Mass Shootings in America: Are they truly on the rise?

A Mass Shooting can be defined as an occurrence involving four or more people being shot, excluding the perpetrator, in a singular event. The deadliest mass shooting took place in America in 2017 at a Las Vegas Concert, where 60 victims were reported injured or deceased. Mass shootings have taken place all over the world; however, the United States has experienced the most of these tragedies. There is no fixed reason why a perpetrator commits these acts. It can span from people with mental health issues calling out a cry for help, all the way to someone with a desire for infamy. Many mass shootings have been taking place within America, but this raises the question: are they truly on the rise to becoming an epidemic?                                           

In an article written in March of 2023 by the Everytown Gun Safety Support Fund, a group advocating for gun safety in America, it is stated that since 2015, over 19,000 people have been shot, wounded, or killed in a mass shooting. In 2021, America officially reached a new record with the amount of mass shootings in a single year, with an astronomical number of 686.                                                                     

Many mass shootings are motivated by individuals who are moved by ideologies they follow online surrounding hate towards different races, sexuality, or genders. Due to the internet’s fast expansion, the accessibility of extremist views online has tremendously grown. Unfortunately, the target audience for this controversial content is primarily aimed at young, preteen to teenage-aged boys. The promotion of such content consists of views supporting hatred, harassment, and violence. These beliefs cultivate the unwarranted prejudice that is acceptable, and as time has gone on, committing violent acts in acts of “support” of these beliefs have been normalized due to the sheer amount of these specific instances that have taken place.  The internet has devolved from a place where you can share new ideas and spread positivity to one in which it is normalized to spread hostility that promotes real-world violence. 

In a separate article, the American College of Surgeons delves into the incidence of school shootings and explains how they have quadrupled in numbers over the past 53 years. The number of annual school shootings has increased from 20 incidents in 1970 to 251 in 2021. Nearly two-thirds of the perpetrators were classified as being under 17 years of age. Additionally, Florida, a state that supplies individuals with easy access to firearms, was one of the states with the most school shootings, with a whopping count of 120 individual massacre events. These findings were reported by a professional league of Trauma Surgeons who have had to operate on children, young adults, and adults wounded during school shootings around the country for decades.

Similar to all epidemics, there must be a cure. Mass shootings are no exception, and healthcare professionals in the physical and mental health fields have been working tirelessly to find a way to prevent further incidents. According to the American College of Surgeons, steps that can be taken to stop someone from considering committing a shooting before it’s too late are quite simple. If properly implemented, a system can be set up to catch shooters before they commit an act. This can be done in a school setting by having school social workers and teachers report anything concerning they witness, regularly check in with students, and make sure their social media is monitored. Not only should adults be keeping an eye out for their children, but peers should as well. The motto surrounding school shootings is “If you see something, say something.” All mass shootings are preventable in some way, shape, or form.

Most assume that mass killings have only come to exist in the past 20 years; however, violent attacks such as these have led back centuries. Attacks like these have evolved along with technology to shooting events, and it seems there is no certainty that they will stop anytime soon. The normalization of implementing radicalized views onto an impressionable audience, along with the easy access to firearms and an ongoing mental health crisis that the government fails to address, makes something very clear: Mass Shootings in America have a long, monstrous future ahead of them.