What Are We Talking About? Definitional Confusion Within Active and Mass Shooting Research

Abstract

Mass shootings and active shooter events have become a more prominent focus for practitioners, researchers, and the mass media. Unfortunately, there tends to be confusion regarding distinguishing characteristics of these events. This manuscript seeks to provide definitions and examples of cases to better formalize the understanding of such events. The terms selected for discussion are, at times, used inarguably when in fact they are markedly different. After discussing these various definitions, examples of existing datasets are provided along with their inclusion criteria. This transparency helps highlight confusion about these definitions as well as provide readers access to currently available data.