Topline
More than a dozen people were killed, while 58 people were injured in 15 mass shootings across the country during Labor Day weekend, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, as the U.S. remains nearly on pace to record as many mass shootings in 2022 as during the record-breaking year of 2021.
Protestors take part in a rally of Moms against gun violence.
Key Facts
In total, 18 people were killed in mass shootings resulting in at least four injuries or deaths from Friday to Tuesday in several locations across the country, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia and Florida.
In Charleston, South Carolina, five people were injured in a downtown shooting on Sunday, while five people were shot, including three who were killed at a residence in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Several students at Norfolk State University were shot in Norfolk, Virginia this weekend in an attack that left two dead and five injured, while 10 people were injured and one killed in a shooting in Cleveland, Ohio outside a bar early Monday morning.
The Labor Day weekend mass shootings follow several other violent holiday weekends during the summer of 2022, including a Fourth of July parade shooting in Chicago that left six dead.
Big Number
464. That’s how many mass shootings the U.S. recorded in 2022 as of September 5, according to Gun Violence Archive. There were 472 mass shootings by the same date in 2021, a record year for the number of mass shootings recorded (692) since the nonprofit began tracking incidents in 2014.
Key Background
The U.S. has grappled with a host of deadly mass shootings this year, including a massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 students and two teachers dead and a shooting at a Tops Friendly Supermarket in Buffalo, New York in May that killed 10 people. The violence spurred a bipartisan group of lawmakers to come together to pass the most significant gun control measures in decades, signed into law by President Joe Biden in June. The legislation includes efforts to bar intimate partners convicted of domestic violence from purchasing guns and expanding background checks for gun purchases for those under 21, but stops short of more aggressive measures long pushed for by Democrats, including a ban on high-capacity magazines. Polls show most Americans are supportive of more aggressive gun control measures, with 59% supporting a ban on AR-15 rifles, a lethal weapon commonly used in mass shootings, according to an August Morning Consult poll.
Further Reading
U.S. Mass Shootings Hover Near Record-Breaking Levels (Forbes)
Dozens Shot In Spate Of Holiday Weekend Shootings Across The Country (Forbes)
Spate of violence across US mars Labor Day weekend (The Hill)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/09/06/more-than-a-dozen-killed-in-15-mass-shootings-over-labor-day-weekend/