After Paul Jenkins finished his four-year run on Hellblazer in December 1998, DC Comics (which published it under their mature readers Vertigo imprint) chose Warren Ellis as his successor.

[2][3] "Haunted" was more political than previous Hellblazer stories, and Ellis's outlook was to show the flaws in English-speaking society as the 20th century came to a close.

Levitz refused to publish "Shoot" in its original form, reasoning that the story's subject matter – and in particular its ending[8] – was too disturbing in light of the Columbine massacre.

[6] Ellis and Vertigo's head Karen Berger pushed for the story to still be published as it was written, but a couple weeks of negotiations were unsuccessful in reaching this result.

A female researcher named Penny Carnes is looking for patterns among an increasing number of mass shootings involving children, and is planning to present her findings to a Senate subcommittee.

[4][6] On the climactic final page, Constantine points out that a teenage boy seen on a surveillance tape – about to be executed by a classmate – is quietly telling him, "Shoot.

"[4][6] According to Adam Smith of Bleeding Cool, in the story, Ellis uses Constantine to represent the perspective of an outsider who "is willing and able to forcefully confront the American public with the hard truth" that everyone involved in a shooting is equally responsible.

To him, the character of Penny represents a foolish person who believes there is a "magic ingredient" that will solve the problem of school shootings, and Constantine serves to ruin that notion and prove there is no easy answer to the epidemic.

[10] Released as part of an initiative started by DC to revive material long out of print, the version of "Shoot" included in Vertigo Resurrected features colouring done by James Sinclair.

[2] In 2010, Douglas Wolk praised Jimenez's art as "absolutely at the top of his form", but dismissed "Shoot" as "not a particularly good story at all", saying that it lacked any resolution.