In their extensive review of school-associated violent deaths in the United States, Dr Anderson and colleagues identify certain aspects of violent incidents that could help guide prevention efforts. They point out that more than half of all incidents were preceded by some sort of signal prior to the event and that most of the violence occurred during transition times in the school day. The detailed descriptions of the perpetrator and environmental variables are also significant. However, the study lacks a similarly detailed discussion of the agent of weapon. While 69% of the homicides and 90%of the suicides involved a firearm, the only firearm information provided is a separate description of handgun and long-gun deaths. Is information on the lethality of the agent (eg, semiautomatic weapon, ammunition, magazine capacity) and how the agent entered the environment (eg, weapon access and concealment) available? If so, this could have important implications for prevention....
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0098-7484 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.8.983 ID - ref1 ER -