10 Myths About School Shootings

It's happened again. Another school shooting has taken three more lives. This one appears to be a little different than most in that it was a young woman wielding the gun. The details will start spilling out over the next few days; and I'm guessing at least some of these 10 Myths will pop up and prove to us one more time how little we know about the people who commit these horrific crimes.

Bill Dedman, an investigative reporter for MSNBC, published a great article on October 10, 2007 entitled 10 Myths About School Shootings. I encourage you to check it out. You can read it by clicking here.

He goes into detail about each one of these myths which are compiled by MSNBC.com from a 2002 study by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. Here's the list:

Myth No. 1. “He didn’t fit the profile.”
Myth No. 2. “He just snapped.”
Myth No. 3. “No one knew.”
Myth No. 4. “He hadn’t threatened anyone.”
Myth No. 5. “He was a loner.”
Myth No. 6. “He was crazy.”
Myth No. 7. “If only we’d had a SWAT team or metal detectors.”
Myth No. 8. “He’d never touched a gun.”
Myth No. 9. “We did everything we could to help him.”
Myth No. 10. “School violence is rampant.”