US mass shootings have risen to a high not seen since 2006. Here’s why

The United States in 2023 has broken the truly horrific record of having the most mass shootings in 17 years. On Sunday, the country witnessed its 37th and 38th mass shootings in Texas and Washington – breaking last year’s unfortunate record of 36 mass shootings and making the year the worst for mass shootings all the way back to 2006, as per The Guardian. Let’s take a closer look at the US’ horrible year with gun violence: What happened? In Dallas, a 21-year-old man fatally shot himself while being pursued by officers around 320 kilometres  away from where he killed four people, including a 1-year-old boy, and injured a 15-year-old girl in a shooting. Three adults, including a woman the man had dated and been accused of assaulting in the past, died at the home. The young boy died at a hospital. The suspect was due back in court on Tuesday in a case related to a 2021 assault of the woman and another man who died in the shooting. In Vancouver, Washington, a man fatally shot his wife, their two adult daughters and his brother before killing himself inside the home. Authorities were called to the house after the suspected shooter texted someone and indicated that he had “harmed others” there. Meanwhile, another database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University said that these incidents were the country’s 40th and 41st mass killings this year. As per The Associated Press, at least 211 people have died this year in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people have died within a 24-hour-period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI. As per The Washington Post, despite their name most mass shootings do not occur in public.

At least 26 of this year’s 38 mass shootings occurred at private homes or in shelters.

As per The Guardian, the year’s worst attack occurred in Lewiston in October which 18 people were killed. The gunman was a US Army reservist and firearms instructor. Police found him dead two days later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a recycling facility where he had recently worked. Fellow service members had raised flags about his behaviour, mental health state and potential for violence before the shootings. The second-worst attack occurred in January in which 11 people were killed. The 72-year-old man opened fire on a mostly elderly crowd at a Lunar New Year dance. He later died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The massacre has been called the deadliest shooting in Los Angeles County history. [caption id=“attachment_13325922” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] US president Joe Biden in October in the aftermath of the shooting in Maine had vowed to do ‘everything in his power’ to end the problem of gun violence. AFP[/caption] As per Washington Post, mass killings dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 after increasing in 2019. The shootings have increased in frequency as life returned to normal. It is also important to note that different organisations use different yardsticks to measure the number of mass shootings and killings.

This is because there is no agreed-upon definition for the term.

The Gun Violence Archive, for example, defines mass shootings as events in which multiple people are shot regardless of number of deaths. That leads to its tally for the year 2023 – 630 mass shootings – being much higher than other groups. The archive put the total in 2022 at 645 and 2021 at 690. Thomas Abt, founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction, speaking to Washington Post called the development “a tragic, shameful milestone that should — but probably will not — serve as a wake-up call” to those in power. “The rise in mass shootings is driven by many factors, but increasingly easy access to firearms is the primary cause,” the associate research professor at the University of Maryland added. James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern, told the newspaper, “Far too many people are being killed by their own hand or by someone else’s hand.” “And mass shootings just happen to be the most visible.” US president Joe Biden in October, in the aftermath of a shooting in Maine, had vowed to do ‘everything in his power’ to end the problem of gun violence. “Americans should not have to live like this. I call on Republicans in Congress to fulfil their obligation to keep Americans safe. And I will continue doing everything in my power to end this gun violence epidemic. The Lewiston community, and all Americans, deserve nothing less,” he added. Jennifer Zanca, a survivor of the Lewiston shooting, had stressed the urgent need for solutions to address gun violence in the nation. She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “I don’t know where to go from here because this just keeps happening, and there needs to be some solutions.” Zanca highlighted the personal toll of such incidents and the importance of finding ways to prevent them. It remains to be seen if anything, if at all, will change. With inputs from agencies