Over the holiday weekend of July 4, there were a number of mass shootings across the country, which are typically characterised as instances that result in four or more injuries or fatalities. Another tragic mass shooting occurred in downtown Sacramento, California, outside a nightclub. For the state and the country, lowering the frequency of mass shootings remains a constant task.
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Between 2013 and 2021, California saw an average of 44 mass shootings annually, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. This equals one large-scale shooting every 8.3 days.
In California, mass shootings account for around 3% of all homicides. In each of the previous 8 years, mass shooters have injured 167 people while killing 49 people on average. Throughout contrast, there were almost 2,000 killings in the entire state in 2020.
While the pandemic has seen a surge in homicides, there have been seasonal and annual changes in mass shootings since 2013. Every seven to ten days this year, a mass shooting occurs in California. There has been an average of one mass shooting every week in the state so far in 2022.
Although some shootings are deadlier than others, each mass shooting in California and around the country results in an average of one fatality and four injuries. Basic victim characteristics are frequently unclear since mass shooting data are rarely consistently collected.
56% of individuals killed or hurt in mass shootings in California were men, 18% were women, and 26% were unidentified in terms of gender. Californians are around 25% less likely to die in mass shootings than residents of other states.
The state’s yearly mass shooting homicide rate between 2019 and 2021 was 1.4 per million inhabitants, which was lower than the 1.9 national average. The majority of mass shooters are male. Just 10 of the more than 400 mass shooting occurrences in California between January 1, 2013, and May 15, 2022 involved females.
Most mass shooting occurrences were preceded by interpersonal issues, workplace disagreements, and tumultuous romantic relationships. However, since 2015, events involving racism and hate, such as those in Buffalo and Laguna Woods, have increased. Hate is a factor in about one in five mass shootings.
Preventing mass shootings offers considerable obstacles. Stricter gun laws and focused shooting prevention measures are among the suggested options. National legislation that was just recently passed has moved in both directions.
The bipartisan law, among other things, supports states passing “red flag” laws, which establish procedures to take firearms away from those displaying violent tendencies. Such a law already exists in California, therefore the state might invest the money it will get in other effective policies.
Although the federal law also funds mental health care, it might be challenging to spot those who are considering large-scale assaults and know when to take proper action. Nearly one in five mass murderers showed no overt indicators of distress before to acting.
However, that still indicates that 4/5 of them did display signs of agitation, abuse, or sadness. Enhancing community resources to address the economic, social, and emotional strains that frequently underlie these behaviours could aid both the many people who avoid violence and the few people in distress who might turn to it.
