<This article contains spoilers>

Many people in the United States are not strangers to gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, so far in 2026, there have been 128 mass shootings in the US.

Whenever gun violence and mass shootings are brought up, often school shootings and teenage gun violence ae mentioned along with it. In 2026, 268 children aged 12-17 have been killed and 752 children aged 12-17 have been injured in mass shootings.

With gun violence taking such a toll on our country, it makes sense that the first response to someone who expresses having thoughts of gun violence would be to separate yourself from them. But what if that person was your fiancé?

This is the dilemma that Charlie (Robert Pattinson) faces in the A24 movie “The Drama,” directed by Kristoffer Borgli and released on April 3.

The week of their wedding, Charlie’s fiancé Emma (Zendaya) drunkenly shares that when she was 15 years old, she planned a school shooting, going as far as getting a gun and filming a manifesto, yet ending up not going through with it.

In response to this information, Charlie spirals as he reckons with the fact that someone he loves so dearly could have planned something so heinous. He also questions how many other people in the United States have considered similar actions and, just like her, did not go through with it, bringing up gun culture in the United States and how the aesthetics of it could be seen as desirable in the eyes of people who, like Emma, felt small and helpless.

“I think its way more common than people assume,” said Amy Barnhorst, professor of psychiatry and associate director of the Center for Violence Prevention at the University of California at Davis. “I think it’s a product of, especially in adolescence and young adults, their brains are still developing. And that means their ability to regulate emotions is developing and their coping skills are still developing.”

Barnhorst has not personally conducted any research regarding the connection between gun violence, teens and mental health, but says guns could embolden teens who may feel disconnected with society and helpless to their circumstances.

“In our country, gun culture is a big part of it and guns are so ubiquitous. Guns make people feel powerful,” said Barnhorst. ”It’s sort of a natural progression, especially for people who feel small or looked down upon.”

While most people typically think of cisgender white men when it comes to the average school shooter, “The Drama” puts a twist on this by having Emma, a Black girl, be the almost school shooter.

“In the case of Zendaya’s character, it’s interesting because we don’t see it very much with girls. It’s not that it doesn’t exist. It’s just that it’s much less common,” said Barnhorst.

While little research has been done on how many people have thought about committing a school shooting, Barnhorst believes the number is most likely higher than the average person might assume. This may be because people are not likely to open up about these feelings.

“It seems so unfathomable to us, that, you know a “semi-normal person” would ever think about that, but, and maybe this is just an example that I can relate to, but the example of road rage,” said Barnhorst.

“Somebody does something really stupid and dangerous on the freeway; cuts you off, nearly hits your car and bashes into you and you’re driving with your kid and you get so angry and you think ‘oh!’ And you have that moment where you just want to drive your car into them or something.”

Adults are able to process and regulate emotions in more rational ways, and are much more likely to be able to recognize that one bad day or bad week does not equate to a bad life, whereas teenagers are unable to recognize the bigger picture.

“Teenagers brains don’t have that sort of ‘stop’ mechanism the way we do, to talk ourselves down,” she said.

This means that when teenagers have feelings of rage or depression, they are much more likely to act on them or get close to acting on them.

“As a teenager you want to be seen, and you just want to be heard and you want to feel important. We all do. But teenagers are more likely to make bad choices to get there,” Barnhorst said.

Despite it being the main catalyst of events, the focus of the movie is not gun violence, but the problem of Charlie learning this information about his fiancé. The movie makes the intention of the characters unclear as to whether they were trying to start a conversation about gun violence and, if they were, what they were trying to say about it.

“I’m of two minds about it. I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like they were normalizing it exactly, but shining a light on it,” Barnhorst said. “I’m sort of a fan of the idea that sunlight is the best disinfectant, so airing things out and putting them out in the open is good.”

Barnhorst went on to say that it’s important to help people in crisis understand that crises are not permanent and this too shall pass. “Maybe it’s good that it’s common enough that it needs to be addressed and people need to know what to do,” she said.

One way this could happen is by teaching people the warning signs of crisis in case someone they know is in danger of harming themselves or others, they know how to handle the situation.

“We made a video for people taking concealed carry classes to help them understand how to recognize domestic violence crisis, suicide crisis, a kid whose thinking about a school shooting; and ways to separate that person from firearms temporarily until their crisis resolves,” she said.

One important factor to look at in terms of teen gun violence is suicide. According to the Be SMART campaign, more than 700 children in America die by gun suicide every year. Many people who consider mass shootings are not expecting to get out the situation alive. These are people in crisis, who need to be treated as someone going through a mental health emergency.

“There is an intersection among, and this isn’t all school shooters, but there is a nihilism. There is a suicidal aspect to it as well,” Barnhorst said. “I think it’s a combination of people who are depressed and suicidal, but then also really angry and feel hurt and disrespected and unseen and they need to get that power back.”

According to Barnhorst, one of the best things that can be done to help stop shootings before they happen is to start conversations earlier and teach children the general signs of crisis and how to report things when they happen. Children will often know about problems in classmates far earlier than the adults around them. She recommends use of a confidential tip line for reporting mental health crises among peers.

Teenagers are far more likely to act rashly than adults will, and school-centered gun violence is one way that is seen. By nature of Emma’s secret, “The Drama” has opened up an important conversation about teenage gun violence in the United States and what can be done to prevent it.