After writing about mass shootings in America, I wanted to see how America’s mass shooting problem compares with that of other nations. A professor named Adam Lankford studied mass shootings by country from 1966 through 2012. Professor Langford’s study included data from 171 countries. A mass shooting was defined as an event in which four people were killed. That was the definition of a mass shooting used by the FBI until 2013.
Below is a list of important facts from Professor Langford’s study that were printed in an article from News Week.
- From 1966 through 2012, there were 90 mass shootings in America.
- The Philippines had the second most mass shootings with 18.
- The US accounts for five percent of the world’s population.
- The US accounts for 31 percent of the world’s mass shootings.
- Of the 171 countries, the US had the highest rate of national firearm ownership.
- Each of the nations with the five highest rates of gun ownership ranked in the top 15 in terms of mass shootings.