More Than 500 Killed In Mass Shootings This Year—Most In At Least 10 Years

Topline

More than 500 people have been killed in mass shootings so far this year, the most through the end of August in at least 10 years, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, following a series of shootings this month, including in Jacksonville, Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, Boston and Seattle.

Key Facts

Big Number

28,535. That’s how many people have died from gun-related deaths so far this year, including 15,906 who died by suicide and another 12,629 from homicide, murder, defensive gun use or from the result of an unintentional firing, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. That includes 201 children under the age of 12 killed in gun-related events and 981 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

Key Background

In response to a string of shootings earlier this year, President Joe Biden announced a new set of gun control measures in March, issuing an executive order to expand background checks for people selling firearms and directing the attorney general’s office to develop plans to prevent dealers with revoked licenses from selling firearms. That announcement was the latest in a series of measures aimed at curbing gun violence, including the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Biden signed into law last June, tightening gun control measures including by closing the so-called boyfriend loophole that had allowed domestic abusers to own guns. Biden’s executive order this spring followed a string of shootings, including one in Monterey Park, California, when 11 people were killed at a dance hall, as well as a pair of shootings in Half Moon Bay, California, killing seven people—though shootings have continued throughout the year. Another 17 mass shootings were reported over the Fourth of July weekend, including a deadly attack in Shreveport, Louisiana, where four people were killed and another six were injured. A shooting earlier this month in Hartville, Ohio—outside Akron—left four people dead, while another attack this month in Oklahoma City left four people dead, and a gunman in Jacksonville, Florida, killed three people last week in what police said was a racially-motivated attack at a Dollar General (all three victims were Black).

Contra

While a series of recent Democratic-led gun violence prevention measures have passed in recent years, other initiatives have been stopped short due to overwhelming GOP pushback, including a proposed assault weapons ban that fizzled in the Senate last year after passing the then Democrat-controlled House. President Biden once again called on Congress to pass the ban following a school shooting in Nashville in March, though a ban faces long odds in the GOP-controlled House, while some GOP lawmakers push instead for mental health-focused legislation aimed at combating growing gun violence.

Further Reading

Police Identify 21-Year-Old Shooter And Victims In Racially Motivated Jacksonville Shooting—Here’s What We Know (Forbes)

U.S. Passes 400 Mass Shootings In 2023–On Pace For Deadliest Year (Forbes)