Mass Shootings: The Facts You Need To Know

It’s important to understand the reality of “gun violence” in the United States

In the aftermath of any tragedy, it’s understandable that society demands action. There is no more emotive example than the days that follow a mass shooting event, whether it be the white supremacist domestic terror attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, or the murder of children and their teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

It is also understandable that waves of unquestionable emotion often blurs the reality of the problem we should be trying to solve: combatting so-called “gun violence.”

But it is during such times of emotional upheaval that we must remain rooted in fact, rather than fiction, in order to ensure that we are working together towards this shared goal, rather than sparking fights which will only further divide and obfuscate.

With that in mind — and without any desire to diminish or dismiss recent tragedy — it’s important to understand the reality of “gun violence” in the United States.

The vast majority of homicides are committed using firearms

First, it’s important to understand the scale of the general problem of “gun violence.” According to the CDC, there were 24,576 homicides in 2020. 19,384 of these were firearm homicides, meaning that over 78% of homicides were committed using a firearm.

Most firearm homicides were committed using handguns

The focus of gun control legislation often rests on so-called “assault weapons,” inconsistently categorized as semi-automatic rifles of some form. However, the majority of firearm homicides in 2020 were committed using handguns, with a tiny minority committed using rifles.