A Guide to Understanding Mass Shootings in America

Mass shootings have become so frequent in America that we are often left with the feeling that random, indiscriminate gunfire can happen anywhere, without warning. In recent years, gunmen have killed moviegoers at a theater; people at a gay nightclub and a country-western bar; young children in elementary schools; and worshippers at churches, mosques, and synagogues. Last week, the five-year anniversary of the country’s deadliest antisemitic shooting, in Pittsburgh, coincided with the manhunt for a shooter who allegedly killed at least 18 people, wounding more than a dozen others, in a series of attacks across Lewiston, Maine. In 2021, the U.S. had 690 shootings with four or more victims. Last year had the second-highest count, at 645. So far this year, the United States has endured 565 mass shootings in 298 days. 

It’s easy to recall some of the tragedies that have branded cities and towns with a uniquely American infamy: Parkland, Uvalde, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, Aurora. But the shootings that dominate national attention for days or weeks are only a fraction of the high-fatality shootings occurring nearly every day in America — in Macomb, Illinois and Hialeah, Florida; Pine Bluff, Arkansas and High Point, North Carolina, where in January a man killed his wife, three children, and then himself. 

This can lead to misperceptions about how these tragic events fit into America’s larger gun violence crisis, and how people and political leaders respond to it.

Read an overview of the most important things to know about mass shootings.