What causes murders and aggravated assaults?
Crime News Crime Statistics Mass Shootings Police/Law Enforcement Violent Offenders

Top 25 States For Mass Shootings

admin June 12, 2023

Highlights

The top 25 states for mass shootings.

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.

Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.

Article

What’s below is with the permission of 24/7 Wall St. They create a variety of lists examining crime, law enforcement, and many other topics.

24/7 Wall St. investigated all 50 states for mass shootings. Included per state are:

the number of mass shootings where four or more were killed,

the number of people murdered,

the number of those injured,

the state’s city with the most mass shootings,

and the number killed within the last three years.

Please note that there are a variety of organizations tracking mass shootings, all with different definitions. Depending on the organization’s definition, the United States either has one mass shooting a day or a far smaller number.

A summation of research on mass shootings is available at, Recognizing Mass Shooters And Potential Attacks In Public Places-Federal Research. The data is broken down by public mass shootings (the offender did not know the victims) and private mass shootings (the offender knows the victims principally through criminal activities). Understanding the difference between private and public mass shootings provides an immense amount of clarity.

Additional data on the topic is available on this site.

24/7 Wall St.

To find the states with the most mass shootings since 2020, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Gun Violence Archive data. We ranked states and the District of Columbia by the number of mass shootings as per the definition of the GVA, which is four or more people injured or killed. Five states did not have mass shootings – Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

We also added the number of mass killings in each state as per the federal definition of three or more killed in a single incident. Data was collected on Feb. 2, 2023, and reflects events up to that point. All data is from Gun Violence Archive. To break ties we ranked first by the number of incidents, then by the number of people killed, then by the number of people injured.

There is no agreed-upon single definition of what constitutes a mass shooting, which can explain why estimates can vary so much from source to source. The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act, which Congress passed in 2012, defines “mass killings” as three or more killings in a single incident. Other definitions include injured persons. Still, there are places where mass shootings and mass killings occur with greater frequency. (Here are the worst mass shootings in the U.S. last year.)

To find the states with the most mass shootings since 2020, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Gun Violence Archive data. We ranked states and the District of Columbia by the number of mass shootings according to the Gun Violence Archive definition, which is four or more people injured or killed.

Several factors can contribute to the number of mass shootings in a state, most notably population size and density. Nine out of the 10 most-populated states, where more than half of the U.S. population resides, rank among the top 10 states with the most mass shootings. Likewise, mass shootings tend to occur in the most populated cities within each state.

Top 25 States For Mass Shootings

  1. Illinois
  2. Texas
  3. California
  4. Pennslyvania
  5. New York
  6. Florida
  7. Louisiana
  8. Ohio
  9. Michigan
  10. Georgia
  11. North Carolina
  12. South Carolina
  13. Maryland
  14. Missouri
  15. Alabama
  16. Tennessee
  17. Virginia
  18. Mississippi
  19. Colorado
  20. Wisconsin
  21. Indiana
  22. New Jersey
  23. District of Columbia
  24. Minnesota
  25. Arizona

Privacy Policy

We do not collect your personal information. See our privacy policy at “About This Site.”

See More

See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.

Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.

US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.

National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.

The Crime in America.Net RSS feed (https://crimeinamerica.net/?feed=rss2) provides subscribers with a means to stay informed about the latest news, publications, and other announcements from the site.

2 Replies to “Top 25 States For Mass Shootings”

  1. Not Surprised about TEXAS being tops. The phenom started at UT Austin’s Tower August 1, 1966 and gradually spreaded all over the USA. Then and now, Texas officials did literally nothing to implement preventative measures. Unlike most states, less than adult persons age 18-21 can buy seemingly illegal rifles and ammo guaranteed, when shot, to kill dozens per second. .

Comments are closed.