¶ … remain ingrained in the hearts of the people of Arizona. On this day, Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old, attempted to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and he opened fire in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, shooting and severely injuring 14 people, including Giffords, his target, and killing six people. While the incident sparked outrage and condemnation from different parts of the country, there have been numerous other cases where young American citizens carry out mass shootings. According to Siegel (2012), such incidences have prompted criminologists to devote their careers to understanding both the good and bad side of human nature in order to find out the motives that trigger people like Loughner to commit atrocities like the one in Tucson and why they behave the way they do. Where exactly should blame be apportioned -- societal or individual factors? In the aftermath of mass murders, a look into the childhood, family background, education or criminal history of the murderers often reveals warning signs that were ignored, most of which point to their unstable and radicalized nature. Therefore, it is important to understand the biological, physiological and sociological influences of the murderers in order to prevent future atrocities and to identify the changes, either in laws or security procedures, which need to be made. This text takes a look at the life of John Lee Loughner and summarizes the events surrounding the Tucson shooting. It also identifies the theories that best explain the incident and the subsequent law and security changes that were made.

Background

Loughner was born on 10th September 1988 as the only child of Amy and Randy Loughner. Neighbors often described the family as a very private and although he had friends in high school, in the years that followed, he often kept to himself. It was during his high school years at Mountain View High school that people began to notice a change in his personality. He became rebellious and introverted; and after breaking up with his girlfriend, he started abusing alcohol and other drugs (CNN, 2011). He had also been arrested severally for possession of drug paraphernalia and marijuana.

Loughner attended Pima Community college for eight months where he was regularly confronted by college police for library and classroom disruptions. CNN (2011) also states that he attended Atzec Middle College in Arizona as well, where he often scared his classmates and teachers due to unexpected outbursts in class. As one teacher described, he often made inappropriate comments, asked incoherent questions and would stare continuously into space. He also spoke out of turn and often asked questions that were totally unrelated to what was being discussed; prompting his teacher suspect he had Tourette syndrome. For example, CNN (2011) narrates one incident where one of the female students was describing her abortion to the class. Loughner laughed and mocked her, then made a comment of attaching a bomb onto the fetus and making a 'baby bomb' out of it. He was eventually suspended from college and would only be accepted back once he obtained a clean bill of health from a doctor. After the Tucson shooting, a lot of teachers and classmates confessed that they had often been afraid that he would commit a school shooting.

According to CNN (2015), Loughner had a great distrust for the government. As another high school friend described, he hated politics and would not even watch the news. He believed that government officials were covering up a conspiracy, and that they were using grammar to brainwash citizens. He also asserted that he could not use currency that was not backed by silver or gold. CNN goes on to explain that he was obsessed with conspiracy theories and had a strong dislike for religion.

Events surrounding the crime

Prior to the Tucson shooting, Loughner had expressed his dislike for Gabrielle Giffords. He attended another similar event, where he posed a question whose response he was dissatisfied with (Siegel, 2012). His parents had also become alarmed with their son's behavior and CNN (2015) reports that at some point, they resorted to disabling his car in order to stop him from leaving the house. Although his father took his gun away from him, he purchased another gun, which he used in the Tucson shooting. On the night before the incident, he purchased ammunition from the local Wal-Mart. The next day he took a taxi to the supermarket where Giffords' constituent meeting was in progress and opened fire - shooting a total of 19 people.

Theories...

They borrow from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution when they suggest that mass murderer brains resemble those of inferior animals, which explains their peculiar behavior. For example, Adraine Raine, a neurocrimimologist, used magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 21 sociopaths and compared them to normal individuals. He established that the volume of grey matter in the sociopaths' prefrontal cortex was lower than that in the normal subjects. They, therefore, do not reason the same way as normal people. CNN (2015) describes Loughner's ideas as ignorant and his arguments nonsensical. For example, he described America's laws as treasonous and argued that NASA space shuttles could not support human life.
Another theory applicable to mass murders is the differential reinforcement theory, where the mass murderer learns his behavior from observing it from others, imitating it, then being rewarded. This, however, cannot apply to Loughner's case because he became introverted by, and often kept to, himself. Furthermore, most of his friends did not support his ideologies. Since Loughner grew is a stable home with loving parents, the mother-hate theory, where criminals commit mass murder to get even for past abuse from parents, is also ruled out.

Freud Sigmund's psychoanalytic theory can be used to explain Loughner's personality. It explains that the unconscious mind shapes an individual's beliefs and behavior (Fox and Levin, 2012). Although Loughner was socially dysfunctional and mentally unstable, his conspiracy theories and hallucination often stemmed from his radicalized nature. Freud's theory on personal development could also point to an emotionally crippled life despite his stable family. Moreover, the Anomie theory explains a condition of instability that arises from a breakdown of values and standards, causing the individual to lack ideals and purpose. Therefore, Loughner might have felt obliged to free the society from what he considered inappropriate laws and incompetent leaders. Siegel (2015) further explains that he did not take sides, which implies that he did not believe in the government's values and ideologies.

Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist provides theories that explain how mental illness might be caused by cultural factors. She explains that individuals that are not socially integrated often end up being loners, a problem prevalent in individualistic societies. Loughner became alienated from his friends and family and overtime, he became disconnected from the society, building up his aggression in the process. This also confirms the social control theory that explains that mass shootings are a result of a weak bond between the individual and the society (Fox and Levin, 2012).

Subsequent changes in laws and security procedures

Following the Tucson shooting, state laws governing gun controls were revised. In addition to all firearms being registered by the National Firearms Act, people with mental illnesses were also prohibited from owning a firearm. Legislators increased their efforts to change mental health laws by passing bills that made medical treatment cheaper for the locals. The state reduced health care costs for more than 250,000 Arizonian's that were under the Medicaid program, including approximately 5000 that were mentally disabled. They also planned to preserve $10.3 million that would allow mentally ill patients to get prescription drugs if they could not afford medical care. Since it was noted that Loughner's statements were almost identical to those of David Miller, a conspiracy theorist, law enforcement agency also started keeping track of other theories that could encourage such incidences in the future.

Conclusion

The Tucson shootings were as a result of both individual and societal factors. The circumstances that led to the unfortunate event were a combination of a violent ideology that happened to coincide with sociological and psychological factors. Loughner was of unstable mind, had become radicalized, and had become disconnected from the society. The psychoanalytic theory explains his personality and his problematic background, while the Anomie theory explains his dislike for the government and religion. The social control and Durkheim theories also blame the individualistic society in which he supposedly grew up in for his weakened bond from society, which led to his aggressiveness. It is therefore accurate to conclude that Loughner was in a state of emotional chaos, and aside from the Tucson shooting being a result of his unstable mind; it was also an outlet for his anger towards the society.

References

Cables News Network, CNN (2011). Jared Loughner's Background Reveals Series of Warning Signs. International Edition. Retrieved 24 April 2015 from http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/13/jared-loughners-background-reveals-series-of-warning-signs/

Fox, J.A. & Levin, J. (2012). Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. California: SAGE Publications,…