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Astor on Suicidal Thoughts, Gun Violence

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A Houston Chronicle story on a woman who used an assault rifle to open fire at a Texas megachurch cited Ron Avi Astor, professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin. The woman, who had a history of mental health struggles, was killed in an exchange of fire with security officers. There were no other fatalities. Suicidal thoughts are not uncommon among those who perpetrate mass shootings, Astor said. “These are really suicides, too. These are not just homicides.” In addition, a High School Insider article shared research by Astor that offered an encouraging counterpoint. In California, day-to-day danger on school campuses declined significantly between 2001 and 2019, according to the study published in the World Journal of Pediatrics.

Read the Houston Chronicle story
Read the High School Insider story

 

Local Laws Limiting Gun Sales Fall Short

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A Los Angeles Times story on the limited impact of regulations restricting where and how firearm dealers are allowed to operate cited Jorja Leap of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare. There is little evidence that barring firearm retailers from certain neighborhoods or requiring them to install video cameras will significantly drive down gun violence. The newspaper cited research showing that only large-scale changes in the number of firearms dealers across multiple neighboring counties had a meaningful impact on local gun homicides. Leap explained that generations of racist economic policies and inequitable social structures correspond to higher rates of gun crime in certain areas. “People are poor. People don’t have resources. They don’t have mental health services,” Leap said. “A 12-year-old has lost a parent, or parents have walked out. He doesn’t go to therapy to deal with his feelings of anxiety and depression. He gets a gun.”

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When Gun Violence Erupts, Social Workers Are First Responders, Advocates and Educators

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UCLA Luskin’s Ron Avi Astor spoke to Social Work Advocates for an article on the role of social workers when gun violence erupts on America’s streets and in schools, churches and homes. Social workers are both first responders and providers of continuing care. They also conduct research, lobby Congress and promote education on the responsible use of firearms. Astor, professor of social welfare and education, shared his research on strategies to prevent school shootings, including a study on the effectiveness of interventions implemented in California. “To our surprise, the numbers showed that there was a dramatic reduction, a huge, huge reduction in day-to-day victimization of kids in California over this 20-year period,” Astor said. “That’s an important story to get out there. What social workers are doing actually matters to kids in their day-to-day lives.”

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Crenshaw High Athlete’s Death Is Another Trauma for Black Youths in L.A., Leap Says

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The killing of Quincy Reese Jr., 16, illustrates the trauma too often left in the wake of bloodshed, UCLA Luskin Social Welfare’s Jorja Leap told the Los Angeles Times. “Black children are exposed to an epidemic of violence,” she said. Death by firearms occurs among Black children and adolescents in L.A. County at a rate that is three times higher than their proportion of the population, according to the Department of Public Health’s Office of Violence Prevention. Such violence is also devastating for survivors such as those who attended the party where the Crenshaw High athlete was killed, Leap said, and mourning the loss of a friend or loved one stays with children for the rest of their lives.

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Interpreting U.S. Gun Culture for an International Audience

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International news outlets seeking insights into U.S. gun culture and the fallout for the nation’s educational system have called on Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor, an authority on school violence and student well-being. A special report by Beijing News included an extended video interview with Astor, who explained the prominent role of firearms in U.S. history, as well as recent trends and legislation. In a story in Britain’s Guardian about bulletproof steel shelters designed for classrooms, Astor noted that making schools more fortress-like can backfire, turning schools into places of fear that feed the school-to-prison pipeline. He instead called for developing programs that build connections between children and their schools, “so that every teacher knows a little bit about every child’s emotional life and a little bit about their parents.” These programs reduce the incidence of students bringing weapons to school, Astor’s research has found.

Watch the Beijing News interview
Read the Guardian article

 

Astor on New York’s Efforts to Combat Gun Violence

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Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor spoke to the New York Times for a story about the large volume of guns, both legal and illegal, in New York state. Police determined that 13 guns were used in a shootout that killed a college basketball star and wounded eight others at a Harlem community barbecue in June. The article noted that New York is bracing for a surge in gun ownership after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a law that made it difficult to own or carry a handgun legally. “It kind of leaves the police with fewer strategies,” Astor said. In addition to determining whether someone is carrying a gun, officers will have to ascertain whether or not that weapon is legal. New York City’s police commissioner said gun arrests are at a 27-year high up to this point in the year.

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Understanding Male Suicide

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Big Think showcased a new study of men, suicide and mental health authored by Social Welfare Professor Mark Kaplan and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study tracked recent suicide deaths among U.S. males age 10 and older and found that 60% of the victims had no documented mental health conditions. In many cases, alcohol and firearms were significant factors, the researchers determined. While it’s likely that some of the males without known mental health issues were concealing struggles, the study also suggested that men tend to be more impulsive than women. “Greater investment and focus on mental health is undeniably needed in the U.S., but to make a dent in the tragic number of American male suicides, reducing firearm access, advocating responsible alcohol use, lowering poverty, and teaching males healthy coping methods to deal with acutely stressful situations might save a lot more lives,” the article said.

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Astor Cautions Against ‘Making Schools Into Little Prisons’

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Social Welfare Professor Ron Avi Astor spoke about competing approaches to curbing gun violence in an extended interview on the Slate podcast “What Next.” Astor cautioned against plans that would “make schools into little prisons” with metal detectors, steel doors, armed teachers and other strategies to “harden” campuses, which can deepen students’ anxiety, according to research. He called for vigilance to detect a constellation of risk factors displayed by potential school shooters, including suicidal thoughts, a hunger for attention and an extreme obsession with firearms, prior shooters and conspiracy theories that focus on harming others. Several other media outlets have also called on Astor to share his expertise on the most effective strategies to create a safe campus environment; current legislation to curb gun violence; and an eight-point call to action put forth by a nationwide coalition of scholars. They include Time, ABC News, the New York Times, EdWeek and K-12 Dive.

Listen to the Slate podcast

 

Science, Health Leaders Unite Around National Firearm Policy Reforms

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A nationwide coalition of more than 1,200 leaders in science and health, including more than 450 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, has submitted a letter urging the United States Senate to rapidly pass legislation advancing evidence-based approaches to reduce the toll of gun violence in America. The coalition, with Jody Heymann of the Fielding School of Public Health and UCLA Luskin Public Policy serving as lead author, calls for reforms in four key policy areas:

  • prohibiting people who have committed violent crimes or have domestic violence restraining orders from purchasing firearms;
  • adopting child access prevention and safe gun storage laws, which studies show would reduce gun suicides and unintentional gun deaths among children and youths;
  • requiring firearm licensing and training requirements, especially for people obtaining guns for the first time;
  • taking action on large-capacity magazines as a way to significantly lower deaths in mass shootings.

Among the letter’s signatories are researchers from every region of the country, including college presidents and university deans. The health and science leaders also commend the recent bipartisan deal in Congress on a set of reforms that would begin to make progress in some areas. Heymann is a distinguished professor of health policy and management, public policy, and medicine and a former dean at the Fielding School. “Each of these recommendations has been studied through research comparing the experiences of states with and without certain laws over time—and the evidence is clear they work,” she said.

 

Message From the Dean: Grappling With the Tragedy in Buffalo Some thoughts in the aftermath of a mass shooting in which Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, were targeted

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To the Luskin Community:

Let me echo the Chancellor’s comments in this BruinPost regarding the events in Buffalo. More than a dozen people shot, 10 killed, in another explicitly racist attack by a gunman intent on killing African Americans. And let me augment the chancellor’s remarks by reminding us all that just three days earlier, in Dallas’ Koreatown, three Asian women were injured in a mass shooting that is now ruled part of a string of anti-Asian hate attacks on Asian-run businesses across Dallas, and a growing record of anti-Asian hate up more than 300% in the last year.

These attacks occur at the intersection of two of America’s most grievous plagues — the ongoing scar of racism in too many forms to count, and the seemingly endless capacity for gun violence. I am angry. Perhaps you are too. I am angry because neither of these struggles is occurring by chance, in a social vacuum, emerging un-prompted from other social phenomena. Rather, these emerge from explicit ideologies of white supremacy and entitlement to the means of deadly force which are promoted — previously with a wink and a nod and increasingly with shameless embrace — by political forces who think they can manipulate these evils to their own political gain.

I will not stay silent in these moments. The parroting of racist conspiracy theories by elected officials inspire, encourage, and provide emotional justification for the evil and the disturbed in our society to carry out these attacks. They are not isolated social phenomena and we should never treat them as such.

I do not have the right words of comfort here, other than to remind you that there are services available on campus (see links in the Chancellor’s message) for those of you grappling with these events. And I want you to take comfort in each other in knowing that the forces of light — those of us who would resist, battle, engage the forces of divisiveness and hate — are stronger. The good outweighs the bad, those motivated to peace and coexistence have right on our side. Our work at Luskin is explicitly dedicated to empowering those with solutions and stopping those interested only in destruction and nursing their resentments. Meet violence with determination for change. Speak out. Shout out. Work harder to create justice.

In solidarity and sadness,

— Gary

Gary M. Segura
Professor and Dean