OUT OF CONTROL
the pattern of gun violence in the U.S.
COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO HALF MOON BAY SHOOTINGS
Kiana Hinkson
Chunli Zhao killed seven people on Jan. 23, forcing the Half Moon Bay community to confront both systematic and individual issues.
The nature of the crime made community confrontation uniquely difficult because Zhao both had a record of violence, and a legally obtained semiautomatic weapon.
Zhao first abused his right to this weapon by taking four lives at Mountain Mushroom Farm. He then drove approximately two miles to a trucking facility where he shot and killed three others.
While these shootings were occurring at 2:22 p.m., Half Moon Bay High School students were settling in their seats in the starting minutes of seventh period completely unaware of the threat despite being a four minute drive away– a reality which community members readily confronted.
In an Instagram statement by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office, the office admitted to their fault because of community pressure.
“We initially focused on finding the armed suspect while we also searched crime scenes for additional victims,” they wrote. “However, as we have had the opportunity to review our response, we recognize that we should have notified the schools in the area immediately and put schools into a Secure Campus status.”
In addition to pressuring the authorities for reform, community members also financially supported the victims for relief. The collective GoFundMe foundations for those impacted by the shooting raised over $350,000 through donations.
Regular community members always have potential for impact through actions like donating to these foundations or calling out important mistakes. Still, the randomness and regularity of this threat creates a predicament in how one can feel in control of their livelihood while simultaneously processing the despair and permanence of mass shootings.
STUDENTS SPEAK UP
Audio stories by Annabel Chia
CARLMONT STUDENTS SUPPORT VICTIMS OF LOCAL SHOOTINGS
Audrey Burnley
After recent mass shootings, students share their opinions on what they think the world can do to prevent it. At Carlmont High School, some students organized an event where they shared resources on how to combat gun violence.
NUMB TO A MURDEROUS RHYTHM
How repeated exposure to mass shootings affects Americans’ mental health and inaction towards change.
A gunman seeks out a dance studio in Monterey Park. Another kills seven farmworkers in Half Moon Bay. A 6-year-old boy brings a gun to school.
The bullets reach a bus, a basketball game, a university.
The phone vibrates with another news alert. Another shooting. Another life lost.
Almost every day, the Gun Violence Archive adds another location to its list of mass shootings in the United States. According to this record, the country has seen more mass shootings than days in 2023.
But the world keeps spinning, and affected communities heal and move on, even as the gun is still smoking.
As the nation grows accustomed to this murderous rhythm, few are surprised to see the words “mass shooting” in a news headline; their presence has become an expectation.
“Once you see it a lot in the news, you just get used to it and start to think it’s a normal occurrence. And in the beginning, many people want to take action to make a difference. But after you hear about shootings a lot, the cause feels hopeless and out of our control,” said Sydney Niles, a junior at Carlmont.
With time, “hopeless” has faded to “numb.” Like Niles, many have described a struggle to engage with the issue, finding it difficult to feel the emotions that a mass shooting should seemingly provoke.
Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as “desensitization” or “psychic numbing,” whereas anti-gun activists cite it as a cause of inaction. Regardless of the label, the sentiment is widespread and has considerable implications for Americans’ mental health and the fight for change.
​
​
Written by Gabrielle Shore with graphics by Annabel Chia
"Once you see it a lot in the news, you just get used to it and start to think it’s a normal occurrence. And in the beginning, many people want to take action to make a difference. But after you hear about shootings a lot, the cause feels hopeless and out of our control.”
- Sydney Niles
A Psychological Perspective
Desensitization is difficult to measure from a psychological perspective because of the ever-changing state of mass shootings in the U.S. and the increasingly instantaneous media coverage that follows these incidents.
According to Kayley Estes, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, who studies the aftermath of mass violence events, “everything, especially technology, moves really fast, so right now, science doesn’t have all the answers.”
However, there is evidence that indicates some level of desensitization to gun violence among Americans and points to the consequences of this phenomenon.
Dr. Beverly Kingston from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado, Boulder, observed that the numbness people have come to experience when they hear about a mass shooting can negatively affect their mental health.
She described how people do not have time to process one mass shooting before the next occurs, perpetuating a pattern that becomes more severe with time.
“If we don't deal with those unprocessed feelings, they cut people off from the essence of their lives, and it really needs to get dealt with for us to have a healthy-functioning society,” Kingston said.
Kingston attributed much of this trend to media coverage of gun violence.
“If you follow the news, and you're just looking at the headlines, it doesn't seem like there's a lot to be done. Things can seem really stuck, even hopeless,” Kingston said.
Similarly, Estes found in her research that “it’s the repetition of seeing this content that causes these feelings.”
However, some of Estes’ findings contrast Kingston’s, presenting a divide in the scientific community over the extent to which Americans are desensitized to gun violence. In Estes’ sample, people generally still had strong responses to instances of mass violence.
“Sometimes, it’s the opposite of desensitization,” Estes said. “They’re incredibly tired, but they're still emotionally impacted by these tragic events.”
According to Estes and Kingston, this disagreement highlights an area for further research, but their overarching conclusions concur that mass shootings elicit vastly diverse reactions among different people, with numbness being a common theme among some.
​
When the Bullets Hit Close to Home
For many members of the Bay Area community, the mass shooting in the sleepy beach town of Half Moon Bay on Jan. 23 prompted a unique response.
Although it was the 37th mass shooting of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the incident’s proximity left a deeper imprint in the hearts and minds of people in the area.
“You hear about mass shootings all over the U.S., but when it's near a place where you go a lot, it's so much more shocking and painful,” said Paige Crowther, a sophomore at Carlmont.
​
In the social media posts that followed the Half Moon Bay shooting, many expressed similar sentiments; messages such as “beyond tragic” and “we are not okay” flooded the comment sections.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
However, as Estes and Kingston emphasized, people react in very different ways to mass shootings. For some, the phenomenon of desensitization was persistent despite the incident occurring nearby.
“Of course, I was floored that it happened, but at the same time, I honestly wasn't that surprised. I felt more numb to the issue because it seems so normal,” said Isabella Wachter, a junior at Carlmont.
​
While the proximity of the Half Moon Bay shooting did not make the event more mournful to Wachter or those of like minds, it did provoke a feeling of fear.
​
“A shooting so close made me realize that one happening at Carlmont is a real possibility. It could actually happen one day, and that’s a pretty terrifying thought,” Wachter said. “Every time the announcements come on, I always think it's going to be a lockdown.”
In reality, the chance of a shooting occurring at one school is slim – there were two instances of an active shooter on a K-12 campus in 2022, according to Statista. However, Kingston emphasized the validity of any emotion that follows a mass shooting, whether that means heightened anxiety or numbness.
According to Roan Thibault, a member of the Students Demand Action National Advisory Board, Bay Area residents’ reactions to the mass shooting in Half Moon Bay echo across the nation.
“You don't think that gun violence can affect you until it hits close to home, and then you realize that it touches every community here in America,” Thibault said.
Contemplating a Solution
As people scroll through headline after headline and the feeling of hopelessness surges over them, they gain the perspective that mass shootings are entirely out of their control, but Thibault claimed that this view is misguided.
“One of the things that hold a lot of people back is that they think it's a whole lot harder than it actually is to address gun violence in the U.S.,” Thibault said. “Of course, it’s a very polarizing issue, but that’s no excuse to stop fighting.”
​
To help address mass shootings, Thibault explained that one must first consider their own mindset, recognizing that they might be, to some extent, desensitized. The next step is to acknowledge that the cause is not completely hopeless.
​
Estes suggested a way to avoid this feeling of discouragement.
“Once you get the news, you put your phone away,” Estes said. “That’s the best way to get the information because we want to be informed citizens, but we don't want to be doing more damage to ourselves.”
However, Kingston added that everyone processes differently on a psychological level, so “there is no one size fits all answer to coping with gun violence.”
​
Amid a hurricane of conflicting perspectives – desensitization versus emotion, gun rights versus gun control, left versus right – Thibault finds common ground.
“Whether you're a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) or a diehard gun safety activist, we all want to keep our families safe,” Thibault said.
Map by Annabel Chia
RESOURCES
Compiled by Annabel Chia. Feature image by Lucille Sanders.