Giving Compass' Take:

• In this story from Business Insider, author Ellen Cranley discusses some of the most frequently proposed strategies to end mass shootings in America.

• Which strategies should we focus on first?

• To learn about the debate over combing through students' social media accounts to identify possible security threats, click here.


The US makes up less than 5% of the world's population but has 31% of the world's mass shooters.

Though mass shootings comprise a small amount of the country's overall gun violence, they have become a target for politicians and interest groups who seek to prevent the multiple deaths of people often targeted at random.

Here are [some] of the most talked-about strategies that have been floated to stop mass shootings, and how likely they are to work.

Funding CDC research into gun violence

Would it work? It depends.

Organizations including American Public Health Association and the American Medical Association have begun characterizing gun violence as a public-health problem to emphasize the research's critical role in developing data on gun ownership and violence that could be used to inform policies that would cut down on gun violence and mass shootings.

In 1996, congressional Republicans passed the Dickey amendment to pressure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention away from conducting public health research on gun violence ... the US spends less money researching gun violence than it does on almost any other leading cause of death.

Universal background checks

Would it work? Likely.

Research shows states that require background checks on all gun sales had 35% fewer gun deaths per capita between 2009 and 2012 and research from the nonpartisan Rand Corporation estimates universal background checks could prevent 1,100 homicides per year.

Having students, faculty, and staff report potential threats

Would it work? Likely.

Having faculty, staff, and students tuned into the school climate and report alarming behaviors that allude to a student's potential desire to commit a violent attack would nurture a school's social and emotional environment and contribute to preventing mass shootings.

Read the full article about how to stop shootings by Ellen Cranley at Business Insider.