Once again, we are mourning another mass shooting in America. Once again, the attack was committed with AR-style automatic weapons that were purchased legally. Once again, the murderer was a teenage male with mental health problems. Once again, it was posted on social media.

It has become all too predictable.

And, once again, politicians and media pundits have launched into their equally predictable rhetoric—thoughts and prayers, moments of silence, empty calls to “do something,” but, almost certainly yet again, lacking the political will to enact any meaningful change that could prevent this from happening again, and again, and again.

I am tired of debating the subject of gun control with an obstinate minority who refuse to accept facts. If the governor of the state in which 10-year-old children were indiscriminately slaughtered still blames mental health rather than the ready access to automatic weapons, there is nothing anyone can say to change his mind (except, perhaps, Texas voters).

Gun control is the answer. No other society in the world has anything remotely close to the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings that we have in this country. Nobody disputes that mental health is the reason these tragedies occur. Mass shootings aren’t perpetrated by sane, rational, responsible gun owners. It is that we allow unstable, violent individuals ready access to guns that is the problem.

There is a segment of the U.S. population that seems to have accepted violence as a normal part of life, a necessary byproduct of their unfettered Second Amendment Rights—even seeing violence as an appropriate political tactic. Those most likely to perpetrate acts of violence are the ones who most adamantly oppose any attempt to control guns. If the Texas leadership really believed mental health was the issue, they would rush to pass better background checks, more restrictive purchaser requirements, longer waiting periods, and red flag laws. They are doing none of these things. Instead, they are preoccupied spreading blatant misinformation to deflect anger over the attack. The NRA playbook remains fully intact: blame people not guns, resist any modicum of gun control to the death, adhere dogmatically to the talking points, and wait for the whole horrific thing to blow over.

While gun control needs to remain the primary solution, there is another weapon that is being abused and contributing to mass shootings: social media.

Like the racist shooter in Buffalo just two weeks ago, the Uvalde shooter also posted his intentions on social media. From mainstream social sites like Facebook and Twitter, to stealthy chat apps like Discord and Snapchat, to the seemingly endless proliferation of ever-more extreme right-wing misinformation hate sites, social media is unquestionably complicit in this crisis—particularly when it comes to the conditions that lead teens and young adults to commit such atrocities.

The U.S. Secret Service issued a National Threat Assessment Center report titled Protecting America’s Schools that identified the contributing factors in school shootings. In addition to the fact that firearms, usually acquired legally or from their own home, were almost always used in these attacks, other factors that incited the attacker included a “grievance” they held, being victims of bullying, interest in violent topics, and communicating their intentions before their attack.

Social media contributes, enables, and subjects its most addicted users—overwhelmingly teens and young adults—to these exact conditions. For all the benefits of community and communication that social media provides, it is also a well-documented forum for everything from bullying and teen depression, to misinformation and political extremism. Mass murderers exploit social media to find and conspire with like-minded individuals, regardless how extreme and violent their viewpoints might be. These echo chambers normalize, encourage, and celebrate violent behavior. Mentally unstable users exploit the features of social media platforms to seek attention, communicate their intentions, amplify their hateful messages, and livestream their atrocities.

The reality is that, just like gun manufacturers, social media sites have both the ability and responsibility to prevent their products from being abused by violent extremists. If Facebook can figure out which targeted ad to show within milliseconds, they can certainly figure out how to detect and warn about dangerous behavior before it results in tragedy. For less responsible sites, the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would force those businesses to prevent violent extremism posted by their users or face legal liability. And for the deliberate misinformation sites, stricter criminal and civil laws along with greater activism from Federal regulators would help shut them down. These are all solutions that must be considered along with gun control measures.

The only glimmer of hope I can find in this epidemic of gun violence is that society overall may be becoming less violent, even though the opposite feels like the truth. The author Steven Pinker makes this argument in The Better Angels of Our Nature. Looking at statistics over the last century, the book shows that the worst incidents of violence—war, genocide, homicide, and other violent crimes—are actually declining, even in the last decade. Although that is no comfort to those grieving the loss of their loved ones, and the uptick of gun violence seen during the COVID pandemic is deeply disconcerting, what we may be living through is less an increase in the incidents of violence but an increased awareness of these acts. From police brutality to Russian war atrocities, exposing such acts is perhaps the best counterbalance to violent behavior.

So maybe there is a benefit to the constant, unrelenting, overwhelming series of stories on our social media feeds and cable news channels. Maybe awareness, transparency, and accountability will finally force us, this time, to do something about it.

The Other Weapon in Mass Shootings: Social Media