Expert: Lack of Research Funding Hurts Targeting Likely Mass Shooters
Despite a continuing string of mass shootings in the U.S., a University of Michigan expert says too little research has been done in identifying just who might commit such an act. The reason? Too little money to pay for the research.
The mass shooting this week in California marks more than 300 times four or more people have been killed by gunfire in the U.S. this year.
That’s almost one mass shooting every day.
The Director of the University of Michigan Injury Center, Dr. Rebecca Cunningham, has spent two decades studying how to prevent such violence.
But Cunningham says a lack of funding to help examine the issue has made it difficult to specifically pinpoint the factors that could create a potential mass killer.
“We don’t know the best way yet to identify folks,” Cunningham says, “Because there’s been virtually no research in this field for 20 years.”
Cunningham says there are certain signs that someone might be likely to become violent, however.
She talked about it with WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter.
