Time to Bear Arms: An Exploration of Time Suspensions Between Lone Mass Shooting Attacks in the US and When the Perpetrator Acquired Their Weapons

By Thomas James Vaughan Williams, Calli Tzani & Maria Ioannou

There has been a noticeable rise in the number of mass shootings occurring in the US over the last decade with these attacks often being committed by a lone actor. This article aims to explore this, focusing on the time suspension between when the lone actor acquires their firearm and when they commit their attack. The cases involved all occurred in the US and all perpetrators obtained their firearms legally. The results found that, on average, lone actors obtained their firearms 54 days before they committed their mass shooting. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed in detail.

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1–9