April Zeoli
The frightening frequency of family mass shootings
The frightening frequency of family mass shootings
April Zeoli is a leading expert on the relationship between intimate partner violence and gun violence. Her interdisciplinary research—which aims to bring together the fields of public health, criminology, and criminal justice—is currently focused on understanding the criminal histories of those who commit intimate partner homicide in order to identify potential intervention points. She is also studying the implementation of firearm relinquishment procedures for those intimate partner violence offenders who can no longer legally possess them. An associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, April is on the editorial board of the scholarly journal Injury Prevention and serves as the research expert for the National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center.
Find out moreActs of gun violence and domestic violence create many of the heart wrenching stories that plague us today. Public Health Criminologist April Zeoli has spent her career analyzing gun and domestic violence trends, with a particular focus on where guns and love interact. She shares that while the media places attention on frightening public mass shootings, the truth is that a majority of mass shootings are "family mass murders" or forms of intimate partner homicide. Moreover, she stresses, most mass murders in this country are committed with guns, "no other weapon even comes close." When gun violence and domestic violence meet, tactics of coercion, manipulation, and power come to the forefront in a deadly way. Yet, April believes there is hope - will common sense policy changes, she suggests ways for our country to dramatically reduce both intimate partner violence and related mass shootings.
Leaving a lasting impression, April Zeoli speaks up for victims of gun violence and domestic violence through an objective, analytical lens. Watch her TEDMED Talk, "The frightening frequency of family mass shootings," now on TEDMED.com.