Though the Northern Mariana Islands rarely appear in corporate news, they top the attacks list. Between 2000 and 2003, Sweden was 18th out of the 22 countries for deadly shootings per capita. Clearly, a significant error margin exists, particularly when creating country-to-country comparisons. The number of mass shooting incidents in the United States in 2021. Out of the 97 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 64th in the per capita frequency of these attacks and 65th in the murder rate. The last mass shooting in. Based on the leadership principles of George Washington, we provide citizens, voters, and elected officials with the information, insights, and tools that amplify democracy in the modern age. Between 1998 and 2019, numerous other incidents across the country saw multiple victims injured or killed by firearms. Central and Eastern Europe have had a lower frequency of mass shootings than the US, according to Alexei Anisin from the Anglo American University in Prague. In fact, according to CNN, it isnt even close. Canada 4 6. Indeed it is. In reality, gun violence is a huge issue in many other countriesjust none that the US would consider a peer. In terms of rates of private gun ownership, the United States of America rules, at least by official data, rules the planet. Three of the top five countries with the most gun deaths overall are in South America, one is in North America, and one is in Asia. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. This attack is considered to be the deadliest mass shooting in modern Norwegian history. Countries with high rates of violent gun deaths tend to be poorer. These incidents demonstrate that gun violence is still an issue that needs to be addressed in the Netherlands despite having one of the most restrictive gun control laws in Europe. Alabama: 1. . Yet, it doesnt explain how one professors research was so rapidly disseminated that its erroneous claim quickly became the conventional wisdom in a country with 330 million people. The periods after 2000, 2010, or 2020 show a consistent pattern: The per capita rate of mass public shootings in California is always greater than the rate for the rest of the country. Longtime gun owners wont be surprised by this study. Its capital . The media should be wary of any researchers who fail to let others look at their data. California Lankford's findings show that there were 90 mass public shooters in America since 1966, the most in the world, which had a total of 202. According to the University of Alabama's Small Arms Survey, Yemen has experienced more than 40 mass shootings per 100 million people, compared to the US which has had less than 30 per the same study size. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The vast majority of mass shootings, however, leave fewer than 10 people dead. The shootings have claimed 702 lives and injured 2,844 people. After all, who is to say Lankford doesnt have it right and Lott is wrong? Others do not. Of countries with at least 10 million people, there are more mass shootings per capita in only Yemen, which has the second-highest per-capita rate of gun ownership (the US has the highest). The gun homicide rate is high in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri and Alabama have the highest firearm mortality rates in the country, according to the CDC. The data itself supports this interpretation, as the United States endured mass shooting events all seven years, but the other countries all experienced mass shootings during only one or two years. Mass shootings in Europe have become an increasingly alarming phenomenon in recent years. The U.S. endures the most mass shootings in the world, withdepending upon one's definition of a mass shooting (see next section)somewhere between 21 and more than 600 in 2020. North America is home to the most mass shootings of any continent, with the United States accounting for nearly three-quarters of all incidents worldwide since 1966. If this is true, how did the narrative that the US leads the world in mass shootings become the conventional wisdom? There has been one mass shooting in Australia, ranking the country twelfth in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. First point- our large population tends to make us more sensitive to mass shootings. John Lott is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Silvia Killingsworth and Chloe Whiteaker, With the assistance of: CPRC has questioned the legitimacy of this report's data. The difference between us and other countries, [which] explains why we have more of these attackers, was the firearm ownership rate, Lankford said. Germany 5 5. Belgium 2 8. The deadliest such attack, in Las Vegas in 2017, killed more than 50 people and left 500 wounded. While there is no question that mass shootings are horrific, opinions differ widelyparticularly in the United Stateson what causes mass shootings and what needs to be done about them. Firearm-related crime is the leading cause of murders in South Africa. The US accounts for 73 percent of 139 mass shootings that occurred in developed countries between 1998 to 2019, according to a new study. Sadly, these are only a few examples out of the many other mass shootings to occur in Europe over the past few years that have resulted in numerous fatalities and victims injured. . A study on mass shootings in developed countries showed that 101 out of 139 attacks took place in the US between 1998 and 2019, leading to 816 deaths. Lesotho (41.2 per 100,000) Lesotho is a small country found in southern Africa. Their figure includes shootings that happen both in homes and in public places. Days after Canada's worst mass shooting, . But, we dont have a trend of mass shootings at schools, rather we have incidents of killing of family members and firearms being used in gangs or syndicate related crimes, Police Ministry spokeswoman Lirandzu Themba said by phone from Pretoria. There have been 214 mass shootingsdefined by Gun Violence Archive as one in which at least 4 people were shotin the US within the first 145 days of the year. The following is an alphabetized list of just some of the [developed countries] other than the United States that have experienced one or more mass shootings in the past few decades: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Spain, and Switzerland. Registered collectors, hunters and recreational gun users surged 325%, to over 1 million licensed owners last year, from just over 255,000 in 2018, according to a joint study by Igarape Institute and Sou da Paz Institute, local organizations that focus on issues of security and violence. The issue is extremely divisive, falling largely along party lines. There have been 214 mass shootings defined by Gun Violence Archive as one in which at least 4 people were shotin the US within the first 145 days of the year. Countries with ongoing mass killing episodes are indicated with this icon . Some countries near the bottom of the list appear to have no data; this indicates that their estimates are virtually indistinguishable from 0. In addition to these acts of violence, Italy has also seen a rise in the illegal possession of weapons and ammunition over the years due to organized crime groups operating in some parts of the country. Out of the 101 countries where we have identified mass public shootings occurring, the United States ranks 66 th in per capita frequency of these attacks and 56 th in the murder rate. In some instances such as with the 2015 Paris attacks or 2019 Utya massacre in Norway, mass shootings have been perpetrated by extremists who used firearms as part of terrorist attacks targeting innocent civilians. Does Lankfords paper also have that problem? Few topics of discussion can evoke a more passionate (or politically charged) emotional reaction than the subject of mass shootings. Firearm death rates in the United States by state, List of countries by intentional homicide rate, List of U.S. states and territories by violent crime rate, List of U.S. states and territories by intentional homicide rate, List of United States cities by crime rate (2012), Percent of households with guns by country, United States cities by crime rate (100,000250,000), United States cities by crime rate (60,000-100,000), Estimated number of civilian guns per capita by country, "Guns in Singapore: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Venezuela Gun Facts, Figures and the Law", "Guns in Argentina: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Australia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Austria: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Azerbaijan: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Barbados: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Belarus: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Belgium: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Bolivia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Bulgaria: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Canada: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Colombia Gun Facts, Figures and the Law", "Costa Rica Gun Facts, Figures and the Law", "Croatia Gun Facts, Figures and the Law", "Guns in Cuba: Gun Facts, Figures and the Law", "Guns in Cyprus: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Czech Republic: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Denmark: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in El Salvador: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Estonia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Swaziland: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Finland: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in France: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Georgia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Germany: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Greece: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Guatemala: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Honduras: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Hong Kong: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Hungary: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in India: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Victims Murdered by use of Fire Arms 2016", "Guns in Ireland: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Israel: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Italy: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Jamaica: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Japan: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Kuwait: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Kyrgyzstan: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Latvia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Luxembourg: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Mexico: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Moldova: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Montenegro: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Netherlands: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in New Zealand: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Nicaragua: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Estimating Global Civilian-Held Firearms Numbers", "Guns in Macedonia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Norway: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Panama: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Paraguay: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Peru: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Philippines: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Poland: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Portugal: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Qatar: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Romania: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Russia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Serbia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Slovakia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Slovenia: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in South Africa: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in South Korea: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Spain: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Sweden: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Guns in Switzerland: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", Homicides: crimes solved and trend by instrument (perpetrated and attempted), number of accused persons and victims 2009-2019, "Homicides: Crimes solved and trend by instrument (Perpetrated and attempted), number of accused persons and victims - 2009-2019 | Table | Federal Statistical Office", "Guns in Taiwan: Facts, Figures and Firearm Law", "Turkish Homicide by Firearms Statistics", " 2016 , - 20%. While the number of mass shootings remains low compared to other countries, the UK continues to raise awareness on gun violence through different programs which work to reduce gun-related injuries and fatalities through research and advocacy. Switzerland hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself. 81% of homicide victims recorded in 2017 were male. We rank 59th for mass shooting murders, with a rate of 0.188. The comments and data seem to conclusively say that the US leads the world in mass shootings and the violence is unique, a product of Americas gun culture.. While calculating the number of guns in private hands around the world is difficult, the latest figures from the Small Arms Survey - a Swiss-based leading research project - estimate that there were 390 million guns in circulation in 2018. There have been two mass shootings in the Netherlands, ranking the country ninth in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. Media headlines have left little doubt that the US leads the world in mass shootings. In that time, 952 people . Myth 3: Mass shootings are responsible for a high percentage of gun deaths. He has also declined to provide lists of the news sources and languages he used to compile his list of cases. Firearms in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE are very strictly regulated with behavioral and background checks, leading to very few instances of gun violence. There have already been more than 70 mass shootings across the US so far this year, with California experiencing two of the most high-profile in January. The countries with the most mass shootings by country are the US, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Compared to Lankford's. For example, some countries may not include shootings if there are fewer than four fatalities. "Let's be clear, President Obama said in 2015 after a shooting in North Carolina. Lankfords erroneous research had free rein for two years and was disseminated to tens of millions of viewers and readers before the truth finally got its shoes on. Other nations might also count an event as a mass shooting even if it involves fewer deaths if it was carried out by multiple individuals. Mass shootings are part of the larger issue of overall gun violence, which is notably higher in the United States than in other wealthy and developed countries. Homicide figures may include justifiable homicides along with criminal homicides, depending upon jurisdiction and reporting standards. There has been one mass shooting in China, ranking the country eighteenth in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. Some databases include organized terrorist attacks, armed robberies gone wrong, and gang-related shootings. Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Russia all have at least 45 percent higher rates of murder from mass public shootings than the United States. Some controls are widely supported by people across the political divide - such as restrictions governing the sale of guns to people who are mentally ill or on "watch" lists. Europe has also been the victim of multiple mass shootings in recent years, most of them linked to acts of terrorism. Arkansas: 1.33 per million. The perpetrator was given three life sentences. He declined to discuss his methodology, but said he would be publishing more information about mass shooting data in the future.). This is a table which is giving information about "firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year". Because of the smaller populations of most European countries, individual events in those countries had statistically oversized influence and warped the results. The length of the bar indicates the estimated risk. The US does have the most mass shootings to the point where if you compare the typical annual death rate per million people from "mass public shootings" the US has a figure of 0.058 whereas every other country in North America and Europe is 0 (these were the only countries included in the study). France 8 4. In 2014, a man went on a killing spree in Edmonton, Alberta, killing eight individuals, including two children. Similarly, in April last year Georgia became the 25th in the nation to eliminate the need for a permit to conceal or openly carry a firearm. In fact, our 330 million population has the same number of people as the 140 smallest countries in the world. And India in third with 26,500. In a study published in 2021, Geller and colleagues found that in over 68% of mass shootings, the perpetrator killed at least one partner or family member and had a history of domestic violence. The SAS found that gun ownership among civilians . A mass shooting is defined as one in which four or more people are shot in a single event, not including the perpetrator. The U.S. has a problem unlike any other nation. If you asked me this morning which nation has the most mass shootings in the world, I would have said, with perhaps a flicker of hesitation, the United States. A study, published by the Annals of Internal Medicine in February, found that 7.5 million US adults became first new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune. Ultimately, all these discrepancies mean that the total number of recorded mass shooting incidents varies greatly from country to country, which poses a major challenge when trying to obtain reliable data and make accurate comparisons between regions or nations, and also explains why parts of the world seem to not have any mass shooting incidents. While the US does not have a single definition for "mass shootings", the Gun. There has been one mass shooting in Norway, ranking the country seventeenth in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. In other words: firearms per capita. The second mass shooting occurred in September 2008, when a 22-year-old gunman went on a rampage that left ten people killed and eleven injured at the Seinjoki University of Applied Science in Kauhajoki. 57% of Americans surveyed said they wanted stricter gun laws, while 32% said they should remain the same. These tragic events have raised awareness of gun violence and terrorism in France. A new report from the Crime Prevention Research Center, which one of us heads, has just finished collecting cases using the same definition of mass public shootings used by Lankford. Sadly, the aftermath of these tragedies often entails physical and psychological trauma for survivors and their families, as well as negatively impacts the population of the countries concerned in the long term. Surprisingly, Norway is, with an outlier mass shooting death rate of 1.888 per million (high no doubt because of the rifle assault by political extremist Anders Brevik that claimed 77 lives in 2011). Finally, in 1999, another mass shooting took place in Bad Reichenhall; four people died. When defined as four or more people shot, 2021's total is 13.4 percent higher than 2020. These omissions are important because Lankfords entire conclusion would fall apart if he undercounted foreign cases due to lack of news coverage and language barriers. And while mass shooting and gun murders generally garner more media attention, of the total, more than half were suicides. We have almost double the firearm ownership rate of any other country.. To read this study is to gain a glimpse into the challenges statisticians face. While there were only two mass shootings in Italy during this period, they were not the only instances of gun-related violence. United States 101 2. While these are undeniably tragic deaths, the EJW proposes that they are not what most people associate with the term "mass shooting" and should not be included. Read about our approach to external linking. There have been eight mass shootings in France, ranking the country third in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. A . This leads to a more accurate day-to-day impression and country-to-country comparison. Lotts team opted for the useful distinction of mass murder attacks per 100,000 people, versus deaths per million. Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation. Lankfords erroneous research had free rein for two years and was disseminated to tens of millions of viewers and readers before the truth finally got its shoes on. In Georgia and Colorado the scenes of the. (Follow him on Substack.). Lankfords findings show that there were 90 mass public shooters in America since 1966, the most in the world, which had a total of 202. But our nations relatively obscure ranking on this chart is proof that so-called gun violence has little relationship to the presence of guns in citizens homes and hands. Russia 21 3. One of the most recent shootings happened in 2016, when a man opened fire in the Olympia shopping mall in Munich, killing nine people and injuring thirty-six others. The countries with the most mass shootings by country are the US, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. One of the more detailed analyses appeared on the fact-checking website snopes.com and concluded that the CRPC report used inappropriate statistical methods which led to misleading results. For example, Norways world-leading annual rate was due to a single devastating 2011 event, in which far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik gunned down 69 people at a summer camp on the island of Utya. This fact alone probably would not have led me to believe that the US leads the world in mass shootings, however. Many statisticians believe the reason the CRPC study's results seem so counterintuitive is that they are incorrect. 1. eleven of the thirteen deadliest mass shootings, Mass shootings in U.S. compared with other countries, Comparing Death Rates from Mass Public Shootings and Mass Public Violence in the US And Europe - Crime Prevention Research Center, Does the United States Have a Lower Death Rate From Mass Shootings Than European Countries? There are approximately 55 guns for every 100 people in Yemen compared to about 89 for every 100 in the US, according to the survey. Lankfords study reported that over the 47 years there were 90 public mass shooters in the United States and 202 in the rest of world. 90% of suspects in homicide incidents were male. The figure represents a 34% increase from 2019, and a 75% increase over the course of the previous decade. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the USA. Birmingham, Alabama. In 2021, the Mexican government sued the US and several gunmakers saying loose controls are contributing to the illegal flow of weapons over the border. El Salvador saw a murder rate of 52.02 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide in 2022. There have been twenty-one mass shootings in Russia, ranking the country second in the world in terms of the number of mass shootings. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. No official, universally accepted definition for a mass shooting exists. Finland 3 7. Between 2019 and 2021, the state's annual mass shooting homicide rate of 1.4 per one million people was lower than the national . The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 120.5 firearms per 100 people; . Note: GDP per capita for Denmark and Greenland come from CIA. The United States has had more mass shootings than any other country. Similarly, some databases include events in which at least four people were wounded, but not necessarily killed. In 2019, 275 people were murdered in that city. A May 24 massacre at a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead has reignited the debate over guns and focused attention on the uniquely high rate of school shootings. According to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, there are an estimated 34.7 firearms . They have ranged from mass killings in shopping malls to attacks on schools and other public places. The statistics. (Need I reference the Covington debacle and the Smollet hoax? The myth, it turns out, stems from University of Alabama associate professor Adam Lankford. The US is the third largest country by population in the world, behind only China and India. Norway, Finland,. Through the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the United States, about 54 lives lost per day, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Gun. Lankfords data grossly undercount foreign attacks. Mass shootings are part of the larger issue of overall gun violence, which is notably higher in the United States than in other wealthy and developed countries. Rates of the 25, List of countries by firearm-related death rate. While gun homicides have been steadily declining for decades in the US, mass shootings have indeed been trending upward. With another mass shooting in California, number 19 since 1984, the state leads the nation in most deaths from these kinds of violent killingsbut only because it is by far the most populous state. How could that be?