- puts forward the most comprehensive assessment of the relationship between mass shootings and background checks to date.

-While scholars have carried out both quantitative analyses and case studies of mass shootings on this topic, no books exist on this topic and peer reviewed articles have thus far failed to account for why a historical increase in societal armament arose in the first place, have not fully identified causal mechanisms and pathways that link mass shootings to gun purchases, and have treated the proposed causal relationship as being linear in nature.

- takes a multi-methodological approach comprised of case studies, quantitative analysis, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to offer a transparent, well rounded inquiry on the mass shootings-background check nexus,.

-provides readers with several different perspectives through which to consider the prominence of this vastly important empirical trend, and importantly, classifies the pathways, processes, and mechanisms that link mass shootings to post-shooting increases in gun purchases