Back in 1949, retired U.S. Army veteran Howard Unruh unleashed a hail of bullets in his Camden, New Jersey neighborhood, claiming the lives of 13 people, including a 2-year-old baby and two more kids under the age of 10.
Since that tragic incident, the United States has witnessed a staggering total of 33 mass shootings that caused at least 10 fatalities (excluding the perpetrators). What’s particularly alarming is that half of these horrifying events occurred within the past decade.
Table: Mass Shootings with a Minimum of 10 Fatalities
Incident Year State Death Injury Las Vegas shooting 2017 Nevada 60 867 Orlando nightclub shooting 2016 Florida 49 58 Virginia Tech shooting 2007 Virginia 32 23 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 2012 Connecticut 27 2 Sutherland Springs church shooting 2017 Texas 26 22 Luby’s shooting 1991 Texas 23 27 El Paso Walmart shooting 2019 Texas 23 23 San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre 1984 California 22 19 Robb Elementary School shooting 2022 Texas 21 18 University of Texas tower shooting 1966 Texas 17 31 Parkland high school shooting 2018 Florida 17 17 Lewiston shootings 2023 Maine 22 50 Edmond post office shooting 1986 Oklahoma 14 6 Fort Hood shooting 2009 Texas 14 32 San Bernardino attack 2015 California 14 24 Camden shootings 1949 New Jersey 13 3 Wilkes-Barre shootings 1982 Pennsylvania 13 1 Wah Mee massacre 1983 Washington 13 1 Columbine High School massacre 1999 Colorado 13 24 Binghamton shooting 2009 New York 13 4 Aurora theater shooting 2012 Colorado 12 70 Washington Navy Yard shooting 2013 D.C. 12 8 Thousand Oaks shooting 2018 California 12 16 Virginia Beach shooting 2019 Virginia 12 4 Easter Sunday Massacre 1975 Ohio 11 0 Jacksonville shooting 1990 Florida 11 6 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting 2018 Pennsylvania 11 6 Monterey Park shooting 2023 California 11 9 Palm Sunday massacre 1984 New York 10 0 Geneva County shootings 2009 Alabama 10 6 Santa Fe High School shooting 2018 Texas 10 13 Boulder shooting 2021 Colorado 10 1 Buffalo supermarket shooting 2022 New York 10 3
Among these 33 horrifying crimes, Texas saw 7, California 4, while Florida, Colorado, and New York each experienced 3.
However, the most devastating incident unfolded in Las Vegas, Nevada, when a 64-year-old Stephen Paddock unleashed a barrage of gunfire upon a crowd attending a music festival from his 32nd-floor hotel suite. This horrifying act claimed the lives of 60 individuals, with over 800 others sustaining injuries.
The Gun Violence Archive maintains a broader record of mass shootings, documenting over 560 incidents from January to October 2023 alone. This translates to an astonishing average of approximately 1.9 mass shootings per day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has compiled data on Firearm Mortality by State, spanning from 2005 to 2021, the latest available year. During this period, gun-related deaths steadily increased each year, rising from 30,540 in 2005 to a staggering 48,645 in 2021—an alarming 59% surge.
For the year 2021, the most recent data available, Texas recorded 4,614 deaths caused by firearms, followed by California with 3,576 and Florida with 3,142. Georgia ranked fourth with 2,200 deaths, and Illinois came in fifth with 1,995.
However, when assessing the severity of this issue based on gun-related death rates, none of these states make it into the top 10 list.
Mississippi claims the highest gun-related death rate, with 962 deaths in 2021, despite having a population of roughly 2.9 million. This translates to a staggering 33.9 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people. Following closely behind are Louisiana at 29.1, New Mexico at 27.8, Alabama at 26.4, and Wyoming at 26.1.
Table: Gun-Related Deaths and Death Rates in 2021
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