Episodes
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Paper: Mental health consequences of exposure to mass and non-mass shootings in a national sample of US adults (Nature)
Guests: Dr. Jillian Peterson, forensic psychologist, professor at Hamline University, and executive director of The Violence Prevention Project Research Center and Dr. James Densley, criminal justice department chair at Metropolitan State University and co-founder of The Violence Prevention Project.
Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
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Article: Columbine's 'MONSTERS next door' and cultural rituals of school shootings
Guest: Georgetown University professor Rev. Dr. Ed Ingebretsen, an expert in monsters, cultural studies, and the author of At Stake: Monsters and the Rhetoric of Fear in Public Culture.
Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Each of these four elements plays out in the social discourse following a school shooting:
* The monster comes from some distant place that is separate from civil or mainstream society like the trench coat mafia, goth kids, mentally ill, loners, outcasts, and transgender.
* The monster destroys the things a culture covets like innocent women and children inside a school.
* The monster must die for cultural stability to return as police train to kill a teenage assailant, minors are sentenced to life in prison without parole, and politicians call for the death penalty for juvenile assailants.
* The monster’s death cannot be my fault because even when families, communities, and institutions fail to protect vulnerable children who then turn their severe trauma into an act of mass violence, it’s rare for anyone beyond the young teens to be held accountable.
Reference:
Monster Culture (Seven Theses) - Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
At Stake: Monsters and the Rhetoric of Fear in Public Culture - Rev. Dr. Edward J. Ingebretsen
Monster-Making: A Politics of Persuasion - Rev. Dr. Edward J. Ingebretsen
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
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Episodes manquant?
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Dr. Jens Ludwig, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, codirector of the Education Lab, and codirector of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s working group on the economics of crime. The Crime Lab was the recipient of a $1 million MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
In 2007, economist Jens Ludwig moved to the South Side of Chicago to research two big questions:
* Why does gun violence happen?
* Is there anything we can do about it?
Disproving the popular narrative that shootings are the calculated acts of malicious or desperate people, Ludwig shows how most shootings actually grow out of a more fleeting source: interpersonal conflicts, especially arguments that escalate into shootings.
Progress on gun violence doesn’t require America to solve every other social problem first; it only requires that we find ways to intervene in the places and the ten-minute windows where human behaviors predictably go haywire.
Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Jeff Asher is a nationally recognized expert in evaluating criminal justice data. Before launching AH Datalytics, Jeff worked as an analyst for the CIA, as a crime analyst with the New Orleans Police Department, and at FiveThirtyEight. Jeff also publishes weekly articles on Substack.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Anne Nassauer, Professor of Sociology, Universität Erfurt, Germany
Paper: The Interactional Pathways of Mass Killings: Toward a Novel Understanding of Rampage School Shootings
Key points:
* Prior papers and books on school shootings tend to cite the same 5-10 high profile cases (e.g., Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde). This paper is based on 83 cases since the 1960s.
* Most “rampage” school shooters kill 0 or 1 victim. 40% kill zero victims.
* 98% of victims were shot in the back while running away, shot while hiding behind or under desks/tables, appeared as silhouettes in dark classrooms or smoky hallways, were shot from a long distance (e.g., sniper), or were struck by bullets that went through walls and doors (e.g., Parkland, Uvalde, CVPA High).
* Only 2% of victims were shot face-to-face and school shooters often surrender or stop shooting when they are directly confronted or surprised by anyone (e.g., other students, staff, police).
* Five school shootings account for 45% of all victims killed. Current lockdown and response policies are based on a very small percentage of cases.
* Lockdown procedures (e.g., turning off the lights, moving to a corner of the classroom, positioning behind desks, and hiding faces from the shooter) puts victims into the optimal situation for rampage school shooters to kill the maximum number of victims.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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I was a guest on the Coptimizer Podcast with retired police chief Patrick Flannelly.
We talked about:
* Systemic flaws with the incident command system (ICS) during mass shootings like Las Vegas Harvest Festival and Uvalde
* School lockdowns versus evacuating
* Increased risk from arming teachers and private security
* Lost guns and accidental/negligent discharges
* Warning signs of violence and how to prevent school shootings
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Dr. Albert Spiegel is the Assistant Principal for a regional Catholic high school in New Jersey. His dissertation focused on secondary Catholic school teachers’ sources of self-efficacy regarding active shooter incidents. Dr. Spiegel has been an emergency medical technician (EMT) for over 20 years and is an adjunct professor at Saint Peter’s University teaching courses in school administration and teacher preparation.
Dissertation: A Qualitative Study to Determine Teacher Self-Efficacy in Active Shooter Incidents in One Catholic Secondary School
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Josh Novick is a licensed professional counselor, trauma specialist, founder of Trust and Grow Consulting and volunteer for Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence.
Josh’s journey began as a social studies educator at an alternative high school operating within Malcolm X College in Chicago. There, he witnessed firsthand the profound impact of trauma, particularly gun violence, on BIPOC teenagers. This experience sparked his commitment to understanding and mitigating the effects of trauma on young people.
In July 2022, following the Highland Park Fourth of July Parade shooting, Josh co-led the emergency response center at Highland Park High School. He recruited and organized over 600 volunteer therapists, providing orientation and therapeutic guidance during a five-day operation. As part of the Recovery Team, he collaborated with stakeholders to support the community’s healing and to develop long-term resiliency programming.
Other Episode Referenced: Ep 29. Gun violence exposure on walkable routes to and from school on the south side of Chicago where students are heavily dependent on public transit and walking.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Ben Kovacs, BJJ black belt and founder of Guardian.
Website: Guardian, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is committed to providing free jiu jitsu scholarships to underserved kids around the world including Ethiopia, Peru, Mexico, Mongolia, and in US cities like Baltimore, Oakland, and LA.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Active Shooter: When you can’t run, can’t hide, and can’t fight (November 6, 2017 on Medium before I started this Substack)
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database
Guest: Dr. Matthew Kraft, Associate Prof. of Education & Economics, Brown University
* Website: www.matthewakraft.com
* Twitter: @MatthewAKraft
* BlueSky: @matthewakraft.bsky.social
Report: The Cumulative Costs of Gun Violence on Students and Schools (January 15, 2025 - The White House archive)
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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The Off the Mats Podcast is hosted by Jake Dante, a jiu jitsu practitioner in Maryland and all around regular guy. On the show, various topics are discussed ranging from training to dealing with injury and mental health as it relates to martial arts.
Episode 246: School Safety and Self-Defense (uncut 90 minute interview)
This week on the podcast, I welcome David Riedman, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt and the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, a critical tool in understanding and addressing school gun violence in the United States. David shares his journey in BJJ and how the discipline has shaped his approach to defensive training for educators. We dive into what measures should be taken to protect students in school and whether or not to arm teachers, practical applications of BJJ in real-world situations, and the invaluable lessons martial arts bring to high-stakes environments. This episode offers a unique blend of martial arts philosophy and actionable insights into pressing societal issues.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports at k12ssdb.substack.com/subscribe -
Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database
Guest: Dr. Beth J Sanborn, President of the Pennsylvania School Resource Officers Association
Website: bethjsanborn.com
Book: The Missing Piece
Report: Measuring the Strategic Fit of the School Resource Officer with Law Enforcement (Leaders), the Education System, the Community and Other Interested Parties
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports at k12ssdb.substack.com/subscribe -
Children heading to and from school in Englewood, on the south side of Chicago, are heavily dependent on public transit and walking, because about half of residents live in households without vehicular access. Those walking routes are through violence-prone areas.
The study was published in November in SSM - Population Health, the online, peer-reviewed journal. Researcher Gia Barboza-Salerno led the study, working alongside Sharefa Duhaney and Hexin Yang, all from the College of Public Health at Ohio State University in Columbus.
Paper: Spatial accessibility to gun violence exposure on walkable routes to and from school
* Analyzed exposure to gun violence on walkable street networks near schools using computational spatial methods.
* Gun violence clusters along streets near schools, including designated "safe passage" routes.
* During the afternoon commute, an average of 18.06 gunshots are within reach of a 15-min walk.
* About 40% and 62% of schools had at least one gunshot within 400 meters during the morning and afternoon commute.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database
Guest: Monic Behnken, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University
Article: Why School Police May Not Be the Most Effective Way to Prevent Violence
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports at k12ssdb.substack.com/subscribe -
Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Dr. Marc Gorelick, Pediatrician & President and CEO at Children's Minnesota.
Book: Saving our Kids: An ER Doc’s Common-Sense Solution to the Gun Crisis.
Blog: Progressive Pediatrics.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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School shooting researcher: Women shooters are 'rare’
David Riedman joins Megan Lynch on KMOX News Radio following the school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Dr. Tahir Rahman, associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Reference:
* Prior podcast: Ep 16. Can psychologists treat school shootings the same way as eating disorders?
Dr. Tahir Rahman M.D. explains why extreme overvalued beliefs--not severe mental illness--drive school shooters to commit violence.
* Psychology Today: Shifting the American Relationship With Firearms
* Book: Extreme Overvalued Beliefs: Clinical and Forensic Psychiatric Dimensions
* Forensic Psychology: School Shooters: Recognizing Extreme Overvalued Beliefs
* Psychology Today: A Warning Lesson From Lee Harvey Oswald’s Wedding Ring
Guns with inscriptions are symbols of violent ideology rather than tools for utility. School shooters and mass shooters frequently write messages on their weapons. A fixation on guns as a symbol of identity and power is a red flag for mass violence.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guest: Dr. Daniel Semenza is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University and the Director of Interpersonal Violence Research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers on issues of gun violence, victimization, and health disparities and his research has been featured in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Scientific American, The Trace, Prevention Magazine, PBS, and NPR.
Links to topics in the show:
* CBS News: Inside the $3 billion school security industry as deadly shootings continue
* What is school security?
* Abundant Life Christian School Shooting: Interview on WORT in Madison, WI
* Six common factors in the school shooting at Abundant Life Christian
* I study school shootings. Here’s what AI can — and can’t — do to stop them
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, joins WORT 89.9fm (Madison, WI) afternoon radio show A Public Affair hosted by Sara Gabler.
This interviews follows the December 16th school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Riedman joins Gabler to discuss this shooting in context of the 323 school shootings that have happened so far this year. They unpack what the data tells us about these tragedies, the importance of recognizing warning signs, and policies needed to prevent future school shootings.
Image posted by the shooter’s father that was discussed during the interview:
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Get full access to School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports at k12ssdb.substack.com/subscribe - Montre plus
