The horrific events that occurred in Louisville, Kentucky, last week were much more than a tragedy for a local community, or families left devastated after the shooting ended. It was a bloody milestone for America.
Conor Sturgeon has reportedly been fired by the old National Bank. Seeming mad with rage, he opened fire on his former colleagues, killing five and wounding eight. And when he did, he recorded the largest number of “mass shootings” ever recorded in the United States in the first 100 days of the year.
The Louisville tragedy was the 146th mass shooting in the country in 2023. On April 10 last year, America witnessed 126 mass shootings.
On the usual desperate course, we’ve seen police body cam footage play out like a ghastly video game. The gloomy chief of police gives the news he was afraid to share. Dramatic drama of the shooter. The war between the pro- and anti-gun lobbies has reignited – always seeking answers.
Now, DailyMail.com has delved into getting it. And what we discovered is both fascinating and terrifying.
Conor Sturgeon opened fire on his former teammates in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday, killing five and wounding eight. The mourning community is pictured above.
The Louisville tragedy was the 146th mass shooting in the country in 2023. On April 10 last year, America witnessed 126 mass shootings.
The numbers aren’t always what you think – but they’re on their way to a killer record
Psychedelic statistics have been steadily rising over the past decade, and are inarguably grim and hardly believable. However, it is not always fully understood.
The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a nonprofit research database that tracks shooting incidents across the United States, defines a “mass shooting” as killing at least four victims, either injured or killed, not including the shooter.
In addition to active shootings like the one in Louisville, “mass shootings” include accidental shootings, armed robberies, family killings, home and vehicular invasions, among others.
The GVA, for example, does not differentiate between gang shootings and school shootings when collecting these statistics.
Firearm deaths are now so common that mass shootings—while undeniably traumatic and attention-grabbing events—make up 1.1% of gun deaths in America in 2020. (Unfortunately, most gun-related deaths are cases suicide).
Not (mass shootings) aren’t horrific, they certainly are, but they are statistically rare events. When you don’t offer that context, it makes everyone think that if you get out, you’re going to die in a massacre,” explained Jacqueline Schildkraut, executive director of the nonpartisan Rockefeller Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium. Government Institute.
But mass killings are on the rise. Another database, published by USA Today, tracks a much narrower category known as “general mass killings.” These are defined as events in which four or more people are killed, excluding the attacker, and in a public location, such as a school or bank.
The most public mass killings that occurred in one year in America were ten.
The Louisville massacre was the fourth this year in the same number of months, which means the country is likely on track to set a new record.
Knotted on guns… Americans are more armed and dangerous than ever before
There was a whole storm of factors, experts told DailyMail.com.
America already has more guns per capita than any country in the world. In the past three years the numbers have gone up.
In 2020 alone, US gun sales increased a staggering 65% over the previous year.
The Louisville shooter’s family (above) said he “has mental health issues,” and there have been reports that he was recently told he was going to be fired from his job.
The Louisville massacre was the fourth this year in the same number of months, which means the country is likely on track to set a new record.
In grim irony, experts say this is partly because a recent trend of escalating gun violence has stoked fear — and in a vicious circle, they’ve seen people increasingly look to guns as a form of “protection.”
But the sudden uptick in public fear is also due to the uncertain times we’re going through — like the Covid lockdowns that began in 2020, or the mass unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd that same year. All of this leads to more firearms sales.
The probability then indicates that more guns equals greater chances of a mass shooting occurring.
All of which creates a fatal self-fulfilling prophecy.
Some of these weapons are then lost or stolen. More guns on the street, there is more crime. People get scared, they buy more gun rights. The cycle repeats, said John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice, and Society group at the University of Chicago.
Secondly, the type of weapons that are currently being purchased are more deadly than before.
“We have seen an astonishing increase in the number of lethal semi-automatic weapons sold in the United States in the past three years starting in March 2020,” Roman said.
2.8 million AR-15 and AK rifles were made or imported in the United States in 2020, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Roman argues that these advanced weapons, capable of firing dozens of rounds quickly and easily, increase the damage a shooter can cause, as well as the chance that people will be “caught in the crossfire”. This raises the “mass shooting” numbers.
Of course, as gun rights advocates are quick to note, it’s also true that guns themselves don’t kill people — people kill people.
Which brings us to the third reason behind the sharp rise in mass shootings.
The fatal reason for modern life that drives shooters to kill
A report by the US Secret Service, published in January that examined five years of mass violence data from 2016 to 2020, found a common denominator among attackers: Often, they were experiencing personal crises.
Many attackers have experienced stressful events across different areas of life, including family/romantic relationships, personal issues, employment, and legal issues. In some of these cases, the attackers encountered a specific event prior to committing the attack,” the report said.
A US Secret Service report published in January found that a history of mental health and a recent life crisis were common among the attackers.
In other words, life stressors—such as job loss, financial stress, family tensions, substance abuse, and mental ill health—all have a powerful effect on whether someone might lash out in a horrific public massacre.
The problem is that life has gotten a lot more difficult for most of us lately.
Kelly Dron, director of research at the Giffords Law Center (set up by Gabe Giffords, who was shot and killed by a mentally ill man in 2011), told DailyMail.com: ‘The pandemic has created a whole host of situations that have made it more bearable for people. to experience stressors that could cause them to act in ways that might include committing mass shootings.
We know that many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic. It created great tension in our relationship. I’ve created different relationships with our co-workers, and I think all of these strains affect us and can create an increased risk of mass shootings.
While we still don’t fully know the motives of the Louisville shooter, a source close to Connor Sturgeon’s family told DailyMail.com that the 25-year-old was receiving professional treatment for depression and anxiety. It was also reported that he had been notified that he had been fired from his job.
None of the above makes us forgive or forget. The above expert opinions do not fully explain why these terrible accidents are on the rise.
But it is true that there is a perception that the social fabric of America is fraying. And sadly, there may be more tragedy in store for a nation dealing with the fallout of a pandemic, a mental health crisis, and soaring crime rates — and armed to the teeth.
