The number of mass shootings across the U.S. thus far in 2019 has outpaced the number of days this year, according to a gun violence research group. Before this year has even ended, 2019 has already had more mass shootings than any year since the research group started keeping track. 

As of December 25, the 359th day of the year, there have been 406 mass shootings in the U.S., according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which tracks every mass shooting in the country. Twenty-nine of those shootings were mass murders. 

The GVA defines a mass shooting as any incident in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter. The group also tracks mass murders as defined by the FBI — incidents in which at least four people are killed. The FBI does not have a formal definition of a mass shooting.

The toll of 406 mass shootings includes several high-profile attacks, two of which happened within 24 hours of each other:

• A shootout at a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 10. Three people in the store were killed and three others wounded, including two police officers. The two attackers also died in the shootout. The attackers also shot and killed a police detective at a nearby cemetery before the store attack. 
• A shooting near New Orleans’ French Quarter on December 1 that left 11 people injured.
• A shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, on November 14, left  two teenage students killed and three wounded. The suspect, a 16-year-old student, shot himself in the head and died the next day.
• A drive-by shooting spree in Odessa and Midland, Texas, on August 31, left seven people killed and 24 wounded
• A shooting in a historic district of Dayton, Ohio, on August 4, left nine people killed and 27 injured.
• A shooting at Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on August 3, with 22 people killed and at least 24 wounded. It was the deadliest shooting of the year.
• A shooting in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, on May 31, where a former city employee killed 12 people and wounded four.

The GVA said there have been a total of 38,631 gun deaths — including homicides, suicides and accidents — and 28,895 injuries, as of December 25.

By its final month, 2019 already had the highest number of mass shootings in any year since 2014, when the Gun Violence Archive started its count. It has surpassed the prior record of 382 mass shootings in 2016. The GVA reported 346 mass shootings in 2017 and 337 in 2018.

First published on July 31, 2019 / 5:16 PM

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