Mass Shootings in the U.S.

 

Mass Shootings in the U.S.

 Some publications like the New York Times article referenced below give lurid accounts of how one demented mass shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, was influenced by fringe white supremacist material on the internet to kill 10 people in a Buffalo grocery store.  The NYT article uses this one incident to represent rampant mass shootings by “racists” and “white supremacists”, as if these were the only such mass murders in the country.

 This led me to research the racial composition of mass shootings in the country.  What I found was a recent extensive unbiased study by the prestigious German firm, Statista, that specifically examined this question.

 Statista found that the race of mass shooters in the U.S. for the past 40 years reflects the U.S. population, and is not related to any specific ideology.  The following refer.

 

 “Mass shootings in the U.S. by shooter’s by race/ethnicity as of June 2022

Published by Statista Research Department, Jun 2, 2022

 Between 1982 and June 2022, 68 out of the 129 mass shootings in the United States were carried out by white shooters. By comparison, the perpetrator was African American in 21 mass shootings, and Latino in 11. When calculated as percentages, this amounts to 53 percent, 16 percent, and 8.5 percent respectively.

Race of mass shooters reflects the U.S. population

Broadly speaking, the racial distribution of mass shootings mirrors the racial distribution of the U.S. population as a whole.

Mass shootings and mental health

With no clear patterns between the socio-economic or cultural background of mass shooters, increasing attention has been placed on mental health. Analysis of the factors Americans considered to be to blame for mass shootings showed 80 percent of people felt the inability of the mental health system to recognize those who pose a danger to others was a significant factor. “

 https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/01/technology/fringe-mainstream-social-media.html?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=ffb9ed66f0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_06_02_02_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-ffb9ed66f0-400245601

 Ray Gruszecki

June 2, 2022