ABSTRACT
Mass shootings, though the least common form of gun violence in the US, evoke responses saturated with heavy emotion, fear, ridicule, and paranoia. A psychological understanding of this phenomenon requires amplifying the symbolic meaning of the gun specific to American history and culture, while also linking it to an archetypal-mythopoetic standpoint, such as that based on myths associated with the Greek god Ares. Mass shootings point to an archetypal possession, the constellation of both a cultural and a personal gun complex, where shadow aspects of ourselves, including power, rage, and aggression, become enacted with destructive and fatal consequences.
