Topline
The United States faced 61 active shooter incidents that led to over 100 deaths in 2021, a 52.5% increase from 2020, the FBI announced Monday, indicating that a surge in shootings that began around the start of the Covid-19 pandemic did not immediately slow down.
Tactical police units respond to the scene of a King Soopers grocery store after a shooting on March … [+]
Key Facts
The FBI’s annual report on active shooter incidents—which the agency defines as shootings in which a perpetrator uses a firearm to attempt to kill people in a populated area—recorded incidents in 30 states last year that resulted in 103 people killed and 140 wounded, up from 40 incidents in 19 states with 38 deaths and 126 injuries during 2020.
The number of active shooter incidents qualifying as “mass killings” with three or more deaths increased from five in 2020 to 12 last year.
Some 32 of last year’s active shooter incidents—which don’t include self-defense, domestic, gang or drug-related shootings—occurred at commercial locations like stores and hotels, while 19 occurred in open spaces and three occurred in government facilities, roughly consistent with trends from recent years.
As in past years, the overwhelming majority of alleged active shooters were male and about half of shooting suspects were apprehended by law enforcement rather than being killed by law enforcement or by armed civilians or dying by suicide.
During 2021, the FBI noted a growing trend of “roving active shooters” who attack in multiple locations, either during a single day or over multiple days, the agency said in a release.
Tangent
The deadliest active shooter incident of last year took place in March, when 10 people were killed at a King Soopers grocery store by an individual allegedly wielding a pistol and a semiautomatic handgun.
Key Background
The FBI’s report came less than two weeks after a mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store left 10 people dead—and roughly one month after a shooting aboard a New York City subway train left 10 people shot and 29 injured. Active shooter incidents have more than doubled since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a surge that a 2021 research letter published by JAMA Network suggested could be a result of psychological and financial stresses inflicted by the pandemic. Though mass shootings have prompted Democratic lawmakers to urge for tighter gun control laws, the idea is politically polarizing. Some 49% of U.S. adults think stricter gun control laws would lead to fewer mass shootings, including 73% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents but just 20% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center poll.
Further Reading
“Mass Shootings Soared During Pandemic — And Researchers Think Covid Stress Could Be To Blame” (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/05/23/active-shooter-incidents-in-us-jumped-53-last-year-fbi-says/