Note: The original version of this post stated that there have been 43 mass shootings in 25 states since 2009. These numbers have been updated to reflect a revised version of the study referred to below.
The massacre of 12 people Monday morning at a navy yard in the nation's capital was exceedingly tragic but also alarmingly familiar.
“We are confronting yet another mass shooting,” President Obama said wearily in a briefing later that day.
A study published in January by the gun control advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns* found that more than 50 mass shootings in 30 states have occurred since Obama took office in January 2009. A sizable uptick from previous years, that's a rate of more than one per month with an average of six fatalities per incident (in which a "mass shooting" is defined as an incident where four or more people are killed). And even since that report was published, several lesser-covered mass shootings have occurred n 2013.
According to the report:
- In over half of the incidents, the shooter killed a current a former intimate partner or family member.
- Assault weapons or high capacity magazines were used in less than a quarter of mass shootings, but when they were used, more than twice the number of people were shot and 57 percent more were killed.
- Less than a quarter of the shootings occurred in public spaces that were so-called ‘gun-free zones.’
- In only a very small numbers of these shootings were mental health concerns about the killers raised with authorities beforehand.
Explore more posts about this issue, including maps, charts, and an educator guide