…so, what is to be done?
Brad Plumer of the Washington Post has a graph up on mass shootings:
Plumer explains:
Mother Jones found that 24 of the last 62 worst mass shootings have taken place in the past seven years alone. That seemed like a clear increase.
But is this the right way of looking at things? Over at Reason, Jesse Walker criticizes my post and points to data from James Allan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern, who has found that there’s been no discernible increase in mass shootings since 1980 […]
Why the difference? Fox is looking at all mass shootings involving four or more victims — that’s the standard FBI definition. Mother Jones, by contrast, had a much more restrictive definition, excluding things like armed robbery or gang violence. They were trying to focus on spree killings that were similar in style to Virginia Tech or Aurora or Newtown. The definitions make a big difference: On Fox’s criteria, there’s no uptick. On Mother Jones’, there’s a clear increase […]
So, duly noted. One final point, though: Even if mass shootings are simply staying constant, and not actually increasing, that might still be of interest given that the overall rate of gun violence and homicide in the United States appears to be on the downswing.
So, not only have mass shootings not increased, but violence overall in the US is decreasing as well.
Every time something horrific happens, be it mass shootings, a collapse of the financial sector, a terrorist attack, whatever, there are calls from the people for the government to “do something.” These calls do not emanate from the Left alone.
The Austrian (and Austrian School) economist Ludwig von Mises recognized this nearly a century ago. I understand why there are calls from people for their government to “do something” after something awful happens. I understand why politicians respond to such calls. I always feel awful when I read about things like some psychopath gunning down little children at school or people losing their homes in an economic downturn.
Also, I always feel a little bit awkward standing athwart these calls waiving cold, hard evidence around that states disasters are extremely rare, and that passionate calls for more government intervention in our lives when there is absolutely no need for it is an invitation for more trouble, not less.
On another note, Pierre Lemieux and Jacques Delacroix have comments on guns and psychopaths. Both are worth reading.
Notes On Liberty 
I agree—-they will try to make it about gun control–but that is not the problem–and there is no easy solution. Evil people will always find a way to hurt others whether they have a gun or not. This demand for gun control is apt to cause more harm than good.
Well said Churchbus, and thank you.
“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” – Ronald Reagan
An excellent quote!
Me and a friend were discussing if things were getting better or worse in regard to violence. We never came to a definite conclusion, but we did come to the conclusion that bad things have always happened. This is nothing new.
I even found a posting on Wikipedia of a situation eerily similar to the one in Newton called the “Bath School Disaster” where something like fifty children were injured/killed.
This does beg one question: What’s up with the culture of violence in the United States?
Link if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
Thank you guys for the resources. I will certainly check them both out.
Atticus,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and the link. As I get deeper and deeper into school, I find myself becoming more and more drawn in to data and pertinent statistical methods. I don’t know if this is a good thing, though.
Pierre Lemieux, an economist, has the best qualitative summary I’ve read yet: The Rise of the Young Mass Killer.
Violence has been declining in American society for hundreds of years and especially during the seventies. Deadly violence has been declining world-wide since tthe cavemen. See Stephen Pinker’s. The Better Angels of Our Nature.
[…] Table above is evidence that gun violence is not new to the United States [see here and here for an explanation of the statistics – BC], and any time these mass shooting happen, […]