UPDATE 12/14/2012 The map has been updated to include today’s school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Mass shootings this year in Colorado, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and elsewhere have reignited the debate over gun control in America. Just how bad is the problem? Through media reports, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit lobbying group, has compiled a list of 431 shootings with more than one victim since 2005. On average, according to the organization, a multiple-victim shooting happens every 5.9 days in the United States. The deadliest city in this period, according to the data, is Chicago, with 17 shootings since 2005—totaling 72 people wounded and 30 deaths. Thirteen of those shootings were in a public place. New Orleans, Kansas City, and Philadelphia were tied for second bloodiest, with nine shootings in this seven-year period. Plus, James Warren on why the Colorado shooting is tragically unsurprising.
UPDATE 7/27: A number of readers sent in additions to our shootings database and, in doing so, included recollections of how these shootings affected their lives. we’ve added a feature to this page where you can enter your address, see the stories near you, and tell us if you remember it and how it affected you. If we get enough responses, we can make a map that shows not just shootings, but how these events left a mark on their communities.
Enter your location in the form below the map and tells us what you remember. You can read our selection of responses here or the full list here.
