“Mass shootings (MS) account for less than 1% of firearm deaths in the US, but the frequency has increased.
1 Risk factors for MS perpetration include societal discrimination, contagion effects, firearm access, mental illness, and substance abuse.
2 Previous geographically and analytically limited studies found
MS with handguns had higher fatality rates than those with rifles,
3 and following an age-based assault weapons (AWs) restriction there was a reduction in firearm violence from AWs.
4 Another study found that the 1994 federal AWs ban was associated with fewer MS.
5 To further investigate the association between type of firearm and lethality of MS, this study examined what firearms were present at publicly targeted fatal MS and determined if AWs were associated with a higher number of injuries or deaths.
Results
From August 1, 1966, to November 6, 2023, there were 184 publicly targeted fatal MS (3.2 per year) with 1342 total deaths and 2084 nonfatal injuries. Multiple firearms were present in 96 events (52.2%) (mean 3.1 per event); handguns were the most common firearm type (145 MS [78.8%] involved a handgun) followed by 55 (29.2%) that involved an AW, but only 13 (7.1%) involved AWs exclusively. Incidents with AWs (vs without) were more likely to have multiple firearms (45 [81.8%] vs 51 [39.5%]) and shooters with no firearms experience (6 [11.1%] vs 38 [29.7%]) (
Table 1).
Banning assault weapons could result in less mass shootings, however, assault weapons were only used in 29% of ms compared to handguns being present on 78.8% of ms so banning aws is only going to force those that have the predisposition to do a ms to use a different type of weapon like a handgun or a shotgun.