RESEARCH: ALL THE 20 WORST MASS PUBLIC SHOOTINGS, 42 OF THE WORST 46, were outside US

[PocketProtector]

http://crimeresearch.org/2016/04/wit...united-states/

After the Charleston massacre, President Obama made this comment: “the unique mayhem that gun violence afflicts upon this nation.” Of course, regarding mass public shootings, Obama doesn’t need to look any further than France, which last year suffered 532 casualties (killings and woundings) versus 396 in the US during the first seven full years of the Obama administration from 2009 through 2015.

But this isn’t a problem limited to France and the US. While most numbers look at shootings where 4 or more people have been killed, smaller attacks are very hard to track in places such as Africa or Southern Asia or parts of South America, which have murder rates 8 or 10 times higher than the rate in the US. Even some of these large mass shootings in Africa only received a couple news stories.

Our list of the worst mass public shootings collected cases where at least 15 were killed has been updated through March 20, 2016. Since 1970, all of the 20 worst mass public shootings occurred outside the US. Muslims also committed 18 of the worst 20 mass public shootings in the world. All 20 of the worst mass public shootings occurred outside the US, and that was also true for 40 of the worst 44. It is possible that we are still missing even some of these large mass public shootings prior to 2000, but any of the ones being missed are outside of the US, Canada, the Commonwealth countries, and Europe.

The FBI definition of mass public shootings excludes “shootings that resulted from gang or drug violence” or that were part of some other crime. The FBI also defines “public” places as “includ[ing] commercial areas (divided into malls, businesses open to pedestrian traffic, and businesses closed to pedestrian traffic), educational environments (divided into schools [pre-kindergarten through 12th grade] and IHEs), open spaces, government properties (divided into military and other government properties), houses of worship, and health care facilities.” A report by the New York Police Department has a very similar definition. The 33 worst mass public shootings all have at least 15 people who were shot to death.

[Yellowfin]

Add to that any through history where the perpetrators were police, military, or a foreign army against unarmed citizens, and the numbers tilt even further, with WAY more incidents to record.