ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

Between August 1982 and March 2026, 159 mass shootings were recorded in the United States. In 87 of them, the shooter was white. The perpetrator was Black in 27 cases and Latino in 12. In percentage terms, that amounted to about 55 percent white, 17 percent Black and 8 percent Latino.

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. Furthermore, looking at the mass shootings in the U.S. by gender clearly demonstrates that the majority of mass shootings are carried out by men.

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. An analysis found that in over half of the mass shootings since 1982, the shooter showed prior signs of mental health issues.

Mass shootings and guns

In the wake of multiple mass shootings, critics have sought to look beyond the issues of shooter identification and their influences by focusing on their access to guns. The majority of mass shootings in the U.S. involve firearms that were obtained legally. Gun control takes on a particular significance when the uniquely American phenomenon of school shootings is considered. The annual number of incidents involving firearms at K-12 schools in the U.S. was over 100 in each year since 2018. Conversely, similar incidents in other developed countries were exceptionally rare.