Comparing the Global Rate of Mass Public Shootings to the U.S.’s Rate and Comparing their Changes Over time

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member



Executive Summary

The U.S. is well below the world average in terms of the number of mass public shootings, and the global increase over time has been much bigger than for the United States.

Over the 18 years from 1998 to 2015, our list contains 2,354 attacks and at least 4,880 shooters outside the United States and 53 attacks and 57 shooters within our country. By our count, the US makes up less than 1.15% of the mass public shooters, 1.49% of their murders, and 2.20% of their attacks. All these are much less than the US’s 4.6% share of the world population. Attacks in the US are not only less frequent than other countries, they are also much less deadly on average.

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.

Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US’s share of these attacks have declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number and severity of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.


“I say this every time we’ve got one of these mass shootings: This just doesn’t happen in other countries.” –Obama, news conference at COP21 climate conference in Paris, Dec. 1, 2015

“The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” –President Obama, interview that aired on CBS Evening News, Dec. 2, 2015

“You don’t see murder on this kind of scale, with this kind of frequency, in any other advanced nation on Earth.” – President Obama, speech at U.S. Conference of Mayors, June 19, 2015

“This doesn’t happen anywhere else on the planet.” -- California’s Governor-elect Gavin Newson, referring to 12 people killed at the Borderline Bar and Grill, Thousand Oaks, California, November 8, 2018

“We stand alone in the world in the number of mass shootings," Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), November 5, 2018
 

herb749

Well-Known Member
The people who like to compare mass shooting from the US to foreign countries like to cherry pick the countries they know that have strict gun rules to say these don't happen there.
 
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