Did mass shootings in the United States increase more than 90 percent from 2017? Yes, that’s true: While there are various definitions for what is considered a mass shooting, the Gun Violence Archive recorded a 98.9 percent increase in mass shootings in the U.S. from 2017 to 2021. The FBI recorded a similar percentage increase for active shooter incidents, which increased 96.8 percent from 2017 to 2021. However, the FBI does not consider active shooter incidents and mass killings the same statistic.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on May 24, 2022. The post includes a graphic that reads:
The fact there has been another school shooting in this country and Mass shootings are up 95% since 2017 🥹 why? Evil! Pure evil! To the families, children, faculty, OUR country, I am with you 💔
At the time of writing, the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit corporation with an online archive about U.S. gun violence, has recorded the total number of mass shootings in the U.S. from 2014 to 2021. According to the archive, a mass shooting is defined as at least four individuals shot in an incident — either injured or killed — not including the shooter.
The archive lists the number of mass shootings as 348 in 2017 and 692 in 2021. That is an increase of about 98.9 percent. At the time of writing, this information was last updated on May 23, 2022. The archive pulls from thousands of sources to determine these data, and each incident is verified. Screenshots of the gun violence data on the archive from 2017 and 2021, respectively, are shown below:
Verdict: TRUE
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