Cumulative mass shootings in the U.S.

There have now been 501 mass shootings in the U.S. this year.

Driving the news: A shooting that wounded four people in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday night marked the country’s 500th mass shooting in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Hours later, that increased to 501 mass shootings after one person died and five others were wounded in El Paso, Texas, early Sunday.
By the numbers: Just five years ago, the country had never experienced 500 mass shootings in one year:

2018: 335 mass shootings
2019: 414 mass shootings
2020: 610 mass shootings
2021: 689 mass shootings
2022: 645 mass shootings
Flashback: The 500 mass shootings threshold was crossed in September in the past two years, according to the archive.

In 2020, it occurred in October.
Between the lines: The FBI does not define or quantify what constitutes a mass shooting.

Gun Violence Archive, an independent research and data collection organization, defines a mass shooting as a shooting in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. This makes its numbers higher than some other sources with varying definitions.
Of note: A January shooting on the eve of Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California, a largely Asian American area, has caused the most deaths so far in 2023. Eleven people were killed and nine others injured in the massacre.

The most injuries related to gun violence occurred in April at a birthday party shooting in Dadeville, Ala., that left four people de and 32 others injured.
The big picture: With increasing personal experiences, more Americans view gun violence as a public health concern.

One in six Americans have personally witnessed someone being shot, according to survey data from earlier this year.
Zoom in: Gun violence has greatly affected children. Firearms are the top killer of kids in the country.

Gun deaths among children hit a record high in 2021, per data released in August.
There were 305 school shootings in 2022 and 230 by Sept. 5 in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.