Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a better understanding of the conditions under which rampage shootings lead to the politicization of gun control and the factors that facilitate and obstruct the reform process. It argues that this is not the way we should approach the phenomenon of external shocks in general and rampage shootings in particular. The book analyses the relevance of several conditions that have the potential to serve as causal links between a focusing event, the politicization of the implied policy failure and the occurrence of policy change. It explores the suitability of fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) for the analysis of the political processes unfolding after potential focusing events. The book talks about the political reactions towards a specific type of potential focusing event and the comparative analysis of the political reactions evoked by these empirical phenomena for a specific policy area.