Tuesday, October 03, 2017

1,518 Mass Shootings Mapped


Since the tragedy of Sandy Hook there have been 1,518 mass shootings in the United States. In less than six years 1,715 people have been killed and 6,089 wounded in mass shootings. Vox has mapped all 1,518 of those mass shootings, using data from the Gun Violence Archive.

Vox's Mass Shootings interactive map shows the location of 1,518 mass shootings across the United States since December 2012. If you click on a marker on the map you can view the date and location of the mass shooting and the number of people who were killed and injured.


Of course people aren't just killed by guns in mass shootings. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive there have already been 11,686 people killed by guns in 2017 and 23,717 injuries.

If you go to the Charts and Maps section of the Gun Violence Archive you can view static maps of all the mass shootings this year, all the deaths from guns this year and all gun incidents so far in 2017.


Why has there been 1,518 mass shootings in the USA in less than 6 years? One common denominator is guns. There may be a Starbucks on every corner in America but there are more gun shops on more corners. There are 64,747 gun dealers in the US. That's more gun dealers than grocery stores & McDonald's restaurants. It also means that there are nearly six gun dealers for every Starbucks.

Firearms & Frappuccinos compares the number of Starbucks to the number of firearm dealers in the United States. If you enter the name of a town into the map you can see the locations of all the local Starbucks coffee shops and the locations of all the local gun dealers. So, for example, if you search for Dallas, you will discover that there are more than twice as many gun dealers in the city as there are Starbucks stores.


Back in 2015 Oregon Live created an interactive map to show where gun deaths most occurred in the United States. The US Gun Deaths Map 2004-2010 shows the average number of gun deaths per 100,000 county residents. The map therefore provides some insight into where gun deaths are occurring more in proportion to the population.

It is important when viewing this map to understand that this is not a map of only gun homicides. The map also shows deaths occurring from suicide attempts. The map does reveal however that there are some clear geographical differences in the number of gun deaths per population in different regions of the United States.


After two mass shootings in quick succession in San Bernardino and Colorado Springs in 2015 the Guardian created an interesting map which revealed how much money political representatives received in political donations from the National Rifle Association and where those representatives stand on gun legislation.

The Gun Deaths in Your District map shows how many gun deaths there have been in every congressional district. If you select a district on the map you can find out how many gun deaths there have been in the district.

Below the map you can view details about the district's three political representatives, including information on how much money they have received from the gun lobby and how they have voted on gun rights and gun control legislation.

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