The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Communication Arts & Sciences DELIBERATING IN THE AFTERMATH OF MASS SHOOTINGS A Dissertation in Communication Arts & Sciences by Craig Rood Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2015 The dissertation of Craig Rood was reviewed and approved* by the following: Rosa A. Eberly Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, and English Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Kirt H. Wilson Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences J. Michael Hogan Liberal Arts Research Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Cheryl Glenn Liberal Arts Research Professor of Women’s Studies and English John Gastil Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Head of the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Deliberating in the Aftermath of Mass Shootings examines ascriptions of blame in the aftermath of mass shootings and how those ascriptions of blame call forth or imply changes in values, practices, and policies. The project begins with the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, continues with the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, and ends with the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. The three case studies examine how the U.S.’s alleged “culture of violence,” how mental illness, and how guns are implicated in the rhetoric of blame. In addition to providing a thick description of key debates following mass shootings, I argue that the concept of blame helps rhetorical scholars account for deliberation about public problems. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 The Public Problem of Mass Shootings ......................................................................... 7 Rhetorical Scholars’ Response to the Public Problem of Mass Shootings .................. 12 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 14 Rhetorical History ..................................................................................................... 15 Rhetorical Criticism .................................................................................................. 16 Selections and Deflections ........................................................................................... 18 References .................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2: Scenic Blame after Columbine ....................................................................... 34 Columbine and The “Culture of Violence” .................................................................. 39 National Rifle Association ........................................................................................ 40 The Clinton Administration ...................................................................................... 45 Parents as Culture Warriors ...................................................................................... 53 Summary ................................................................................................................... 58 Legacies of Scenic Blame ............................................................................................ 59 Critics of Scenic Blame ................................................................................................ 64 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 67 References .................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 3: Blaming Mental Illness after Virginia Tech ................................................... 79 v Mental Health as an Individual Responsibility: George W. Bush ............................... 84 Mental Health as a Public Responsibility: Lucinda Roy .............................................. 93 Two Depictions of Mental Illness ................................................................................ 99 Legacies of Blaming Mental Illness ........................................................................... 102 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 105 References .................................................................................................................. 108 Chapter 4: Blaming Guns after Sandy Hook ................................................................. 117 A Brief Rhetorical History of Gun Deliberations before Sandy Hook ...................... 120 Violence and Gun Deliberations ............................................................................. 121 The Rhetorical Work of Gun Deliberations ............................................................ 125 Rhetorical Parameters of Gun Debates ................................................................... 128 Context of the 2012-2013 Debates ......................................................................... 131 Gun Control Advocates after Sandy Hook ................................................................. 132 Linked What Happened at Sandy Hook to Gun Violence in General .................... 134 Framed Gun Control as a Parental Responsibility .................................................. 138 Argued that Gun Rights and Gun Control Could Peacefully Co-exist ................... 141 Dismissed His Opponents as Being Political .......................................................... 144 Asserted that His Plan was “Common Sense” ........................................................ 146 Gun Rights Advocates after Sandy Hook ................................................................... 148 Deflected Blame from Guns ................................................................................... 150 Framed Guns as Necessary Tools for Self-Protection ............................................ 152 Used Time to Discredit His Opponents .................................................................. 154 vi Dismissed His Opponents as Being “Political” ...................................................... 157 Argued That His Plan to Put Armed Guards was the Most Effective Response .... 158 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 160 References .................................................................................................................. 165 Chapter 5: Conclusions .................................................................................................. 177 Blame and Deliberation .............................................................................................. 179 Blame is Selective ................................................................................................... 180 Blame is Constituted by Contexts, Rhetors, and Audiences .................................. 181 Blame is Shaped By and Shapes Public Memory ................................................... 183 Blame Distributes and Disperses Agency ............................................................... 185 How Might Deliberation Be Improved? ..................................................................... 187 Future Research .......................................................................................................... 191 References .................................................................................................................. 195 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Rosa A. Eberly is an advisor in the best sense of that word—someone who gave me the freedom to create the type of project I envisioned, yet someone who offered honest feedback and asked challenging questions when I needed it most. Rosa’s commitment to public scholarship, her generosity, and her love of language are but a few of her qualities that I hope to emulate. Thanks to my committee members Cheryl Glenn, J. Michael Hogan, and Kirt H. Wilson for their help conceptualizing the project at its rocky beginning, their encouragement along the way, and their advice for this project’s potential future. More generally, I am grateful to have learned from you and the other faculty at Penn State over these last four years about what it means to be a good scholar, a good teacher, and a good person. To any graduate student who might be reading this and contemplating whether to participate in the Center for Democratic Deliberation’s dissertation fellows program, my advice is “go for it.” Thanks to Anne Kretsinger-Harries and Earl Brooks for reading my work and helping me think through several chapters—and thanks for letting me read your work and letting me think your chapters with you. Thanks also to our intrepid leader Jack Selzer—perhaps the first writing teacher who was simultaneously able to tell me I needed to rewrite a chapter and to get me excited about doing so. Thanks to my colleagues in the Department of Communications Arts & Sciences and the English Department for encouragement and feedback along the way. Thanks viii especially to Brad Serber, particularly for that long conversation in February in which you talked and