Mass Shootings vs. Mass Public Shootings.

I wrote a post on Monday, A Historical Perspective on Violence and Murder in the United States, that included this graph:

(Source: Opinion: The Rise and Decline of Mass Shootings – Grant Duwe)

A mass shooting is four or more people murdered in 24 hours. A mass public shooting occurs in a public place like a business or a school but excludes events like domestic killings, gang violence, and robbery attempts. Brad Plummer at The Washington Post has a chart today that shows the instances of all mass shootings (Graph of the day: Perhaps mass shootings aren’t becoming more common.)

Consistent with the thesis of my post, this graph does not show a society spiraling out of control with violence. It shows a remarkably stable pattern, which is well above the rates for other OECD nations.