Columbine used to represent the horrible tragedies of mass shootings. “Remember Columbine,” one could say to another, and people would nod and drop their gaze, thinking of students rushing out of that school building and the anguish on their faces.  However, now the shootings have reached Tucson, Newtown, the Navy Yard, the Los Angeles Airport and in other countries such as Pakistan and Kenya.  There have been countless shootings over the past few decades, causing our generation to view them as typical, inevitable occurrences.  Social media does not miss a beat when a new tragedy happens and the excessive coverage of these stories is numbing society and influencing potential mass killers.  Due to rising numbers of shootings, individuals may begin to think twice before going out to a simple movie or traveling through an airport.

For much of the 20th century, there were, on average, a handful of mass killings each decade.  According to a recent Mother Jones survey, in the U.S. alone, there have been at least 62 mass shootings in the past three decades, with 24 in the last seven years.  That number spiked in 1980, and continued to rise thereafter.  After six mass shootings during his term in office, President Obama stated that he is worried Americans are coming to believe that death at the hands of mass shooters is a fact of life.  Families and friends across the nation constantly grieve for their losses and anti-gun rallies and talk of the latest shootings are becoming routine.  Tragic mass shootings have become the norm.

“Gun de-sensitivity is slowly becoming more normal because the media attracts the wrong kind of attention to the shooters,” said senior Sarah Smith.  “People are beginning to not take shootings so seriously anymore.”

The idea that one violent rampage might inspire another has given rise to plenty of articles and debates on whether the press should be more conscientious regarding its style of reporting.  Individuals are becoming too accustomed to these news reports as they are slowly becoming standard.  Also, giving a murderer excessive publicity makes him or her too famous in the eyes of the viewers.  According to social scientist David Phillips, highly publicized stories of deviant and dangerous behavior influences copycat incidents.  Starting a news cast with sirens blaring, sharing photographs of the killer, naming the killer as some kind of infamous villain and running the story 24/7 will only encourage future mass murderers who crave attention.  The media overly exploits these killers, no matter how negative the publicity.

These constant mass killings are starting to make people think twice about going out in public.  No one expected a shooter to strike in a movie theater or the Boston marathon, but they did.  There is no limit as to where and when these shootings can strike.  The tragedies are putting people on edge in some of the most cheerful places, which is corrupting individuals’ views on whether they are safe or not.

There are several causes to these frequent mass murders and many place the primary blame on the accessibility of guns.  There is no doubt that guns are the weapons of choice for these mass murderers.  However, in many parts of our nation, guns are always readily available without the issue of mass shootings.  In the 19th century, there were standards that guided how violence was depicted in the media.  There was no excessive media coverage and as a result, mass killings were not presented in a way that would inspire imitation.  Unfortunately, due to the distortion of media and regularity of mass killings, populations are accustomed to the new “norm” which is a country full of attention-craving killers that are influenced by the easy access to weapons and lack of personal acceptance.