Another US Record in Mass Shootings
This weekend saw another shattered record for mass shootings, as the US broke the previous record of 36, reached last year. There were two mass shootings on Sunday, occurring within hours of each other, that resulted in the nation’s 37th and 38th mass shootings.
In Dallas, Texas, a 21-year-old man — who had been assigned an ankle monitor bracelet because of a previous aggravated assault charge — walked into a house and shot five people, killing a toddler and three adults on Sunday. He fled in a stolen car and fatally shot himself as highway patrol officers chased him. On the same day, only hours later in Vancouver, Washington, a man fatally shot his wife, their two adult daughters and his brother before killing himself.
The term “mass shooting” has no universal definition. Some outlets like The Washington Post label an incident in which a shooting occurs and at least four people are killed (excluding the shooter) a “mass killing with a gun.” Other organizations define a mass shooting more broadly, and consequently report much larger numbers. The Gun Violence Archive, includes events in which multiple people have been shot, regardless of whether anyone died and at SHERO, we report the numbers from this database every week in our Sunday Recap.
More than 48,000 people died of gunshot wounds in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which averages out to about 132 deaths per day. Of those gun deaths, more than half were suicides. Since 2006, at least 26 of the 38 — the largest number of mass killings — has occurred in private homes or shelters. A majority of these mass shootings were also committed by people who killed members of their own families, including current or former romantic partners and children.
The deadliest mass shooting of 2023 occurred at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, when a US Army reservist fatally shot 18 people. The shooting took place on a Wednesday night, but the community was hunkered down in terror until the dead body of the shooter was finally located by police on Friday. Because it was difficult to immediately identify the targets and motives of the shooter, the second largest town in Maine was terrorized and forced to shelter in place during the actual mass shooting and for days afterward.
Ten of the 38 shootings happened in public places, including an outlet mall in Texas, a bank in Kentucky, a mushroom farm in California and a birthday party in Alabama. Adam Lankford, chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama, explains that perpetrators attack both strangers and people they know, despite knowing it would result their own death or life imprisonment.
Penalties have no real impact in the mind of a mass shooter who has “no hope for the future,” according to Lankford, who finds this year’s mass shooting record particularly troubling. Rather than taking action to curtail access for certain people to firearms, “American society has become better at understanding mass shooting warning signs and threat assessment strategies,” he said.
Mass killings with guns rose in 2019, but saw a decline in numbers during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic due to many people isolating at home. The year 2023 began with the highest number of mass shootings seen in any month, as January had seven mass killings with guns.
While many factors contribute to a mass shooting event, one simple truth remains: there is always at least one person who is shooting people, and at least one firearm involved. Thomas Abt, founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction and an associate research professor at the University of Maryland says, “The rise in mass shootings is driven by many factors, but increasingly easy access to firearms is the primary cause.”
While it is good that the United States is forced to analyze warning signs and threats that may lead to another mass shooting, it seems pointless to stop there in terms of prevention. An academic study conducted in 2019 showed that while background checks alone for firearm purchases did not substantially reduce firearm deaths — when combined with licensing strategies, such as Permit-to-Purchase laws — background checks became much more effective.
Permit-to-Purchase laws (PTP), or firearm purchaser licensing, requires an individual to apply for and obtain a license before purchasing a firearm. In most states with this policy, the process includes submitting an application to state or local police, getting fingerprinted and undergoing a comprehensive background check, and it often involves safety training requirements. Currently, only 14 states have Permit-to-Purchase laws in place.
When Missouri repealed its Permit-to-Purchase law in 2007, there was a pronounced rise in gun violence. Within three years the state’s gun homicide rate had spiked 25 percent. Within five years, the state’s overall murder rate was up 14 percent. Gun theft increased as well, according to a 2021 analysis by the Center for American Progress.
A 2015 study from Johns Hopkins found that Permit-to-Purchase laws that require applicants to get fingerprinted have lowered the rates of exporting guns to criminals in other states by 45 percent. The same study found that permit-to-purchase laws that allow law enforcement discretion when approving or denying permits created a 67 percent lower rate of the illegal out-of-state exportation of guns.
While America continues to break mass shooting records, and we have collectively done very little to curb the violence in 2023, the enactment of Permit-to-Purchase laws in more states is something that could instantly reduce gun violence. It’s important that we recognize the increases in mass shootings; but to acknowledge the violence without taking any action to stop it is madness.
I encourage you to take action today, by calling your Congressperson and state Senators using the information here to demand they support permit-to-purchase laws in your state. You can effect change by supporting two essential organizations, Everytown and Mom’s Demand Action, who are leading the fight for sensible gun reforms. Also consider supporting our work here by subscribing to SHERO, where we sound the alarm on gun violence every week.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
Paid subscriptions and one-time tributes embedded in each article allow me to keep publishing critical and informative work that is sometimes made available to the public — thank you. If you like this piece and want to support independent journalism further, you can forward this article to others, get a paid subscription or gift subscription, or donate as much as you like today.
Well, at least guns have rights in the US, unlike women, minorities, and the poor.
Today is also the 34th anniversary of a mass shooting in Montreal in which a man killed 14 women students at the Ecole Polytechnique because they were "feminists." Unlike the United States, however, Canada changed it laws afterward (Firearms Act of 1995). They have also banned assault weapons since the Nova Scotia killings in 2020. Big difference.