So-called mass shootings are a big problem in the USA. The Federal Police FBI has recorded a significant increase in such rampages with firearms in the past year.
The FBI counted 61 gun shootings in the United States last year. The FBI announced on Monday evening (local time) in Washington that this was more than 50 percent more than in the previous year.
The number has doubled since 2017. In 2021, 103 people were killed and 140 injured in rampages. That, too, is an increase of almost 50 percent compared to 2020. According to the information, 60 of the 61 shooters were men.
Eleven of the shooters took their own lives, 14 were killed by police officers and four by citizens. In the USA, not only police officers carry guns with them on a daily basis, but also parts of the population.
The FBI uses a strict definition for the count: it only includes cases in which a perpetrator shoots at people in public in order to kill them. Shooting sprees in which a perpetrator kills by other means, such as with a vehicle or a knife, are not counted here. Classic criminal cases involving armed violence or shootings among gang members are ignored.
This FBI statistic only takes into account situations in which the police were called to the scene of the crime during the incident and had the opportunity to stop a killing spree.
The level of gun violence overall is far greater in the United States. Fatal incidents involving firearms, which are readily available there, occur regularly. In its most recent statistics from 2020, the health authority CDC recorded a total of 45,222 gun deaths in the USA – more than 120 deaths per day.
