Jordan Peterson has an unconventional suggestion for ending mass shootings

There are plenty of suggestions thrown around when asked “how do we put an end to mass shootings” but Jordan Peterson has an unconventional recommendation.

On Twitter, PragerU asked people, “What should be done to prevent school shootings?”

The question comes days after three children and three adults were fatally shot at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the 39th incident of gunfire on school grounds this year, so far according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

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Suggestions like adding police officers to schools, homeschooling children, addressing mental illness, and banning guns were all offered.

But Peterson had a different idea.

“Ban media from reporting the names of the perpetrators for one year. Problem solved,” Peterson wrote.

Peterson’s solution is related to the idea that media organisations that profile the perpetrator in mass shootings can cause “copycat” shooters.

The American Psychologist Association (APA) released a report in 2016 indicating “media contagion” was “largely responsible” for the increase in deadly mass shootings.

Dr Jennifer B Johnston told APA, “If the mass media and social media enthusiasts make a pact to no longer share, reproduce or retweet the names, faces, detailed histories or long-winded statements of killers, we can see a dramatic reduction in mass shootings in one or two years.”

While reducing the coverage of mass shooters may help reduce the prevalence of other mass shootings, some people criticised Peterson's direct solution.

Other people pointed out that banning the media from reporting on the shooter would be censorship.

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