HUMAN AGGRESSION AND GUN VIOLENCE
EMOTIONS AND SELF-DELUSIONS SMOTHER RATIONAL DISCOURSE AND BEHAVIORS
RELATED CASE PRESENTATIONS AND ANALYSIS:
Recent back-to-back gun massacres in Texas and Ohio remind us, again, of the past multiple coldblooded killings with automatic rifles across the U.S.A and the world. These senseless killings (about 40,000 fire arms-related death each year in the USA) of innocent people and children cause anxiety, fear and despair in all of us. We feel helpless and start wondering, what is going on? Who are these coldblooded killers? Are they all mentally ill, as claimed by politicians, gun manufacturer, lobbyists and the NRA? Why is the number of mass murderers increasing? Does the artificially created toxic political climate, changing cultural norms, unregulated dark corners of internet and social media have anything to with it? Why are there so many war grade automatic weapons available for general public to purchase? Does the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution specify what kind of guns American people have a right to bare?
These recent mass murders reminded me an old tragic case that mesmerized and saddened me, when I first came to the USA in 1966. A former troubled U.S. Marine, after shooting his mother and stabbing his wife, goes to a tower in The University of Texas campus with seven guns and many rounds of ammunitions and kills 14 people and wounds many others. He leaves a suicide notes saying that his brain must be examined, because he knew something was wrong with him, as he was no longer able to control his emotions and actions.
Indeed, an autopsy in his case revealed a small malignant brain tumor, called glioblastoma, near the amygdale region of his brain. It was assumed that the brain tumor was the cause of his actions.
But many people, who suffer from the same kind of brain tumors, which now can easily be diagnosed with modern imaging tests like MRI and CT scans, never become ruthless killers.
Additionally, a recent killer, the Las Vegas mass murderer who meticulously planned his massacres of concert-goers, from his perch in an adjacent hotel window that killed 58 and wounded 869 people. Autopsy and forensic studies, in his case, revealed no such brain tumor.
Therefore, it is fair to conclude that the brain tumors can contribute, but can’t be the only cause of becoming a mass murderer.
INVESTIGATIONS AND CLINICAL STUDIES OF VIOLENT CRIMINALS:
Can there be some other brain abnormalities in violent criminals?
Psychiatrist Dr. Bogerts and his colleagues from Germany, using MRI and CT scans, examine the brain images of violent and nonviolent prisoners, found significantly higher incidence of non-tumoral brain abnormalities in violent prisoners than in nonviolent prisoners. The most of these abnormalities showed up in the region of the pre-frontal cortex, amygdale and hippocampus. These areas of the brain are in charge of higher mental faculties, thinking, decision making, emotions and the control of emotions and behaviors.
The prefrontal cortex does not fully develop in humans, until the early 20s. That is why in many countries, juveniles are not held criminally responsible as adults. This delayed brain development provides some biological insight in to tragic school shootings in the U.S.A.
MENTAL ILLNESS AND GUN VIOLENCE:
When it comes to mental illness being the cause of one becoming a mass murderer, the cause and effect relationship is not very clear.
One of the best conducted studies on this topic is by Dr. Michael Stone, involving 350 mass murderers and showing that only 20% of them had a diagnosis of serious mental illness, while 80% of them had no mental illness whatsoever.
Another study by the FBI, on mass murderers showed the same results. Therefore, these studies show that 80% of mass murderers do not have any serious mental illness.
ANIMAL AGGRESSIONS AND KILLINGS IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM:
We humans are social animals after all. We share many behavioral characteristics with our animal ancestors. According to Darwinian evolution and the survival of the fittest theory - Nature created emotions and emotions induced thoughtless reflex behaviors for survival of the species and, thus becoming ‘the survival of the fittest’. For this reason, physical violence is the nature of every living creature.
When we observe the animal kingdom, we see that young male animals become very aggressive during mating season. They fight to the death if necessary to show their dominance and obtain mating rights. Animals are territorial; they attack and kill any other animals passing through their territory. This is a kind of animal aggression that exists in the animal kingdom.
So, there seems to be a strong association between being a young male and aggression, in the animal kingdom, as well as the human race.
SHARED PERSONAL CHARACTERITICS OF MASS MURDERERS:
An important question must be asked here: “Are there shared personal characteristics of people who become mass murderers and what are they? According to statistics of The Federal Bureau of Prisons, 93% of inmates are mostly young males. Then, the association between being a young male and aggression/violence is a very prominent characteristic, not only in the animal kingdom but also among human beings. It would be very interesting to know the male hormone (testosterone) level in violent criminals to see if there is a correlation between testosterone level and human aggression. Unfortunately, I could not find any such study.
SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF AGGRESSION ON LABORATORY ANIMALS:
Neuroscientists were able to investigate the brain’s neurocircuitry activities in laboratory animals during aggressive behaviors and mating. With special staining, scientists found that neuron cells in the hypothalamic region of the brain of mice became very active right after the animals engaged in either aggressive behaviors or mating.
Dr. Lin and colleagues from NYU implanted microelectrodes into the hypothalamic region of the brain of mice were able to document the neurons of the region buzzing with activities during fighting or mating. By threading in a fiberoptic strand to shine a laser beam, they could provoke the mouse to initiate an attack or start mating.
These research findings from laboratory animals could shade some light on our understanding of human aggression, but it can’t be more than a piece in a complex puzzle like human aggression.
CONCLUSION AND PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ON THE SUBJECT:
As I see it, the causes of human aggression are multiple, muddled, complex and not very well understood. I further believe that these mass murderer criminals have definite character and personality disorders. They are antisocial and conspiracy minded. They have a tendency to believe in cults and in subcultures. They are loners, celibate, misogynistic, angry and suicidal young men. They frequently surf the dark corners of unregulated internet to find same-minded people and ideas. They can be easily radicalized. They have a history of traumatic childhood experiences. They are usually drug and alcohol abusers.
They think they deserve better and society is not giving it to them. They always blame something or somebody for their shortcomings. They decide at some point in their life to reward themselves by aggression and mass killings of innocent human beings in order to have a feeling of superiority, dominance and ecstasy, for a last time in their life before their death.
To me, the factors involved in human aggression and gun violence are very difficult to diagnose, to treat or to eliminate. But if we can eliminate the sale of assault weapons to general public, toughen up existing gun purchase laws and, if we have the courage and will power to overcome the politics, the self- interest and money behind the gun trades, we can easily solve the gun violence and mass killing problems.
For further reading:
1. Field RD. Why we snap: Understanding the Rage Circuits in Your brain. Dutton, 2016.
2. Field RD. The roots of Human Aggression. Scientific America. May, 2019.
