This study examined the 15 deadliest public mass shootings in the United States from March 1998 to February 2018 to assess (a) leakage of violent thoughts/intent, (b) leakage of specific interest in mass killing, (c) concerning behaviors reported to law enforcement, (d) concerning interest in homicide reported to law enforcement, and (e) firearms acquisition. We then compared our findings on the deadliest public mass shooters with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) findings on active shooters in general. Overall, the results suggest that most incidents were indeed preventable based on information known about offenders in advance, and that the deadliest mass shooters exhibited more warning signs and were more often reported to law enforcement than other active shooters. Future prevention efforts should aim to educate, encourage, and pressure the public to report warning signs to law enforcement, educate and train law enforcement so that they can more effectively investigate potential threats, and limit firearms access for people who have admitted having homicidal or suicidal thoughts or being interested in committing a mass shooting. These relatively straightforward steps could significantly reduce the prevalence of future attacks.

中文翻译：

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最致命的大规模枪击事件是否可以预防？在美国发生袭击之前，对泄漏情况、向执法部门报告的信息和枪支采购情况的评估

本研究调查了 1998 年 3 月至 2018 年 2 月美国发生的 15 起最致命的公共大规模枪击事件，以评估 (a) 暴力思想/意图的泄露，(b) 对大规模杀戮的特定兴趣的泄露，(c) 涉及向法律报告的行为执法，(d) 关于向执法部门报告的凶杀案的利益，以及 (e) 枪支获取。然后，我们将我们对最致命的公共大规模射手的调查结果与联邦调查局 (FBI) 对一般活跃射手的调查结果进行了比较。总体而言，结果表明，根据事先了解的犯罪者信息，大多数事件确实是可以预防的，而且最致命的大规模射手表现出更多的警告信号，并且比其他活跃的射手更频繁地向执法部门报告。未来的预防工作应旨在教育、鼓励、并迫使公众向执法部门报告警告标志，教育和培训执法部门，以便他们能够更有效地调查潜在威胁，并限制承认有杀人或自杀念头或有兴趣进行大规模枪击的人获得枪支。这些相对简单的步骤可以显着减少未来攻击的流行。