We can expect another 27 mass shootings by year’s end.
Photo via (cc) Flickr user smileycreek
Since the beginning of 2013, there has been an unprecedented series of mass shootings in the United States. Over this time period, 1,052 mass shooting events have occurred in 1,068 days. A mass shooting is generally defined as “when four or more people are shot in an event, or related series of events, likely without a cooling-off period.” This seemingly never-ending streak of bloodshed has resulted in the massacre of 1,347 people while leaving 3,817 wounded.
There hasn’t been a single month in that time period with fewer than 15 mass shootings, and there have been 16 months with at least 30. While the recent shootings in San Bernardino represent the worst of those attacks, it’s only one of more than two dozen mass shootings with double-digit victims, including eight others this year. Looking forward, by the end of 2015, we can expect another 27 mass shootings in the United States with another 35 people killed and more than 80 wounded.
Although the rise in mass shootings has become a horrific trend, these outbursts of random violence occur despite a steep, decades-long decline in U.S. gun violence. According to The Washington Post, “In 1993, there were seven homicides by firearm for every 100,000 Americans, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2013, that figure had fallen by nearly half, to 3.6—a total of 11,208 firearm homicides.”
View mass shootings in the United States since 2013 in a full-screen map.
(H/T Shooting Tracker)
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