The fatal shooting of four people in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday became the latest contribution to a record year for mass shootings in the US, according to James Alan FoxNortheastern professor who has studied the phenomena for more than four decades.
ONE A 34-year-old man was charged on Wednesday, one day after fires were reported at four locations in the Texas capital. The suspect may also be involved in two previous deaths near San Antonio, police said.
There have now been 39 mass shootings with at least four victims in 2023, according to Fox — three more than the US record set last year.
Additionally, Fox says, the Texas shooting tied for the 42nd mass killing this year, leaving the U.S. four tragic events short of eclipsing 2019's record.
Fox chairs the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Murder Database, the longest-running and most extensive source of data on the subject. It reveals that 2,989 people have lost their lives in 574 mass killings since 2006.
Fox notes that the current uptick in violence — including the recent shooting deaths of four people in Washington state and stabbings in New York that claimed four lives — may be due to a number of factors, including increased gun sales, anger and anxiety about world events and a seeming increase in unstructured time for people after the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Fox stops short of referring to the record pace as an “epidemic.”
“We now have 39 mass shootings in a country of more than 330 million people,” says Fox, the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern. “So statistically it's still rare. I'm not sure how one would define 'epidemic', but I wouldn't classify it as one.”
Fox characterizes mass murder as an intractable and devastating problem that is unique to the US among its economic peers.
“I believe in stricter gun laws,” says Fox, “recognizing that half the guns in this world are in the hands of Americans and that our country has four times the rate of mass shootings than the rest of the world.”
Fox says his research shows that most mass murderers are not mentally ill.
“The vast majority of them are angry,” Fox says of mass murderers. “And unfortunately it's very easy for an angry person or a hater or a resentful person to get a gun. And if they can't buy it legally, there are certainly plenty of other means to get one.”
Fox says growing public awareness of mass shootings and killings has led to a high level of fear in the US
“Fear is so out of control, it's so far above risk statistically,” says Fox. “Most of these shootings don't happen in public places — most of them are in private homes, and about half of them are family-related, which says a lot about family dynamics.
“But then you have the issue of guns,” adds Fox. “Some states have moved in the direction of strengthening gun restrictions. Unfortunately, some other states have moved in the other direction, allowing the concealed carry of guns without permits.”
Ian Thomsen is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email him at i.thomsen@northeastern.edu. Follow him on X/Twitter @IanatNU.
