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Abstract
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The US has more than 10 times the number of mass shooting events as other developed countries.1 Mass shootings in the US have increased in frequency, with more than half occurring since the year 2000.2 These events have a direct toll on individuals injured or killed, as well as a psychological impact on families, friends, and society.3
Little research has examined the types and distribution of mass shooting events across the US.4 A geographic analysis by type may inform if specific events have disproportionately occurred in particular states or regions of the US. This may generate hypotheses about the contextual (policy, environmental, or sociocultural) factors that may be associated with the distribution of types of mass shooting events and may suggest recommendations for tailored prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine state rates of mass shooting event types and total injuries and deaths in the US.
Methods
The Gun Violence Archive, a database mostly used for research,5 defines a mass shooting as an incident with 4 or more individuals shot or killed, not including the shooter. This case series used data from a 9-year period (January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2022) to calculate cumulative incidence rates of mass shooting event types based on incident characteristics (Figure) and the total number of individuals injured and killed per 1 000 000 people. We also calculated state-level counts and rates for the most common event types. Rates were calculated using population estimates from the US census from 2014 to 2022 and displayed on state-level heat maps.
Results
From 2014 to 2022, there were 4011 mass shootings, ranging from zero events in Hawaii and North Dakota to 414 events in Illinois. For these 9 years, one-third (27.3%) were social-related mass shootings, 15.8% were crime related, 11.1% were domestic violence (DV) related, 1.4% were school or work related, and 52.0% were not a part of these categories (Table). There was a median of 45 mass shootings per state for all states and the District of Columbia (mean, 78.6). A total of 21 006 people were killed or injured ...
Language: en |