called the police on each other. In school, classmates often saw Crimo roam the halls alone. In 2019, Crimo “attempted to commit suicide with a machete,” according to police officers responding to a call from his home. A few months later, police were called back after Crimo threatened to “kill everyone.” With his troubled childhood, he eventually fell into a spiral of despair. Ethan Absler, a former classmate of Crimo, described him as “reserved and mysterious” and acting “in his own world.” Unsurprisingly, Crimo’s isolated lifestyle led him to create his own virtual world on Discord and Documenting Reality, where he constantly shared violent pictures and videos of people dying.
These three shooters, among various others, all bathed in a withdrawn and remote world where they were unrecognized and undesired by society. They are “mysterious” and “odd”. They stutter or they are always the ones staring at their phone alone at the lunch table. These young men often struggle with social skills. Their circumstances lead to the honest question of “why doesn't anybody like me?”, “what is wrong with me?”. The stressors accumulate and many shooters consider suicide. Reaching an identity crisis, perpetrators start to question “Is this life my fault or the world’s fault?” As David Brooks elegantly puts, “Victimhood turns into villainy…they [shooters] craft a narrative in which they are the hero. The world is evil and they will stand up to the world.” In Gendron’s eyes, he is the hero of white Americans being “replaced”. In Ramos and Crimo’s eyes, they are seeking revenge on those who bullied them.
Understanding the basis of these perpetrators' psyche, though tough to empathize with, may be one feasible solution to combat gun violence. Other solutions could entail increasing spending on mental health services—currently in the U.S., only 5% of healthcare spending goes to mental health treatment. Moreover, over 5.4 million public school students attend districts with no school counselors. Increasing this number could help catch mental health red flags and provide aid to potentially dangerous students, such as Ramos and Crimo, struggling from bullying, family troubles, and other circumstances. Finally, implementing stricter social media regulation and actually following through on reported comments could help catch perpetrators before the tragedy happens. Legislation introduced by Senator Anna. M Kaplan (D-North Hills) is aimed at addressing the proliferation of hate on social media, which “helped radicalize'' the Buffalo shooter to commit the racist shooting.
These young assailants' circumstances, and possible mental health issues, is in no way a justification for the horrific acts of violence they commit. While an immensely difficult pill to swallow, offering a potential perpetrator empathy and support while they are still receptive to it may be all that’s needed to get them to put down their weapon. Instead of pushing these struggling and perhaps violent men out, let’s do what may be hardest to do when confronted with these troubled young men: bring them in and offer them a slice of compassion they have never tasted before.
Evelyn Yu (CC '25) is a Columnist Writer at CPR with a focus on U.S.-China relations and also serves as a Junior Editor. A political science-psychology major, Evelyn is also involved with the Columbia University Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) club, Columbia University Red Cross and dances with the Columbia University Ballet Ensemble (CUBE). Between her academic and club commitments, she can be found exploring new coffee shops and lounging on the steps with friends.