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There is no fixed definition of a mass shooting, but a common definition is an act of violence — excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization — in which a gunman kills at least four victims. Using this definition, one study found that nearly one-third of the world's public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 (90 of 292 incidents) occurred in the United States. Using the same definition, Gun Violence Archive records 152 mass shootings in the United States between 1967 and May 2018, averaging eight fatalities per incident when the perpetrator's death is included.

The United States has had more mass shootings than any other country. The overwhelming majority of perpetrators are white American males and act alone, and they generally either commit suicide or are restrained or killed by law enforcement officers or civilians.

Definition

There is no fixed definition of a mass shooting in the United States. The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, signed into law by Congress in January 2013, defines a "mass killing" as one resulting in at least 3 victims, excluding the perpetrator. In 2015, the Congressional Research Service defined a mass shooting as "a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity". A broader definition, as used by the Gun Violence Archive, is that of "4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter". This definition, of four people shot regardless of whether or not that results in injury or death, is often used by the press and non-profit organizations.

Frequency

Studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011. Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days. However, between 2011 and 2014 that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States.

In recent years, the number of public mass shootings has increased substantially, although there has been an approximately 50% decrease in firearm homicides in the nation overall since 1993. The decrease in firearm homicides has been attributed to better policing, a better economy and environmental factors such as the removal of lead from gasoline. However, this does not account for an increase in firearm injuries or suicides, nor explain the increase in mass shootings.

Differing sources

A comprehensive report by USA Today tracked all mass killings from 2006 through 2017 in which the perpetrator willfully killed 4 or more people. For mass killings by firearm for instance, it found 271 incidents with a total of 1,358 victims. Mother Jones listed seven mass shootings, defined as indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims killed, in the U.S. for 2015. An analysis by Michael Bloomberg's gun violence prevention group, Everytown for Gun Safety, identified 110 mass shootings, defined as shootings in which at least four people were murdered with a firearm, between January 2009 and July 2014; at least 57% were related to domestic or family violence.

Other media outlets have reported that hundreds of mass shootings take place in the United States in a single calendar year, citing a crowd-funded website known as Shooting Tracker which defines a mass shooting as having four or more people injured or killed. In December 2015, The Washington Post reported that there had been 355 mass shootings in the United States so far that year. In August 2015, The Washington Post reported that the United States was averaging one mass shooting per day. An earlier report had indicated that in 2015 alone, there had been 294 mass shootings that killed or injured 1,464 people. Shooting Tracker and Mass Shooting Tracker, the two sites that the media have been citing, have been criticized for using a broader criteria – counting four victims injured as a mass shooting – thus producing much higher figures.

Contributing factors

Several possible factors may work together to create a fertile environment for mass murder in the United States. Most commonly suggested include:

1. Higher accessibility and ownership of guns. The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 88.8 firearms per 100 people; the second highest is Yemen with 54.8 firearms per 100 people.
2. Mental illness and its treatment (or the lack thereof) with psychiatric drugs. This is controversial. Many of the mass shooters in the U.S. suffered from mental illness, but the estimated number of mental illness cases has not increased as significantly as the number of mass shootings.
3. The desire to seek revenge for a long history of being bullied.
4. Desire for fame and notoriety.
5. The copycat phenomenon.
6. Failure of government background checks due to incomplete databases and/or staff shortages.
7. The widespread chronic gap between people's expectations for themselves and their actual achievement, and individualistic culture.

Weapons used

Several types of weapons have been used in mass shootings in the United States including rifles, handguns, and shotguns. Of the ten deadliest mass shootings in recent American history, AR-15 style rifles or other assault weapons have been used in all six of the most recent. AR-15 rifles have come to be widely characterized as the weapon of choice for perpetrators of these crimes.Quoted expert Dean Hazen said, "the reason mass shooters are turning to the AR-15 is due to a "copy-cat" mentality more than any feature of the rifle, it has nothing to do with the AR-15's lethality, but rather simple familiarity." Perhaps they choose the AR-15 based on the rep it has received from other shootings or it is the "weapon of choice" for police. But the police "choose it because it is under-powered...", "making it less likely to penetrate interior walls and hit an unintended target." Pete Blair, executive director of Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center -- which studies mass murder-- echoed Hazen's comments.

Deadliest mass shootings

The following mass shootings are the deadliest to have occurred in modern U.S. history (1949 to present). Only incidents with ten or more fatalities are included.

† Was previously the deadliest mass shooting

See also

• Gun laws in the United States
• Gun laws in the United States by state
• Gun violence in the United States
• List of rampage killers (Americas)
• Racism in the United States
• School shootings in the United States
• Spree killer

Notes

1. ^ The fatality total includes an unborn child.

References

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2. ^ Greenberg, Jacobson & Valverde, Jon, Louis & Miriam (February 14, 2018). "What we know about mass shootings". Politifact. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 20, 2018. As noted above, there is no widely accepted definition of mass shootings. People use either broad or restrictive definitions of mass shootings to reinforce their stance on gun control. After the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, Congress defined "mass killings" as three or more homicides in a single incident. The definition was intended to clarify when the U.S. Attorney General could assist state and local authorities in investigations of violent acts and shootings in places of public use.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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13. Ingraham, Christopher (December 3, 2015). "What makes a 'mass shooting' in America". Washington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2017. But starting in 2013, federal statutes defined "mass killing" as three or more people killed, regardless of weapons.
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44. Smith, Aaron (June 21, 2016). "Why the AR-15 is the mass shooter's go-to weapon". CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2018. The AR-15, the type of rifle used in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, is the weapon of choice for mass killers.
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• Mass shootings
• Mass shootings in the United States
• Gun violence in the United States