United States: Mass Shootings and Homicide Statistics

(13 April 2021) US President Joe Biden called on Congress to ban the sale of assault weapons in the country during his speech at the White House on the March 22 shooting in Colorado, which killed 10 people.

In 2020, the number of mass shootings in the US, as well as the number of victims (both killed and injured), hit a seven-year high, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Nonetheless, in a country with a disproportionate share of the world's guns—the US accounts for 5% of the world's population and 45% of privately owned firearms— advocates of gun rights leverage other crime statistics to moderate calls for stricter gun laws:

• The assault rate in the United States is lower than in some other developed countries and actually decreased in 2018 (the latest available year for this kind of data) according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Likewise, the US homicide rate decreased in 2018, though it remains high compared to other developed nations.
• Most crimes are committed by illegally obtained guns that are by definition beyond the reach of the legal firearm retail industry that's targeted by some policy proposals.

With deep philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans about how to tackle the gun violence issue, it seems unlikely that tighter gun safety legislation proposed by Biden — including a ban on assault weapons and closing background check loopholes — will be approved by Congress any time soon.