Giving Compass' Take:
- Anastasia Valeeva, Wendy Ruderman, and Katie Park break down the data showing that mass shootings in the U.S. are becoming more frequent and more deadly.
- What role can you play in preventing mass shootings and helping communities heal in their wake?
- Read about how funders can respond to mass shootings.
What is Giving Compass?
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On the morning of July 4, President Joe Biden hailed the day as one to “celebrate the goodness of our nation.”
Shortly after his tweet, a gunman on a rooftop opened fire into a crowd of spectators who gathered to enjoy a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb. He killed seven people and injured dozens.
Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, brought fresh anguish to a nation already shaken this year by the murders of schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, and Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York.
If it feels like mass shootings have become more frequent, that intuition is correct, according to data analysis by The Marshall Project.
Under one of the most conservative definitions of “mass shootings,” in which a gunman slaughters four or more strangers in a public place, the number of these crimes has indeed been climbing in the last few years — and they have higher death tolls, as well.
Mass shootings account for just a fraction of the daily toll of firearm deaths in the U.S., where about 124 people die every day in other acts of gun violence.
Our analysis is based on data from The Violence Project, a nonprofit research group that uses a narrow definition of mass shootings adopted from the Congressional Research Service, which advises federal lawmakers.
Read the full article about the rise in mass shootings by Anastasia Valeeva, Wendy Ruderman, and Katie Park at The Marshall Project.