mass shootings
A descriptive term, not a Danish legal category, for shootings of several people
A mass shooting is an incident in which one or more perpetrators shoot at several people in a single continuous course of events — most often in public places such as schools, nightclubs, workplaces or streets. The concept is not defined as a separate criminal-law category in Danish legislation, but is used as a descriptive term in the media, in research and in criminology to characterise the nature and scale of such incidents.
In criminological and journalistic usage the term covers a broad range of events: school shootings, terrorist attacks carried out with firearms, mass killings at public gathering places, and targeted attacks against specific groups. What they have in common is that a significant number of people are struck by gunfire in the same incident, and that the shooting takes place in a space normally regarded as safe or open to the public.
American research and case law have attempted to establish quantitative thresholds — for example that at least three or four victims must be killed or injured for an incident to be classified as a mass shooting — but no universal, legally binding definition exists. In a Danish context, such acts are typically dealt with under existing criminal provisions on homicide, attempted homicide and terrorism, depending on the circumstances.
Analytically, mass shootings differ from serial killings in that all victims are struck in one incident rather than in separate, distinct acts over time. The perpetrator usually acts openly and without attempting to conceal himself during the attack itself, which distinguishes this type of incident from, for instance, assassination. Motives vary widely: from ideologically or religiously motivated terrorism to personal grievances, mental illness or a desire for fame.
Research into mass shootings increasingly focuses on prevention, including early identification of behavioural patterns in potential perpetrators, social and psychological risk factors, and the role of the media in the so-called contagion effect, where coverage of one attack can inspire imitators.
