One in 15 Americans has witnessed a mass shooting, a new study shows, revealing the depth and impact of the epidemic of gun violence that has washed over the US in recent decades.
The study found that about 7% of US adults have been present at the scene of a mass shooting in their lifetime, and more than 2% have been injured during one, according to new a report from the University of Colorado Boulder.
“This study confirms that mass shootings are not isolated tragedies, but rather a reality that reaches a substantial portion of the population, with profound physical and psychological consequences,” senior author David Pyrooz, a professor of sociology and a criminologist at the Institute for Behavioral Science at UC Boulder, told Phys.org. “They also highlight the need for interventions and support for the most affected groups.”
Since 2014, there have been nearly 5,000 mass shootings documented nationwide, with more than 500 occurring annually since 2020, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The university team defined “mass shooting” as a gun-related crime in which four or more people were shot in a public space.
The University of Colorado researchers defined “physically present” as “in the immediate vicinity of where the shooting occurred at the time it occurred, such that bullets were fired in your direction, you could see the shooter, or you could hear the gunfire”.
Respondents were asked: “Have you personally ever been physically present on the scene of a mass shooting in your lifetime?”
In the survey of 10,000 people, just under 7% of respondents answered yes, and 2.18% of respondents said they had been injured, which not only included having been shot, but also struck by shrapnel or trampled by people fleeing the scene or suffering other injuries as they sought to escape.
“Our findings highlight the substantial reach of mass shootings in US society. This widespread exposure underscores the need for comprehensive public health strategies to address the broad and enduring impacts of mass shooting exposure,” researchers wrote in the paper.
