Mass Shootings on the Rise, New FBI Study Shows

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newsweek Magazine

Mass Shootings on the Rise, New FBI Study Shows
By Taylor Wofford
Filed: 9/24/14 at 4:21 PM

A new study released Wednesday by the FBI shows that mass shootings, or "active shooter incidents," as the bureau calls them, are increasing in frequency.

The study tracked 160 shootings between 2000 and 2013. Between 2000 and 2007, an average of 6.4 incidents occurred annually, according to the study. That number more than doubled—to 16.4 incidents annually—between 2008 and 2013. "This trend reinforces the need to remain vigilant regarding prevention efforts," the study said, "and for law enforcement to aggressively train to better respond to—and help communities recover from—active shooter incidents."

An "active shooter incident" differs from a "defined crime, such as a murder or a mass killing," the study said, in that "both law enforcement personnel and citizens have the potential to affect the outcome of the event based upon their responses." The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the Cinemark Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, were all analyzed as part of the study.

Overall, there were, on average, 11.4 active shooter incidents annually for all the years the study covered, resulting in 1,043 casualties. Among those, 486 people were killed and 557 were wounded.


Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/mass-shootings-rise-new-fbi-study-shows-273020

[blkmusclmachine]

1. Go, go, go NRA !!

Never
Really
Accountable

[IveWornAHundredPants]

2. Look, it's not very helpful to post stuff like this.

I know we all agree that gun ownership is a positive thing, and that every household should have (should legally be required to have, IMO) one or two guns, immediately accessible for home emergencies. It's just common sense.

And yet there are still people with doubts about guns - about GUNS, which are only the tools we as a people used to civilize this country! It's patriotic to own a gun, anti-American not to, and it's also a basic human right ordained by the Constitution of these United States - the original document, mind you!

So posting easily debunked nonsense like this is not helpful to the challenge of arming every home, because those who have doubts about guns are the weakest-minded among us, and might look at something like this and think of guns as "negative" things. And we don't want that.

[HereSince1628]

3. U forgot the "sarcasm" smilie

[IveWornAHundredPants]

7. I thought I was laying it on a bit heavy as it was!

[strawberries]

17. Not sure if you are serious

I don't own a gun, although the thought has crossed my mind lately. I have no issues with a responsible person owning a gun, but more importantly I don't blame the NRA or gun owners for MASS killings. I blame our government for not helping these individuals prior to their killings. The "bad guys" or those challenged will always have a gun, and if there were no guns they would be using home made bombs. (as a guess)

Put your focus and energy into helping these folks before they reach their end

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. Newsweek headline writers didn't read Prof. Fox's Peer Reviewed study in Criminology

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/us/us-mass-killings/

Active Shooter is not the same as Mass Killing.
Interestingly both are more likely to be perpetrated by a Male than a murder in general which is already 90% male perpetrator.

[Judi Lynn]

5. US Active-Shooter Cases Spike at a 'Troubling' Rate

US Active-Shooter Cases Spike at a 'Troubling' Rate
Sep 24, 2014, 4:10 PM ET
BY PIERRE THOMAS, JACK CLOHERTY and MIKE LEVINE

"Active-shooter incidents" in the United States are increasing in frequency, according to an FBI study of the 160 such attacks in the country between 2000 and 2013.
“During the first 7 years included in the study, an average of 6.4 incidents occurred annually,” the report notes. “In the last 7 years … that average increased to 16.4 incidents annually.”

In a pad-and-pencil briefing with reporters today, FBI Assistant Director James F. Yacone called the acceleration of incidents “troubling.”
The comprehensive study would provide an important “baseline” that will help the FBI and state and local police respond to the shootings, and in some cases, even prevent them, he added.

The study found there have been active-shooting incidents in 40 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and they occur in big cities, small towns and rural areas. While most took place in business or school environments, there were also mass shootings in military and other government property, health care facilities and houses of worship.

The FBI study reports a total of 1,043 casualties in the 160 mass shootings: 468 people were killed, and 557 wounded, excluding the shooters. In the 45 incidents in which law enforcement officers were able to engage the shooter, nine officers were killed and 28 wounded. Yacone said that the FBI is helping local law enforcement with advanced equipment and training for confronting mass shooters.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-deadly-mass-shootings-spike-troubling-rate/story?id=25736640

[calimary]

6. HAH. Knock me over with a feather on that one.

[Paladin]

8. But...but...but...the Gun Enthusiasts keep saying we're safer than EVER, now! (nt)

[Recursion]

12. We are. Random mass shootings are up in the context of much lower violence overall

You're still much less likely to be shot in 2014 than you were in 1994.

[Paladin]

16. Nice to see you have to make the distinction., for a change.

It gets really old, hearing gun activists make the claim that the slaughter of 20 school kids is just the same as it's always been, and that it's the Evil Liberal Media's fault for getting people upset about such things. And spare me any huffy denials---that's exactly the stance that Gun Enthusiasts have been pushing for some time, now.....

[Recursion]

18. Huh?

[pablo_marmol]

14. Ahem........

[A Little Weird]

15. I wonder if the stats include police violence

Seems like there's a lot of unarmed black men being shot and people being shot during raids of the wrong house. It would be interesting to see how those numbers have changed over time but I'll bet they aren't even tracked.

[pablo_marmol]

20. Not to discount the atrocity of police violence when it occurs.......

.......but police shootings are a very small fraction of overall shootings.

And yes - I agree that it would be very interesting to see how the numbers have moved over time.

[Agalbraith]

9. Mass shooting vs. active shooter

As has been stated... the headline of this article is VERY misleading. Mass shootings and active shooter incidents are not the same thing. Murders of all types are indeed down. However, that does not mean that cases in which the police arrive while the shooter is still on site and has a weapon (as opposed to a murder scene where the shooter is long gone) can still be on the rise. Perhaps better response time by the police, perhaps better reporting of incidents by the public... some factors to consider.

very poor sensationalized reporting.

[whereisjustice]

10. no surprise, after every incident, people rush out to buy more guns. the enemy we need defeat

is slaughtering our people right here in the USA, not in overseas.

[Man from Pickens]

11. when the cops SWAT the wrong house for the billionth time and shoot everybody up

will that be counted as an "active shooter incident" or a "mass shooting"?

[Judi Lynn]

13. You'd think once the SWAT people realized the horrendous result of their stupid vicious murders,

they'd be more careful after that.

Fat chance.

They don't have to. Who's going to make them?

[GOLGO 13]

19. Kids getting shot? Yeah, shame that. Cops getting blown away? It's a fucking epidemic!!!!!

Until it hits them right square in the face. Then they get it.