Understanding Modern Mass-Violence Trends: Why Awareness and Preparedness Matter

PTP Team
Nov 7, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Over the past two decades, our nation has witnessed disturbing shifts in the nature of targeted violence. While violent crime as a whole has steadily declined, one category of violence has continued to rise: large-scale, premeditated attacks committed in public spaces. These events shock communities, dominate headlines, and leave lasting scars; not just on survivors, but on the collective sense of safety that holds society together.

Understanding these attacks does not require fearmongering. It requires clear-eyed awareness, a realistic assessment of the trends, and a commitment to readiness rooted in responsibility rather than panic. When we study these incidents, patterns begin to emerge, patterns that can inform smarter prevention, stronger protection, and more effective response.

A Changing Threat Landscape

Despite the common perception that firearms are becoming more dangerous or more prevalent, the truth is more nuanced. Firearm-related homicides have been steadily declining for decades. But at the same time, planned attacks targeting large groups of people have increased, especially in locations where the attacker knows resistance will be minimal.

What’s driving this shift? Multiple factors intersect, but one stands out: visibility.

In an age of social media, notoriety has become a form of currency. A single act of violence can instantly catapult a disturbed individual into global infamy. The digital world doesn’t just report the crime, it amplifies it. The desire for recognition, even through destruction, becomes a twisted incentive for individuals already dealing with personal failure, resentment, or psychological breakdown.

But notoriety alone doesn’t explain everything. Many attackers display a buildup of personal struggle over long periods: academic collapses, social isolation, broken relationships, and unresolved mental health issues. They often experience life as an ongoing series of disappointments with no off-ramp. While most people who face hardship never resort to violence, those who do often follow a predictable behavioral slide marked by grievances, fixation, and leakage of intent.

The Warning Signs Are Often Visible

Research consistently shows that attackers almost always leave clues long before acting. Sometimes the clues appear as direct threats. Other times they show up as disturbing writings, aggressive social media posts, or sudden stockpiling of weapons. In many cases, multiple people observed alarming behaviors but did not speak up; often because they weren’t sure what they were seeing or didn’t want to overreact.

The concept of “See Something, Say Something” goes far beyond abandoned bags in airports. It applies to conversations, online behavior, emotional deterioration, and dramatic changes in personality. Communities that take warning signs seriously prevent violence, not by being paranoid, but by taking ownership of each other’s wellbeing.

The Role of Environment: Why Some Locations Are Chosen More Often

A consistent trend appears when examining targeted attacks: assailants almost always select soft, vulnerable locations. These are places where they anticipate little to no resistance, slow response times, and high potential for casualties.

Businesses open to the public rank highest among targeted environments. Educational institutions follow closely. Houses of worship, government buildings, residences, and outdoor venues all appear as well, but the common denominator is softness, not symbolism.

Hardening a location doesn’t require turning every building into a fortress. Small changes, controlled access points, trained staff, communication protocols, and observation of behavioral red flags dramatically alter the risk profile. Attackers seek opportunity. Reduce the opportunity, and many attacks never occur.

Response Matters as Much as Prevention

Perhaps the most sobering reality is that many casualties in these events occur within the first few minutes, often before law enforcement can even be notified. That means the initial response from the people on scene determines the outcome more than anything else.

There are three actions proven to save lives during a violent attack: move, hide, or fight.

These are simple concepts, but they require understanding and practice.

Running increases distance and decreases the attacker’s accuracy. Hiding behind locked or barricaded doors significantly reduces access. When neither running nor hiding is possible, coordinated resistance, even with improvised tools, has repeatedly stopped attackers.

These aren’t abstract theories. They’re documented realities. One example is the Virginia Tech attack on Monday, April 16, 2007. Rooms where people acted decisively, whether by barricading or escaping, saw dramatically fewer casualties. Rooms where people froze experienced catastrophic losses. Another is the attack at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana, on July 17, 2022, where Elisjsha Dicken, a legally armed 22-year-old man from Seymour, engaged the shooter and ended the attack.

Medical Readiness Saves Lives in the Aftermath

One of the least-discussed aspects of targeted violence is the lag between the moment victims are injured and the moment trained medical responders can safely enter the scene. Even when police respond quickly, EMS cannot immediately follow until the threat is definitively eliminated.

This means bystanders often become the true first responders. The ability to control bleeding, open airways, or stabilize trauma can be the difference between life and death.

A tourniquet applied by a bystander may save more lives than the fastest ambulance.

Communities that embrace basic trauma-response skills, stop-the-bleed training, simple triage strategies, and calm communication are significantly better positioned to survive the unthinkable.

Building a Culture of Responsible Preparedness

True readiness is not fear-based. It’s the realization that our safety is our responsibility.

Prepared communities:

Encourage people to recognize behavioral indicators of danger
Harden workplaces and public spaces intelligently and compassionately
Promote responsible, trained civilian preparedness
Encourage lawful, ethical, and competent firearm ownership
Foster communication between institutions, families, and law enforcement
Develop emergency operations plans that are understood, not ignored

This isn’t about paranoia. It’s about acknowledging reality without being consumed by it. Most communities will never face a targeted violent attack. But every community benefits when its people are more observant, more connected, and more prepared to care for each other.

The Path Forward

The rise in mass-violence incidents is a complex problem, but solutions exist, and they don’t require giving up freedom, living in fear, or accepting helplessness.

They require awareness.

They require action.

They require people who are willing to learn, prepare, and take responsibility for their environment and their neighbors.

The more we understand the behaviors behind these tragedies and the more we embrace practical readiness, the more capable we become of preventing, mitigating, and outlasting them.

Preparedness is not pessimism. It is love expressed through action.